u/Salty-cause

My SoloStove 1.0 does not get a cover any longer. It does wear a lid when it’s raining or snowing. I used to empty the ash with an ash vac. Now I either shovel the bulk out and then flip and roll it in the grass, or I whip out the cordless blower like a deranged maniac and blast the ash into the wind.
But there are definitely a few things I’ve learned in the last four years owning this 38 pound incinerator…

1. Don’t touch it when it’s hot. Your skin will bubble up instantly, and it hurts like a son of a gun, at the very least. This should go without saying, but my calf grazed the side wall unintentionally, and I got a hockey puck sized welt instantly that peeled off and hurt for weeks.
2. If there’s too much ash in it, the secondary burn doesn’t work very well. Empty your ash before you decide to have a long burning fire. And unless you’re completely against shoveling or have an area that you can’t flip it over to dump the ash, don’t waste your time with an ash vacuum. They are tedious, annoying, and overheat quickly, even when the ash is cold.
3. If it fits inside, it will burn. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you should. Only burn things that make ash, like paper, cardboard, wood, etc. Leave out the polys because they make a mess. Don’t burn styrofoam. It’s toxic and the secondary burn won’t consume the black smoke.
4. If something falls in, it’s gone. You have a half second to retrieve it with tongs. You’ll lose the hair on your arm if you reach in. Speaking of tongs, order the cheapie cantilever tongs on Amazon to move your logs around, and a set of 500-degree barbecue gloves to protect your hands. These are great investments when you have to get up close and personal with it. When the tongs rust, hit them with Rustoleum. Mine have been five different colors!
5. A couple pizza boxes stood open on their sides opposing each other to make a square chimney within the round fire pit helps motivate a stubborn fire. You can do this with any cardboard or even wood. Just remember to knock it down in before the fire deteriorates the cardboard above the fire pit and sends it skyward. You can also do this to make your fire flare up for fun once it’s lit, but as soon as the flame gets next to the flat surface it will lick up the sides and flare up fast, so be careful. I call this cardboard box in the pit a “pizza box chimney”. Hehehe. I love pizza box chimneys.
6. When all else fails, remember that folks used to use a bellows to help their fires breathe. I don’t have one. But I’ve got a 550 CFM cordless leaf blower. I recommend using a smaller one, like the Ryobi Workbench blower in the video. I keep it specifically for “fire motivation.” It’s a little melted in places. Be careful, my fellow pyros, and keep an extinguisher handy.