Camp Stove Experiment

Some time ago I came across a website called Risk's Ultralite Hiking. I became intrigued with the ultralight hiking aspect of camping, but never really did anything with it since I don't really hike long distance any more and have not hiked in to an area and camped overnight since the late 80s when I hiked Haystack Mountain in The Adirondacks with my Mom and a close friend of ours. I assure you this is not for lack of interest in hiking/camping, but life happens and one becomes content with the status quo, I guess. That and I really have no friends. Well, that's not true. I have no friends who hike/camp who don't have lives of their own. The one I do know tried to kill me on Mt Washington in 2003 - okay, it was not his fault. I was out of shape and unprepared - has a wife and child now.

Anyway, I came across my old back packing camp stove when we were getting ready for our last car camping trip and decided to see if I could still get gas cartridges for it. I can't. This little stove saw two trips in the 80s. It's like new and works great, if you have the fuel for it. I can't believe it, but when I was looking for gas cartridges on the web, I came across this web site. At the very bottom of the page on the right side is a picture of the stove I have. This site is a museum or some such thing. How depressing!

I decided to try making one of Risk's Coffee Stoves to see if I could actually do it without cutting off a finger or singing my eyebrows. I tried a demo model a few nights ago on a large coffee can I had in the basement. I plan to finish that one as it may be fun to use while car camping. Today, after finishing the chicken coop project, I went to work on the small coffee stove which require nothing more than a coffee can, a coat hanger, tin snips, pliers, drill with small bit, and a can opener (the kind that pierces the top of a can).

Coffee can.

Coffee can cut at the second ring from the bottom

Here, the sharp edge has been bent down to the inside and compressed with pliers and the six ventilation holes have been made in the sides using the can opener (church key opener as Risk describes it).
The completed stove with holes drilled in three places and supports in place (see Risk's site for better images). The supports are made using a metal clothes hanger and are held in place by holes drilled into the sides and tabs left by the creation of the vent holes. The little pot on top is what came with my old Globe Trotter stove and holds at least two cups of liquid.

Fuel for this stove is nothing more than twigs. I collected everything I needed within ten feet of me from the small, dead branches that came down in the nor'easter. It is amazing the heat that comes off of the thing. I used a bit of toilet tissue and tiny twigs to get it going, then added bigger stuff. There is plenty of room between the stove and the pot to add fuel as the pot's contents heat and the fire burns down so there is no need to remove the pot. In fact, I think I could shorten the pot supports a bit to get the pot closer to the fire. Even with that amount of space I was able to heat enough water for tea, or to rehydrate a dehydrated meal in no time at all.

I purchased another can of coffee yesterday that has a removable label. I wasn't sure if the paint on the can I used today was safe or not, but most of it sort of burned off of the can anyway. There was a protective coating on the hanger that burned off and is now safe.

A really nice and unexpected surprise was that the stove fits nicely in the pots and there is room for the supports, pot holder, some fire starting materials (I am hoping to make some, but that's a future post) and a small piece of aluminum foil to use as a lid.


If nothing else, this was a fun little project and a pleasant distraction. I plan to play with these little stoves on future trips for practice more than anything. I like the idea of not having to haul a stove and fuel canisters into the woods. Will I ever have to? That remains to be seen.