Way cool, ultra light weight camping stove

[Aloft]

While building your own stove certainly has a strong appeal, for those of us that lack the necessary mechanical savvy, I highly recommend the "Clikstand". I keep it in a 0.9liter ti pot (not non-stick, you don't want to scratch that stuff!). The Clikstand uses the proven Trangia burner that has served Swedish Army soldiers for about a century, IIRC. It has the advantage of a screw top so you can save the fuel in the burner that has not burned for your next meal. I was very impressed by the Clikstand's quality and apparent durability.

Of course, you could also try the "real" Trangia Stoves, made by trangia.se ... they're not ultralight by any means, and they rattle around in a pack, but they're bombproof and virtually unaffected by wind. I did a little test with a half liter of water:

Tap water (approx 65F), Outside air temp 65F .... Boil in 8 minutes
Ice Water (approx 38F), Outside air temp 65F .... Boil in 8 minutes
Tap Water, Outside air temp 40F .... Boil in 8 minutes
Ice Water, Outside air temp 40F, wind about 12mph .... Boil in 8 minutes

Hmmm, no discernable pattern there! Not as impressive as a Jet Boil or some other fancy liquid fueled stove which claim a 90 second boil, but not as temperamental either; or as smelly or loud.

I usually light my Trangia burner with sparks from a swiss fire steel. I once put my burner in the freezer with a full fuel load for 3 weeks (don't forget to put the screw top on!). After getting its temperature down that much, it would NOT light with the firesteel, but still lit very easily with an open flame from a match. I did this to test the theory that alcohol stoves are unreliable in freezing temps ... theory apparently busted! Seems like a silly theory anyway, since they're used in Sweden all the time!

If you're not familiar with alcohol stoves, a word of caution. Their advantages of silent operation and almost invisible flame (especially in daylight) might make them ideal for Navy SEALS or Army Rangers, but if you have small kids around, be careful they don't knock it over ... the fuel will spill and catch nearby objects on fire.

 

[kris994]

Had a look at the site you linked to. What design would you recommend for a total beginner?

Thanks! Nice job btw! I really wanna make one of these!

Edit: Found this link that might be helpful for anyone thinking of making one

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soda_can_stove

 

[LED_Thrift]

I found the Penny Stove to be fairly easy. It works great. The link Dirty Bob posted [post #18] should work. As mentioned, I use Denatured Alcohol from the hardware store - about $14 per gallon, which lasts a L O N G time.

 

[oregon]

Creative work on the stove. I've just been returning my cans to the store for pocket change .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol

I've used Methanol (yellow bottle of HEET) for a self-igniting lighter made back in the day in order to amuse friends. The flame is hot and barely visible on the small scale. B@rt has a thread in the "other" category of "Personal Gadgetry & Non-flashlight Electronics" called "The logical successor to the flint lighter" that you might find interesting.

The threat of Methanol, thru the skin and via vapors, to the optic nerve and pregnant women puts some fear in me so I keep it hidden (up high on a shelf), safe (out in the well-ventilated garage) and don't handle it without protection from the liquid and from the fumes. Plus I warn anyone I show the lighter to before they are exposed to it's fuel.

oregon

 

[Charlotte]

Okay, I admit it - I seem to have contracted a really rather nasty case of stove-nerdiness. For some reason, camping stoves really float my boat and I can't quite seem to stop playing with them. Particularly the sort that run on meths. Perhaps it's just the excuse to play with fire and flammable fluids a lot, I don't know.

It started on a practice bug out trip. I brought along my ultralightweight coke can hobo stove (basically, just a penny stove as per previous posters) and managed to both make tea and not loose my eyebrows in the process:

Although fiendishly simple and jolly effective, the problem with yer bog-standard coke-can stove is that it needs priming first, it uses a lot of meths and you need some kind of pot support. Although I have a 0.9l Ti pot and a clickstand too (I took it and my trangia burner on a 3 1/2 week bike trip down the West Coast of the USA in September) I wanted something smaller and lighter and more basic.

Enter the White Box Stove (so named because it arrives from its manufacturer inna white box...)

Made by a bloke called Bill in Montana, out of recycled aluminum drinks bottles, it's one of the best made little stoves currently available. Really, you're not going to be able to make this yourself without spending loads of time and money figuring out how to get it "just so". For a few dollars off eBay and coming with a heat reflector and wind shield, it's got to be the bargain of the month.

It's almost as bonkers light as a Coke can stove, but unlike a Coke can stove, you don't have to worry about it getting accidentally recycled in your bag - it's quite crushproof and will probably last a lifetime. The design does away with the need for a pot support entirely - by being a side-jet design and being strong enough to take the weight of your kettle directly.

It's dead easy to use - you fill it with meths (there's a handy line scored inside it to show it's maximum 2oz capacity) you pop it on the included flat surface/heat reflector thingie and then you light it.

Wait about a minute and with a little "pop" noise, the jets bloom out and you get this:

Pretty, innit?

Bung your pot on the top, wrap the included wind shield round the whole caboodle and you're away:

Bill recommends that you use a pot or kettle larger than 6" in diameter so as to get maximum efficiency from the stove. The little pot that I intend to use is much smaller than that, so the flames spill out over the sides. It still works perfectly well, but the handle can get a bit warm and I expect I'm wasting some of those precious joules of energy.

You can boil a 350ml cup of water on much less than 20g of meths (roughly 1/3 of what the stove can hold). Clearly, this isn't a stove to cook up backcountry banquets on; it's tea, coffee, rehydrated hiking food and super-noodles territory only here. You can't refill the stove mid-burn, nor can you put it out and save your meths once you're done. You've got to let it burn out or risk grievous injury.

But if you're after a super reliable, ultralightweight way of knocking up a brew and you're a meths fetishist like me; I highly recommend you try one. Backpacking Light sell 'em in the UK, but I bought mine direct from Bill on eBay. It showed up in a week and worked out cheaper.

Here's how a typical lightweight brew kit could work with it:

Problem is, I've just bought a Snowpeak Titanium gas stove now. And let me tell you, that's loooovely

 

[TranquillityBase]

Great post Charlotte...I hear you with the stove-nerdiness bug...I had to build a few different versions to get it out of my system, so to speak

I may have contracted the bug again, thanks to your post:thanks::help:

 

[zelph]

Cool stoves and just another one to add to the bunch.

This one is made of a wedding tin container and is filled with fuel absorbing material. It holds 1 ounce of meths and won't spill out when tipped. boils 2 cups of water with 3/4 ounce of fuel. Has an integrated stainless steel wire potstand.

 

[TranquillityBase]

Nice!

Did you make that? More details please

 

[zelph]

Nice!

Did you make that? More details please

I made that one using 2" diameter wedding favor tins available at wallmart stuffed it with ceramic cotton and then covered it with fiberglass cloth. The pot stand is aprox. 2" tall and is made of stainless steel wire. It's mounted directly to the wedding favor tin. It will absorb and hold 1 ounce of fuel. It's very practical and much safer than most homemade stoves. It weighs 1/2 ounce. All parts are rust proof.

 

[LED_Thrift]

Stainless steel as a pot support would be nice, where can I scavange some?

 

[TranquillityBase]

Nice!

How many holes in the top, what size are the holes, and where did you get the ceramic cotton?

Just regular fiberglass cloth like the stuff used for boat hull repair?

Did you use SS Tig filler wire for making the pot support?

Thanks,
Scott

 

[KDOG3]

Oh man, I did NOT need to see this thread! I bookmarked about every link here. I definetly gotta try this.... We need to find the best plans available out there. I don't understand something though where do you put the fuel? It looks like you pour it directly in the center but that can't be right. I'm missing something.....

 

[zelph]

This is another photo of a most recent modification. I replaced the fiberglass cloth with stainless steel mesh. Just pour the fuel into the center of the stove and light. I came to the forums to research the use of tritium tubes. I have used them in creating a survival type flashlight that some might find it interesting. I'll start another thread on that DIY project. Would tritium go under this forum? (other) I'm also expecting to receive some Self Igniting Cigar Lighters in the mail that I can make some available here if I can get anyone interested. I'll start a thread on those also.

 

[Dirty Bob]

Stainless steel as a pot support would be nice, where can I scavange some?

One source is stainless bike spokes. Any bike shop should be able to sell them to you. Not very expensive, but tough and rust-resistant.

Regards,
Dirty Bob

 

[zelph]

Nice!

How many holes in the top, what size are the holes, and where did you get the ceramic cotton?

Just regular fiberglass cloth like the stuff used for boat hull repair?

Did you use SS Tig filler wire for making the pot support?

Thanks,
Scott

Ceramic Cotton comes from a chimney repair company locally.

s/s wire came from ebay

Fiberglass from the local hardware. Fiberglass repair kit/bondo car body and fender repairs, boat repairs etc.

 

[LED_Thrift]

One source is stainless bike spokes. Any bike shop should be able to sell them to you. Not very expensive, but tough and rust-resistant.
Regards,
Dirty Bob

One of my first pot supports was from SS bike spokes. It was very wobbly with a pot of water on it, and would collapse often with the movement of the boiling water. This failure led to a great discovery though. My stove usually ran for a maximum of about 11 minutes. I filled the stove and lit it, a few minutes later, just as the water started to boil the bike spoke stand collapsed and some of the water spilled out into the stove. It was still burning, but at a reduced level, and I just left it to burn itself out and just used the water that remained to fill a water bottle, which was for my son to put in his sleeping bag with him. We were backpacking Thanksgiving weekend in the Adirondaks, and so it was below freezing the whole three days, and the hot water bottle in the bag is the best trick I know to sleep warm. My son and I then went to look at the stars in a clearing nearby. It is so dark up in the Adirondaks the sky amazed us. We spent at least 20 minutes and when we got back the stove was still lit! So now, if I'm cooking something that needs to reach boiling and then simmer, I take between half a tablespoon to two tablespoons of water and add it to the stove once the water in the pot starts to boil. It reduces the flame intensity and prolongs the burn time. It's kind of adding a low level to a flashlight to extend battery life. I've tried the 'simmer ring' recommended on my penny stove, but for me the water works better. When you use the right amount of water, there is no liquid left in the stove when it finishes burning.

 

[Illum]

Enter the White Box Stove (so named because it arrives from its manufacturer inna white box...)

WANT...ONE...NOW!
Wonder if we have any members in Montana that could get a group buy from this, $20 for all that is absolutely fantastic!
I'm getting one meself.


Any idea where I can buy this fuel?

 

[f22shift]

http://cgi.ebay.com/UltralightDesig...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:2|294:50

this looks similar. at almost half the price. whats the difference

 

[greenLED]

Any tips to make these things leak-proof (without using tape or epoxy, that is). Every single one we've made ends up leaking gas once ignited and pressurized.

 

[f22shift]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcrW27Leo4w&feature=related