Home Made Camp Stove
 

I thought I'd share a few pictures of this home made camp stove. I started with a Coffee Can (Steel, that eliminates several brands of coffee). I used an old fashioned can-opener and made six hole in the bottom and six holes in the top. I mean , in the sides of the can, with the can-opener backwards, prying from the lip of the can.

Then I used some strap steel , the perforated kind you can buy in a hardware store, to make a grate for the charcoal. I made two of these, and they are stacked perpendicular to one-another.

On this test run, it took forty minutes to heat 4 cups of water. Next time I will add more charcoal. I used a small piece of "Duraflame" fire-starter to get it lit.

The rice was cooked an additional hour and ten minutes. As I said, next time I will use more charcoal.

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One charcoal grate, made from cheap strap steel.

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Getting the fire started.

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Heating the water.

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Cooking the Rice, with lid on pot.

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The Rice is Done!

That's it. Total cost , near nil. I don't consider myself a hoarder, but all the coffee companies are going over to plastic or cardboard containers, so I am saving a few extra coffee cans.

I'll stick to my supercat, but thanks for the post.

Havin' fun, are you? Been there and done that. Like the pot. None of those flimsy, fiddly camping pots for me either.

Coleman single burner with propane cyclinder. Yeah baby!

Home built alcohol can stoves can actually work very well, especially for 1-2 people. A lot of the PCT through hikers I've met have used them. I use this: http://www.jureystudio.com/pennystove/ . Aside from excellent efficiency and low weight, it has the advantage of requiring the purchase of Heinekin in cans and drinking them (not my first pick but welcome nonetheless). The hardest part is building a pot support. With the simmer cup you can do more elaborate cooking than you would imagine. It also takes some time to learn how to gauge how much fuel to use.

I haven't used mine for a bicycle tour, but the fuel should be fairly widely available. You can get denatured alcohol in most hardware stores, and you can get HEET brake line antifreeze in a pinch at gas stations. I still use my MSR Whisperlite for most casual stuff, but alcohol stoves are well suited for long trips where weight is important. The guy that designed the penny stove also has good instructions for a twig stove.

I like this version, made from an Ikea utensil caddy
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How do you add fuel to it? Move the pot off and toss some more charcoal in?
If there is not a side opening, I would consider one to get the fire hotter (more air).

Looks like the stove we made in Cub Scouts 45 yrs. ago. We made a paraffin (wax) burner using a catfood can and cardboard. I'll stick with the Supercat stove as well.....
2fer

Super cat stove, a fraction of the weight, fraction of the size, no soot. win, win, win.

but the supercat can't burn wood. Think about all the weight you can save not having to lug around the alcohol.

Or being able to burn bits of Twig if you run out of Alcohol and no Walmart, Etc. handy.

Nope, can't burn wood, but wood burns all by itself with out a steel can. A couple rocks side by side, fire in between, pot on top. This is my backup option, though alcohol is available at most convenience stores so I never run out and only carry about 12oz at a time.

Venom energy drinks also make great pressurized alcohol stoves. I used mine on a couple of trips and it worked fine and only weighs a couple of ounces.

+1

As far as weight goes... My pepsi can stove and pot stand weighs less than one ounce total if I don't take a wind screen.. As Gregw said the Heet bottles are 12 ounces. I restock at about 4 ounces, so the least I carry is 4 ounces, the most is 16 ounces, and the average is 8 ounces. I am not sure if you manage to go lighter with this wood burning stoves, but even if you do, not having sooty pots is worth a few ounces to me.

sorry to Hijack but I've been looking all over for a 24 oz Heinekin keg can for a pot and can't seem to find one. Anyone know if they are still in production?

Yeah, the 24OZ Heinekin cans are still around. I've thought about building a super penny stove out of them for group camping. The advantage here is that the minimum consumed beer per sitting is doubled over the 12 oz cans.

Cool stove, but there's absoulutely no reason to cook rice that long. Eighteen minutes is all it takes.

Yes,

Novelty packaging ideas come-and-go. My favorite example is the "Beer Ball". I was going to use one of these as a fairing, cut in half and mounted on the handlebars, but they stopped making it. The "Beer Ball" was a 20 quart (IIRC) plastic sphere, which also required the purchase of a tap, for ten dollars. It was like a mini-keg. IIRC, it was a product of Coors. This was back in the 1980's.

I remember another product that was made useless by changes in beer can design. When I was a kid, someone gave me a toy train set, which was made of beer cans. The (Japanese) manufactured gimmick included red plastic end-caps, with wheels, and couplers , that snapped into place on the ends of beer-cans. Thus , it was a train of "Budweiser" tank cars. The thing is, this was before the pop-top was invented! The red plastic parts snapped onto the rim, where the nub on the underside of the can opener would catch. The new cans came in, and ends of the cans were different. (this was the end of the 1960's)

Another packaging gimmick that died and killed a pastime was the "Leggs" pantyhose "egg". I used to take the plastic egg shell and stick it on the end of a soda can, put it in a bowl of water, and light a small firecracker, in a small hole in the side of the can. It would go up like a rocket. It would go up without the plastic shell on it, but without that plastic shell it would only go about 40 feet. With that shell it would go 100 feet up. It must've been the streamlining, it wasn't the extra weight. (I tried that to make sure) . Maybe that experiment is what made me so sure a fairing would work on a bicycle.(this was in the 1970's)

No need to aplogise for "hijacking" my thread, you brought up an interesting subject.

Seems like a good idea to have a small woodburning stove. It would be like having a teeny, tiny campfire. Campfires are nice. They keep bugs away and they're nice to sit around. A small one like the OP's could be used in many a city park and it would consume very little fuel.
If you cut a triangular shape out of one side you can add fuel to the fire with a pot on top. I think they call them hobo stoves.

Hot bike, was that a "Yes" the 24oz keg can was discontinued?
If so if anyone has an extra laying around or knows where I could get one I would offer much thanks and even some$$. More if it's full....
The Fosters can I picked up the other day does seem to work fine, but I like the idea of the extra strength the Heini. can offers. Plus I think a supercat will fit under the Heine can, the cat food can I got the other day won't fit inside the bottom of the Fosters can.

No, I did NOT mean "yes", I mean I don't know.

But I'll give another example. there was a German beer called 'DinkelAcker" and it came in a sort of mini-keg, that was discontinued.

Yes, I kind of have-in-mind the posibility of using this stove in a city park. Five charcoal briquettes with a piece of "Duraflame" about the size of a grape, to get it started. Should be low-observable, and unlikely to attract any notice. I'm just thinking of using it as a hand warmer on a cold day. to cook anything would require more briquettes. And I will try to cut a hole in the side of the can, for both more air and fuel. Thanks for the advice.

Great suggestion for a backup! I like the idea that this can be used for wood/charcoal if I don't want or can't use my alcohol stove or even as a 2nd burner.

They sell them for $2.99 at a convenience store by my house. I think Fosters 24oz is $2.69.

I want to make one of those as an alternative to my wood-burning Bush Buddy during fire season and for when I want to be more stealthy. What size can is the best? I've got a little tin here that held 80 grams of tuna. It's 3 centimeters deep and the circumference is 21 centimeters. Will that do the trick?

were you a boyscout???