Since I seem to be trying to come out of the stone ages and trying to lighten my load some,I figured my old Svea 123 setup was on the chopping block next.I LOVE this thing,it has never failed me in 40 some odd years.....



Here's what I've carried everywhere for a LONG time......A LOOOOONG TIME! Touring/Backpacking in my younger days,just touring the last 20 or so.

Did I mention I like it alot?........

It's heavy.....2 1/4 pounds. I should have never bought a scale.....

In with the "new" lighterweight stuff......



Started out with regular tin cans fooling around to see what worked,what didn't.I checked out the Zen Stove pages,made few different kinds and settled on a low pressure type stove.

So now I need some better material to work with,some aluminum and stainless.

Off to the local second hand store to see what we can find.....Oh!.... Looky!.....an ice bucket,and old thermos,a cat dish,car blind and and old lid off something........PERFECT!!!! Up to the counter I go.....It's 25% off day! ALRIGHT!

Grand total.....$6.25.......after a little cussing and hacking......you get this.



Starting row.... left-right:

Ice bucket...Stainless inner becomes stove kettle,aluminum outer becomes wind screen.Bottom of aluminum outer becomes bottom heat sheild for stove.The lid in the picture is just left over from the ice bucket,not part of the stove,

Next row.....Cat food dish and some lid off of something.

3rd row.....Old car window shade made into cozies for the pot,lid and cup.

Last row....Cut up old thermos.....2 inner stainless cups for stove and simmer ring and 1 aluminum cup for my drinking cup.



Here's the stove,stove base and stove bottom.The stove sits on the inverted aluminum bottom to help keep the heat in the stove.

I made a few stoves out of aluminum pop cans and such,I didn't like them.They all seem to burn too fast for me,great if your boiling water,not so good if your trying to actually cook.

This stove will boil 2 cups of water in 10-12 minutes,plenty fast enough for me.On a full load,3oz,it will burn for about 45 minutes.....in simmer mode about 1 hour and 15 minutes.I can do something with that.



Looks like this in simmer mode,just a cup added on top.



Put it all together and it looks like this in cooking mode.



Get ready to eat,put my little cozies on....how cute!



Wash the dishes and put it in travel mode.



All sealed up,ready for it's bag.



And the best part.....17 ounces......saved a little over a pound.

So there you go......Amaze your friends!......Make a stainless steel alcohol stove and 4 cup kettle for $6.25 with parts from the second hand store.

fun to see the process, yet another page to bookmark along with some other homemade stoves , to one day start mucking around with trying them out.

now that you mention the weight of your original setup, Im curious of how heavy my whisperlite and msr pot kit are. I have no idea but am now curious.

Bios, weighs 1/2 oz, or an M2-SB

https://www.minibulldesign.com/produ...p?idCategory=2

Very cool to see a successful project. It is still way heavier than I prefer, but if it suits you and saves a pound it is a big success. I like the fact that it was cheap.

Groovy. Any picks of the flame pattern? With and without a pot on it?

nice stove! I haven't seen that design yet. How does the simmer cover you made work for you? Also, you mentioned the cooking times which are nice and long, what exactly are you cooking when you go touring with that setup? And how do the insulation wraps you fabricated work for you? As Staehpj1 mentioned, you could go much lighter with the pop can stove design, and it sounds like the power is comparable in terms of boiling times. I personally haven't tried the pop can stove with a simmer ring (you can make one from the top of the pop can and set it on top just like you did in the photo). Staehpj1, have you tried a simmer ring on your stove?

Not with any success, but I haven't put much effort into it. I actually think just making a second simmer burner may be my solution if I bother. As it is it works great for simple cooking.

There isn't a flame pattern that you can see really.It doesn't shoot flames out of the holes in the burner.It shoots flames into the middle of the burner and then up to the pot.So if I take a picture,it just looks like a blue light under the pot.

If you just take what you actually need to cook with,it's about 6 oz......Stove,pot,lid,fork.You have to remember,it's made out of stainless steel not aluminum,it will last a lifetime.You can't step on this and crush it.

Lots of good stove ideas out there. Here is my version of a similar setup. (Stainless steel mug since replaced) My backbacking setup is 1/4th this size and weight of this one. Oh and I did my cross country in 2004 with a Svea 123, they are great.

Interesting, I too am retiring my 35 year old svea 123. I has served me well, but the valve has gone out on it. For my tour this year I'm bringing my Snow Peak LiteMax that I use for backpacking. It's 1.9 ounces and TOO easy to use. Since I'm concerned about canister re-supply I'm also bringing a soda-can stove for backup. Big weight difference even with TWO stoves.

BTW: I do plan on recycling my old canisters wherever I purchase new ones.