Tin can Stove

S

SpecialK

Joined
Nov 4, 1999
Messages
91
Ok,

I've been out of work for around 6 months now. Nothing out there. I was an office manager of a 7 floor dot com office in lower Manhattan. Now I'm a victim of the dot coma. I'm sitting here on my couch in my drawers, watching CNN, and listening about the pending war. I won't get in to my opinions on this forum because that's what the Politcal forum is for and I try not to talk about Religion, Politics and Sex... Alright, alright, Religion and Politics!

Anyway, I've been altering my BOB, (for the 50th time) and have been trying to figure out how to make a stove for a can of Sterno and a stainless steel Alpine cup. I was apparently in Reptilian brain mode and finally went into Hobo brain mode. I took an empty baked beans can, washed it out and punched several holes in it with my Leatherman. Broke out the sterno and the cup, torched her up and had a cup of tea about 40 minutes later. Granted, the sterno only burns for about 50 minutes, but they are small enough to stick three or four in your BOB.

Anywho, I just thought a little "Mosquito Coast" thinking might save everyone some money.

God, I need a job! :)

Al
 
I got a lot of free time here myself... I hope you're getting good unemployment...

when your sterno runs out, you can fill the 1/5 of the can with denatured alcohol... it's only a few bucks a gallon... much cheaper then sterno...(do not use gasoline, lighter fluid of white gas)

I'm toying with the possibility of getting that dried gel stuff that you find in them flower and nursery stores... the stuff that is supposed to retain water... soak it in denatured alcohol and see if you can make your own sterno...

and hey, try not to burn down any buildings okay?
 
You can also use gasoline or whatever like that at hand, even Kerosene. just fill a bit the can with sand or small stones, add fuel until you see it coming above the sand/stone level. Then add a bit more sand and let soak.
I have done it with a few types of fuel, and everything seems to work OK, but I have done it only with sand. Heard it works with stones too.
BTW, I am also unemployed. :-D
 
I make mine by coiling cardboard inside a tuna can, then cover with melted wax. It brought a pint of water to boil in two minutes. The problem is the black soot that covers your cookpot or cup.
 
The coiled cardboard and wax in the tuna can work great. Cheap and easy to assemble, what more could you want?
 
That Dian Thomas book (Roughing it Easy) I mentioned some months ago goes into this. She uses the cardboard tuna can method with wax. It's also useful to keep the lid and rig it with a long wire handle so you can adjust the flame as a damper. Just put more wax chips on the burner as it burns to refill the wax. She also uses a number 10 can, the biggish coffee cans for example, as the stove. Cut out a flap on the open end to slide the burner in. Around the bottom, use the puncturing type can opener to punch triangular holes around the rim as a chimney. This gives you the bottom surface of the can (used inverted) as a stove. Works very well. You can use other cans with wire bails as your pots and so on.

The bulk and sooty inside are the cons of the method. She calls it a "buddy burner". A search on google turns up plenty of how tos for that name.
 
Broke down and got an Esbit Stove from Paragon Sports, the single most overpriced sporting goods store in NYC, let alone the Whole East Coast. Any way, it's pretty cool. Boiled a stainless steel cup of water in 8 minutes. Left a big scorch stain (after scrubbing) on both the cup and the stove, but it works!!!

Al
 
How about using night lights? (candles)

They burn for 8 hours, never tried them myself but they should work.
 
For thems that cares :-)

If you wipe a thin layer of dish soap on the outside of the pot/cup/pan/whatever before cooking over an open fire, you will find it *very* easy to wash off afterwards. A small squirt bottle goes a long ways. Not sure that this is so important for an end times BOB, but it sure works well for day to day bush living.

Clinton
 
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