My Mess / PSK kit pics - PIC HEAVY

IH8U

IH8U

Joined
Mar 6, 2007
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Alright, I finally took some pics of my current mess kit / PSK. I'll call it my PSK after I pick up a new molle compatible canteen case.

Anyways, this is really more about my mess kit than anything else. I have screwed around with alcohol stoves for years now and always had issues. I have come up with a few great designs out of aluminum budwieser bottles, that have also been thought up by other people and are for sale on ebay (bastards). Pepsi can stoves, pressurized, non pressurized, hobo stoves, super cat stoves you name, I have made it. I got my stove concept from Tinny at mini bull designs and found something that I like and that works. My cup is a battlefield tested US issue canteen cup. Freaking thing rocks and will hold up for ever. I have played around with beer can (Heineken) pots and other various pots, grease pot, aluminum pots but I always fall back on the good ole canteen cup.

Now I'd like to state that I'm not an uber ultra lighter and a little weight for performance is fine with me, nor am I a jetboil kinda guy. My stove is simple and its light and it works.

Ok lets get going with some pics.

This my current carry all, like I said I'm looking for a new molle canteen holder with a couple of pockets and I should be able to fit everything in that.

HAD TO REMOVE THIS PIC AS I HAD TO MANY, you can see the digi camo back in the background of some of the other pics.

Whats inside: A ripstop poncho, which I dub my temporary shelter. Some coordage to make my shelter. Some alcohol and my mess kit. I have other things to add like my freak'n fork, but I forgot about it.
psk1.jpg


A little peak at whats inside my pot/cup.
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Like I said this bad boy is a true multi fuel set up. I gots some esbit, trioxaine, my alchy stove, a flashlight (will be replaced with my surefire), but it fits, my altoids PSK, some tubing and a piece of arrow shaft.
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You can also see my windscreen/ wood burning stove inside the cup and I shot a pic of inside the altoids tin, but there is way too much crap in there to list it all out.
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This is a pic of my basic pot stand (old aluminum cateen cut and modified). I use the bit of arrow and tube when I'm using wood fuel. I blow air thru the base to heat it up like a forge.
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And here we come to my alchy stove. I made this out of 2 travel size "axe" spray containers. Mashed 2 halves together and stuck 4 pieces of tiki torch fiberglass wick in there. This is simple, cheap and it works. Of course I'm too cool for axe so I sanded off all the coating.
psk6.jpg


OK got 2 cups of water in the cup, got my lid ready. The cool thing with the axe spray is that the cap holds exactly 3/4 ounces of alcohol, so I use that as my measuring cup, brilliant if I do say so myself. Oh the canteen lid is a new product and works pretty good, I'll do a full review on it later when I have time, but its made my Heavycover. It's rubber so don't let the flames creep up on it. I wouldn't use it if I was using wood, but the for the alchy stove it works good.
psk8.jpg


To avoid spillage, I put the stove upside down in the lid to soak up some fuel and then poor the rest of the fuel in.
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Ok were off and running.
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With the heavycover, I was able to get a rolling boiling inbetween 7.5-8.5 minutes, which is not too bad. I did use cold tap water, but I'm not scientific enough to actually take temps and crap.
psk14.jpg


With 3/4 ounces of alcohol this stove will burn for over 13 minutes, but losses strength around 10 1/2 minutes. anyways, it should burn long enough to get cold creek water boiling.

Hope you enjoyed my post. I'm always refining, but this is my go to set up and will be until I come up with something different. Just gotta get that molle canteen case and I think I have a winner.
 
nice little kit man...:thumbup: i dig the Tapatio packet addition... i have been searching far and wide for some of those around here....:o
 
Cool little set up! I like to learn more about how others utilize common items into the woods role, and I find this quite interesting. Thanks for sharing.
 
Homemade stuff is the best. Your kit shows a lot of thought and creativity.
 
Nice kit. I use and modify a lot of issue stuff also. I like the way you made the stove stand from the old canteen, good thinking. Where did you get that lit for the canteen cup?
 
that stove is cool :thumbup:

you should think up a cool name like JetCandle or something :cool:

i might have to try something like that - never had much luck with pepsi can stoves, even the pressurized ones made by someone more competent than me fumbling around with JB Weld. my technique must be bad because they just flare on me and I never get the nice blue flames.
 
mistwalker said:
Nice kit. I use and modify a lot of issue stuff also. I like the way you made the stove stand from the old canteen, good thinking. Where did you get that lit for the canteen cup?
Click to expand...

I'm still testing the lid, but its made by a company called heavycover and is a new product. They are priced good around $10. It seems to fit pretty good, but was a little small and hard to get a good seal the first couple of times. I don't know if there is a difference between the newer style cups and my old school cup, but i'm going to grab a newer style one and see. I did get some leakage from the sipping hole, but other than that, it held in liquids on a shake test. It's way better than the cut up pie plate I was using. As I stated when using this lid beware of flames creeping up the side of the cup, it will melt.

My preference still, is to use the canteen stand with small pieces of wood and bark as a stove, but having multiple fuel options was worth looking into again.

Thanks for all the other kind comments. Hopefully I can pass along some ideas for others to make some homemade gear.
 
akennedy73 said:
that stove is cool :thumbup:

you should think up a cool name like JetCandle or something :cool:

i might have to try something like that - never had much luck with pepsi can stoves, even the pressurized ones made by someone more competent than me fumbling around with JB Weld. my technique must be bad because they just flare on me and I never get the nice blue flames.
Click to expand...

I wasted many hours with pepsi can stoves. I was once in higher altitudes and the stupid thing would not pressurize, it pissed me right off. It cost me $5 for two of the axe spray cans and $5 for more than enough tiki fiberglass wick. This stove is smaller, lighter and burns way longer on less fuel than any other stove I have made, so I dub it a winner.

Hey there is also a big bonus. I'm going to make an adapter to hold the stove and also be able to attach a stick for a make shift torch. Try doing that with a pepsi can stove, hehehe.
 
Thats awsome stove and great ideas with what you done there... What i like the most is that you can use wood as well.

Mike me friend if i knew you were looking for Tapatio sauce i would have givin you a hand full of it as i got some in my van all the time lol. Everyone in my family knows when they go out to eat to pick up all the sauces and extras they can and bring them to me. I would see how many i got left as i got raided and most the hot sauce was used up by my Brother in law.
For next get togher i would bring some more hot sauces for you to try...


Sasha
 
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