Hobo Stove

[Beprepared]

Thanks for that Stuart. Glad you enjoyed it. Just found this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3u3E...eature=related

The cheap $10 still. The first minute has a great can cutting technique, the rest I wish there was more explanation. I think in a SHTF scenario, fuel would be a great commodity. If I could cheaply make it form any sugar/vegetable/fruit that would be a tremendous boon. Heck prisoners make their own boose from juice.

[Irving]

Definitely a lack of info in that last video you posted.

I forgot to mention that I want to do some tests between alcohol and petroleum jelly. I'd like some input from anyone who might already know.

I figure first I'll soak a cotton ball in petroleum jelly and one in alcohol, light them at the same time and see which burns longer.

Then I'll investigate the cost of petroleum jelly vs alcohol. It seems like with petroleum jelly you could just pack the penny stove full of it, and not have to worry about it drying out or evaporating like you would alcohol. *Every Zippo I've ever had in my life has never worked because I'm not a smoker and never used them often enough to keep them wet.*

One thing that I suspect is that the jelly might not burn as quick/hot as the alcohol and may not be hot enough to cook with. Also, in those videos, they always spray/waste some alcohol all over the outside to get the stove going. I'm wondering what kind of issues I'd run into with jelly, and if I could devise some sort of temporary wick system or something. All comments are welcome.

If the jelly idea pans out, then I think I'll spend $11 and make about 10 of those penny/can stoves at a time and just pack them away.

[hollohas]

Those soda can alcohol stoves really do work. And you don't need to get fancy with sealant or anything like that. Tons of plans on the Internet. I have made many different models..but the simpler ones are easier to make and most of them work as good or better than the more complicated ones. They will even work without the penny. I used nothing but two cans and a Swiss army knife to make my favorite one. There is even a company that makes these out of titanium or something that you can buy for like $20. If I can remember it I will post it. They are nice because they have legs and a pot stand but still weight about the same as the soda can ones.

And Alcohol is the best fuel. Burns clean and turns into gas easily which is what you need for these. It's the gas that is burning, not the liquid fuel.

[hollohas]

Found it.

http://www.vargooutdoors.com/store/S...duct_info.html

$29.00

[Irving]

That's pretty cool. I was thinking that my grandpa could probably lathe me up something that is threaded so you don't have to worry about sealing it at all.

[testify4]

If the fuel that you are using is turning the pot black, you can try coating the outside of the pan with some liquid soap. We used to do that in the Boy Scouts to make cleanup easier when we were on KP duty and were cooking over a camp fire.

[Irving]

Good tip thanks. Fortunately it wiped off pretty easy. There also just so happened to be a steel wool scrubber in the sink at the time, so that made it a breeze.