Make your own lightweight super efficient backpacking stove

[Ninja Homer]

I was looking into making one of these a couple years ago, and I think it's about time I do it. You make this alcohol stove out of two 12 oz Heineken keg cans and one soda can. 40 ml of alcohol will bring a quart of water to boil in 8 minutes.
Here's the alcohol stove: http://www.csun.edu/~mjurey/pennywood.html
Directions for making it: http://www.csun.edu/~mjurey/stoveinstruct.html

I was happy to find that they now also have a little wood burning stove. It looks really easy to make, using just a 4" diameter can and 3 tent stakes. A couple handfuls of pencil sized sticks will bring a quart of water to boil in 10 minutes and keep it at a boil for 5 to 10 minutes more (or indefinitely if you keep adding sticks).
http://www.csun.edu/~mjurey/pennywood.html

Here's another easy to make super lightweight stove that uses Esbit fuel tablets. It would be good in a pinch, but the problem would be finding more fuel tablets if SHTF.
http://www.howardjohnson.name/Backpacking/Stove/Howards_Esbit_Stove_3.0.html

I thought some people here may find this useful. It would be good for a bugout bag, or any emergency situation where you need to boil water or cook some food.

[Uriel999]

Or you could do it even easier, take a metal coffee can and poke a bunch of holes in the bottom. take a Tuna can and make make a candle in it. Light the candle and put the coffee can on top. Wait a minute or two for it heat up and start cooking. Works great for hotdogs at least. :D

[123tim]

Thank you for that Ninja Homer.
This looks better than a jet stove.

[Ninja Homer]

Or you could do it even easier, take a metal coffee can and poke a bunch of holes in the bottom. take a Tuna can and make make a candle in it. Light the candle and put the coffee can on top. Wait a minute or two for it heat up and start cooking. Works great for hotdogs at least. :D

The wood burning one is about as easy. Take a 4" diameter salsa or tomato can and poke holes in it in the right places, run a few tent stakes through it, and you're done.

Candle stoves are good for heating stuff up, but you'd be waiting a damn long time to boil water with it. :D Another way they're useful is for light... you have a mini lantern while you're heating stuff up.

Here's some DIY candle lanterns:
http://zenstoves.net/Wax.htm

[Ninja Homer]

Thank you for that Ninja Homer.
This looks better than a jet stove.

Yeah, I watched some youtube videos of it earlier today (search for "penny stove"). It looks like it puts out an amazing amount of heat for such a little thing. I got a 6-pack of Heineken to drink during the debate, and I'm going to make one tomorrow. I just need the tent stakes to make the wood burning one, and I'll probably make that one tomorrow as well.

[Uriel999]

The wood burning one is about as easy. Take a 4" diameter salsa or tomato can and poke holes in it in the right places, run a few tent stakes through it, and you're done.

Candle stoves are good for heating stuff up, but you'd be waiting a damn long time to boil water with it. :D Another way they're useful is for light... you have a mini lantern while you're heating stuff up.

Here's some DIY candle lanterns:
http://zenstoves.net/Wax.htm

Truth, just saying, they do work....and make a mean hotdog. :D

[123tim]

Yeah, I watched some youtube videos of it earlier today (search for "penny stove"). It looks like it puts out an amazing amount of heat for such a little thing. I got a 6-pack of Heineken to drink during the debate, and I'm going to make one tomorrow. I just need the tent stakes to make the wood burning one, and I'll probably make that one tomorrow as well.

Let us know how it turns out!

[Ninja Homer]

Let us know how it turns out!

I made both of them, and they are working great!

First, I made the penny alcohol stove, using a pop can bottom as the burner with these instructions:
http://www.csun.edu/~mjurey/waite_instruct.html
It kept leaking gas around the edges of the burner. I tried it twice as instructed, and had the same problem both times. The third time, I did it without the crimping on the burner, and it fixed the leaking problem, but then it was a lot harder to start. I still like his simmer ring, base cap, and top cap instructions, but went with something else for the burner.

I ended up just making the burner from the bottom of a Heineken can, and it works great. I'm going to put some JB Weld around the edge of the burner, just because if it ever starts leaking when I need it, it will be a huge problem. Here's the instructions for the regular Heineken burner:
http://www.csun.edu/~mjurey/stoveinstruct.html

Here's a good video, mine burns just like it. http://picasaweb.google.com/hiflyer.x/AllThingsPennyStove#5166688393949345250

It took a long time to make the wood stove... there are about 100 holes to drill. http://www.csun.edu/~mjurey/pennywood.html
It was pretty easy though, and it works fantastic. Just a few pencil-thick sticks broken up into little pieces put out a very hot flame that lasted about 20 minutes. This is a "wood gas" stove, so it burns the wood slowly. Then the wood releases gas, which is mixed with hot air at the top of the stove and the gas is ignited. You can actually see flames shooting from the hot air intake holes on the top of the can. There's very little smoke.

I need to make a better wind screen. I just used aluminum foil folded in half, which worked fine until some heavy gusts of wind came. I think I'll try cutting out the bottom of one of those disposable aluminum roasting pans.

The beer can stove was really easy and fun to make. It doesn't take very long at all once you get the hang of it. I have some Heineken cans left, so I'll probably make some more, either to experiment or to give to friends.

[123tim]

Well. I guess that I'm going to have to make one of these now. :)

[UnReconstructed]

I got a whisper lite that made all of the coffee my team drank in Iraq and my family used it during Katrina... coffee and ramen.

http://www.msrgear.com/stoves/images/whisper_large.jpg

http://www.msrgear.com/stoves/whisperlite.asp

I reckon I should make sure that I have fuel for it.

[Ninja Homer]

Well. I guess that I'm going to have to make one of these now. :)

It's a fun little project. The hardest part for me was choking down the Heineken. :D
I like beer, even real bitter varieties, but there's just something about Heineken that doesn't agree with my tastes.

[Ninja Homer]

I got a whisper lite that made all of the coffee my team drank in Iraq and my family used it during Katrina... coffee and ramen.

http://www.msrgear.com/stoves/images/whisper_large.jpg

http://www.msrgear.com/stoves/whisperlite.asp

I reckon I should make sure that I have fuel for it.

From what I've heard, that's a great stove.

One nice thing about the penny alcohol stove is that you can find fuel for it almost anywhere; denatured alcohol from the hardware store, methanol from the hardware store, Everclear from the liquor store, Heet from an automotive or gas station, or rubbing alcohol from the drug store. Somebody also said it worked okay with E85.

The biggest problem I see with it is that it doesn't have a super long burn time at full blast - about 20 minutes if filled all the way. You could always have 2 of them, and just switch them out when the first one burns out. Heineken comes in 6-packs anyway. :D

I did a little time test with the wood stove. I brought 8 cups of water to a boil in a little under 15 minutes. I'm pretty impressed with it. That was using maybe 5 cups of pencil-thick branches broken up into 2 inch long pieces. I kept feeding the branches until it came to a boil, then stopped, and it continued to boil for another 12 minutes. It's not the hottest stove in the world or anything, but it's just a 28 oz tin can burning little bits of kindling.