It seems like the flame is spent by the time it gets to the exit area, at that last bend.
I think I should simplify this one by copying the above pictured rocket stove instead of it being a J Tube shape.
Lots of smoke would be another sign I’m not getting enough oxygen.
Cody , start by cutting out the horizontal end plate allowing air in that way , if that is no better then maybe fit a shelf in there to allow the feed wood to sit on it and allow the air in underneath .
Also once you have the fire lit drop some lit newspaper down the flu that will create a much better draft
I think I’ll also need to shorten the flue, since this is intended to be a cooking stove for boiling a lot of water. When I use a lot of perfect kindling sized sticks, it gets pretty hot but I never see flames licking out.
I should probably add a door so dad can scrape out the ashes, he boils the peanuts for hours at a time. That’s one reason why I went for a J Tube so it could be gravity fed with longer sticks.
cody, i have no experience yet, but making researches…i think the same as you said, the V-shaped version is more ideal for longer wood pieces-sticks, from branches and twigs with automatically fuel flow…the J- shaped version, from my opinion acts more like a gasifier…matt ryder has this style, and also here was a video of a japanese man who builds them, but fed with pellets, easier for city customers without wood source…
ciao giorgio
For me, the optimal solution for cooking is a wood stove, here are some interesting designs
hello tone, shows always “not found” for the link
Hello Tom, I have an idea with rocket stoves, I can do it without any problems. I like creating something. I want to help people in difficult times. I will also make a gas stove for wood. A water turbine is planned at my riverbeds. I have time and I like to act. I am a pensioner in a uniform.
http://www.plamen.hr/hr/Proizvodi/1
We have such a stove in the kitchen for cooking in the winter, otherwise it is an older model, it has been working for 20 years and is undamaged, the interior is cast iron, an indestructible stove. My wife wanted a new one, which I ordered these days, approx. 800 Eur.
Oh, I’m looking at something similar, water jacketed, I have to give 2800euro approx.
it says that they ship throughout the European Union
The demand for these stoves is very high, they are not currently available in any store, they say that you have to wait at least a month. Plamen is a Croatian company with a long tradition, they make very high quality products, this stove is for connection to central heating, an excellent product, my brother has an older model, it has been working for 15 years.
Indeed, l have copied this stove, the basic concept, as a base for when l built my stove. It is a well thod design, and like Tone sayd, if taken care of, with an occasional firebrick replaced, it will last forever.
I did something similar and had similar results. Insulation! I stacked bricks around it and put dirt in between. No mortar, everything temporary. Flames still did not come out. But I could boil 5 gallons of water in about 20 minutes. I made a shroud around the bucket so the exhaust stayed close to the bucket. About 3/4 inch all around.
Rindert
Given your wife wanted you to buy a new one, Is it safe to assume it doesn’t come with the cute girl? 
I have looked at this, think it is from Croatia, costs like at least 2800 euros in Sweden, 6-8 weeks delivery time.
Jan, be wery carefull about ordering a central heater, if you want to also cook on it. Father has a heater like this and you cant even boil a cup of tea on it. Its what he wanted so thats ok (just a few kw radiated, the rest in to central) but if you got other plans, you might be dissapointed.
nice stoves…we also use a self built alpine stove with historic ceramic stones -about 180 years old- for heating and cooking and preparing hot water included in the system…quick heat radiation comes from the cooking plate and also more from the fire resistant glass door…the ceramic and a lot of fire bricks stores the heat…important from my experience is that the fire room is near to the ground- floor as possible for efficient heat radiating…further we have had a old traditional cooking stove, the white ones …with wood also, but the fire room is high, you get a overheated head an the feet remains cold…
so our self built stove has a big fire room near the floor for heating, and above this fire room a smaller one for cooking direkt under the plate, only divided with a grate, so the fire and heat from the under room reaches also the plate and gives, but not so quick, also enough heat for cooking…behind the under fireroom there is a water container behind a cast iron plate, where the water heats up for warm or also hot water…50 liters…in all works fine.
the water vessel has no direct contact to flames and smoke to avoid creating this stinky black condensat, what appears when direct contact with a cold water vessel…
another question…has someone experience with gas light…can it be made also with woodgas-chargas? what gas socks are needed?
30 years ago i came in a house here some kilometers away, they havent electricity in this time and used gas light of propane…some more decades ago it was very common…
i thought to use the gas from the gasometer for this, maybee for emergency situation, when my batteries not works more , and is nowhere to get new ones more…
ciao giorgio
Which -exact- mantle I dont know. We used them with coleman lanterns which used white gas. But this should get you started down the right rabbit hole.
Here are some for propane:
https://www.amazon.com/Propane-Lantern-Mantles-Outdoor-Camping/dp/B093FK794Q/ref=asc_df_B093FK794Q/?
here are some of the more traditional town gas light ones (I think):
https://www.amazon.com/American-Mantle-2007-254-Inverted/dp/B000HJDELQ/ref=asc_df_B000HJDELQ/?
I am not sure if there is a difference or much of a difference. You could use the propane ones with white gas, but they didn’t last as long or vice versa.
I think you should be able to use wood/char gas with them. City lights used to use them, they used town gas which is coal gas… They also used sewer gas in combination with the coal gas.
oh and the thermolampe just used gas from wood distillation to provide lighting, and I am not sure that used a mantle.
