I have used can stoves for over 45 years, first one was in Girl Scouts, where we punched holes in #10 cans and burned food on them. Over the years I have made and used several of them, as camping stoves, as my primary cooking while the kitchen was gutted, for one of my main cooking devices as I traveled in a VW bus, etc.
You may have noticed I have several threads lately about the things I'm doing to deal with the knowledge that the power goes out several times a year here in winter, and I dislike being cold when it does. I don't like being hungry either. Time to make a new can stove!
This one is the top of the line I have made, out of various junk I had around, designed to be very usable and use very little wood. I cut a bunch of sticks a few months ago, about 18 inches long by the diameter of my thumb. Lots of years of using these stoves lets me know what I like best for fuel. I lived in the desert, when camping I often had to pack in any firewood I used, I got good at cooking on very little wood. It's not hard to do.
Part of making it easy to use is choosing your menu well. Something like spaghetti is not going to be easy on this, noodles that take a long time and need to be in deep water at full boil is not a good choice, egg noodles cook faster, cous-cous even faster. Things that cook fast will be best, pancakes and eggs are great on these. Second best way to use this is going to be things that can be partly cooked, then put in a hay box type thing until it's done, maybe with bringing it back up to full hot before serving. Stews and soups with no noodles or fast cooking ones do well that way. I recommend making food that cooks easily: cut pieces small, especially hard things, sautee some ingredients before adding water so they are pretty much cooked, choose fast cooking menus.
What did I make?
A twig burning rocket stove!
Started with asst junk I had around, didn't use all of it, added some more as I went along.
Put a 32 oz can into a #10 can (64 oz) to be a chimney. I cut a hole into the bottom of the big can that is a hair smaller than the small can, then cut the bottom of the small can mostly out, leaving a ring I cut into tabs and folded over to hold it in place. It's pretty solid!
Looks like I failed to get a few pics in here....
Base is a can the same diameter of the #10 can, but shorter and sturdier. It got a soup can as a feeder throat, small triangular air holes punched in it, a back door opening cut, and tabs screwed to it that hold the top section in place. Two views of it.
The chimney can got holes punched in it's top edge too, and the tabs that were left were rolled around the top rim to keep them from being sharp. I un-sharped everything I could on this stove. Not a fan of being cut up.
The base got a sliding door put over the access hole. It's both for ash removal, and adding more air if needed.
The top section got a little grill on it, made to hold on like it has springs, and wires to hold up the pot skirt. The top of the can had a ring cut to fit REALLY tightly around the chimney, and the space between those two cans was filled with stuff to insulate it. I had no good insulation, I saw people on the net using clay kitty litter, didn't have any. What I did have was grit for chickens, and I have no chickens any more. So it's insulated with chicken grit :D (you know you are a permie when.... !! )
When both sections are stacked up it look like this
With a pot skirt made of a sloped wall popcorn tin on it and a pan in it
It was a bit top heavy for my taste, wouldn't fall down casually, but if knocked (like hitting it during a reflexive jump if you burn or cut your hand) might go over. I had a chunk of ductwork out of a dumpster that is sturdy. Dangerous sharp snaggy beastie!
Trimmed smooth, hammered flat
Sharp edges neatly taped with gorilla tape, then bolted to the bottom can
Final result!!
I haven't fired it up yet, hoping it'll burn the stupid looking snowman off that pot skirt!
Twig burning can stove
I'll take pics when I fire it up and test it, it will not look anywhere NEAR as shiny after that.
John C Daley wrote:That is a great effort and shows that twigs are just as useful for cooking as lager material, its just a matter of how you do it.
Yes, and in a stove like this, they are more effective. I can control the heat exactly by adding more, but when these get too hot, they burn food fast, and it's hard to tell bigger pieces of wood "Hey! Slow down your burn!" Because they DO run hotter than most people expect.
Also small wood is more likely to be easy to find, especially in an area that has been picked over for firewood, everyone else skips this size sticks.
The unit pictured is very fancy, I have others that incorporate the base, are made from tin plate or galvanised plate and are just as effective.
I just cannot remember the name to describe them.
Hahaha, I'm flattered!
I curtsy nicely at you both!!
Like I said, not my first rodeo with these things.
Still never fired it up. Winter was weird for many reasons, and we never lost power so I didn't need to fire it, and the weirdness kept me from doing it casually.
I'll get to it one of these days :D
Post by:autobot
He was giving me directions and I was powerless to resist. I cannot resist this tiny ad:
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