Hobo Stove

Alright folks, there is a place for camp stoves, I love mine. But why worry about fuel in a SHTF scenario. The Hobo Stove has been well known since the 20's. There are many designs floating around the internet. Whats your favorite?

Here is just one example...
http://practicalsurvivor.com/hobostove

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

Or if you want to get a little more elaborate, there is wood gasification. Now thats some cool stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRbr3...eature=related

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

Or just for giggles a pocket alcohol stove.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj7PI...eature=related

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

Wood Gas Generators

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

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...2353533644927#

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F258s13UxfY

I've always wanted to build a small wood gasifier after seeing some builds on the internet.

Problem is, I always forget to save my cans so I can piece something together. I usually remember the day after the recycling goes!

It would be nice and light for backpacking or if you needed to heat a small pot of water. It would also be a smaller and less conspicuous fire with little smoke.

I like the little pocket alcohol stoves made from beer cans and a penny.

Really cool links. Thanks for posting!

I like the pocket/penny can stoves. I could see those being really useful with limited resources. The compact size comes into play when in a pack BOB etc.

I'm going to make that penny can stove tonight. I'm going to use cotton balls instead of insulation, punch all the holes in the can before I cut it, and use zippo lighter fluid as the fuel. I think I happen to have some head gasket RV sealant in my tool box. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Later, I'd like to try and make that Rocket Stove and bring it up to the bunk house for use up there.

Penny/Can stove is built and the RTV sealant is drying on the porch. I'll fill it up with as much zippo fluid as I have left and see how long it burns. In fact, I'll also time how long it takes to boil water. Gloria doesn't think it will last long, we'll see.

UPDATE: I made the penny can stove. It worked wonderfully, boiled water in about 7 minutes, and I even cooked a package of Top Ramon noodles.

Notes:

-I did this experiment in my fireplace.
-Even though the holes are to the side, if you set the pot directly onto the can it will put the fire out in about a minute. Once I re-lit the stove, I just used the log holder in the fire place with about 1" between the rim of the stove and the bottom of the pot and that worked fine.
-It turned my pot black. So now I have to clean it or get a new one.
-I used about half a bottle of $1.99 Zippo lighter fluid and had the stove going for at least 30 minutes. I got bored watching it and put it out.
-Blowing it out doesn't work.
-REMEMBER TO KEEP THE PENNY OR BOLT OVER THE FILL HOLE.
-I took video, but don't know what format it is in and can't upload it to photo bucket.

Only draw back I see is having fuel on hand. Otherwise, very compact and handy.

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.

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.

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.

Found it.

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

$29.00

http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/a...h/b210zyk2.jpg

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.

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.

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.

So is there any kind of fuel that people should AVOID? I don't want to burn anything that is going to be toxic either to breath or on food.

Not that I know of. Maybe avoid buring chemicals...

I have an MSR backpacking stove that says it will burn damn near anything, some better than others of course, but it is designed to be used anywhere in the world so the fuel is flexible. It will burn white gas, ethanol/denatured alcohol, kerosene, auto fuel, diesel, jet fuel, naphtha and stoddard solvent whatever that is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stuart

So is there any kind of fuel that people should AVOID? I don't want to burn anything that is going to be toxic either to breath or on food.

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You could load it with that jelled fuel in the cans that are used to heat food in chafing dishes.

My wife has some it's called blaze chafing fuel.

Can you buy it in bulk?

Ideally, I'd like to find something that I could pack into the penny can, close it all up, put the can in a baggy or something and just toss it into a bug out bag without worrying about it leaking or drying out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stuart

Can you buy it in bulk?

Ideally, I'd like to find something that I could pack into the penny can, close it all up, put the can in a baggy or something and just toss it into a bug out bag without worrying about it leaking or drying out.

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I don't know if you can buy it in bulk?

I doubt it would leak all over as it's in a solid form.

If you put it into the penny can and into a plastic bag Idoubt it would dry out.

What's funny is as I'm reading the can it warns of how poisonous it is.

lol

And they sell this for the sole purpose of warming food in chafing dishes.[Tooth]

Well sure it's poisonous, if you drink it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stuart

Well sure it's poisonous, if you drink it.

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So you're saying using it as a condiment after my food is prepared is not a good idea?

I'm not a lawyer or a representative of the company, but I'd advise against it.

Hopefully sometime this summer I'll attempt to make that rocket stove and I'll post it up on here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SU405

So you're saying using it as a condiment after my food is prepared is not a good idea?

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You are dealing with a chemical compound. The composition prior to burning (an oxidation reduction reaction, resulting in new compounds) is different than after burning. I suspect it's toxic before burning, but the fumes from the flame are not. So, unless you are adding it to flavor the food, you are fine.

As an example, I suspect exhaling and then taking a nice big hit off of a natural gas line is probably really bad for you, but people have been burning natural gas for centuries to cook their food.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SA Friday

You are dealing with a chemical compound. The composition prior to burning (an oxidation reduction reaction, resulting in new compounds) is different than after burning. I suspect it's toxic before burning, but the fumes from the flame are not. So, unless you are adding it to flavor the food, you are fine.

As an example, I suspect exhaling and then taking a nice big hit off of a natural gas line is probably really bad for you, but people have been burning natural gas for centuries to cook their food.

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I understand all this.

I was just having a little fun fellas.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SU405

I understand all this.

I was just having a little fun fellas.

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Yeah right. I already called the police telling them that I suspect a dude on the internet is going to try and drink some gasoline on the way home from work today.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stuart

Yeah right. I already called the police telling them that I suspect a dude on the internet is going to try and drink some gasoline on the way home from work today.

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Damn you!

I was wondering how he knew I had Premium on my breath.

I only drink the good stuff ya know.

I found this video of how to make a rocket stove out of bricks. This stove could use some improvements, but the idea is cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSMR2...eature=related


Also, it should be noted that what I've learned from watching all these "rocket stove" videos, is that none of these types of stoves are actual rocket stoves, they are only referred to that way as a layman term. I think a true rocket stove is much more complex.

All that aside, the idea of this type of stove is very cool. Many of you probably already know this, but I didn't and thought it was great to learn. The point of making these stoves with insulation and a chimney is so you can greatly increase the heat at one point. This allows you to use much less wood and still be able to have high enough temperatures to effectively cook food. The insulation keeps the heat in the stove and the chimney directs all the heat out the top where your cook surface is.

So stuart, what is the verdict on the petrolium jelly versus the alcohol test? I am curious.

I haven't tried the petroleum jelly yet, although I do have a new can stove to try it in.

Pouring that 70% alcohol into my first can basically ruined it, because now it seems to be water logged. I guess I could try the petrolium today though. I was kind of under the impression that the jelly wouldn't release enough fumes to ignite. Guess there is only one way to find out though.

Seems like with the petroleum jelly, I won't need a medium (cotton balls) to hold the propellant up close to the holes or keep it in place. I'll try it with just jelly and no cotton balls unless anyone says something different in the next few minutes here.

So far, petroleum jelly is a failure. Apparently, you can't burn the jelly directly, the heat just liquefies the jelly and it drips off where ever you're trying to burn it. A cotton ball with the jelly worked in will burn for a bit. I put a bunch of jelly into a can, and worked a bunch of cotton balls into the can, going 4 at a time. So I have this can with about 12 soaked cotton balls in there now. It won't light with the lid on. I suspect that the only way I can get it to light would be to light it with the lid off, and figure out a way to get that delicate can lid back on top before I engulf myself in flames.

It is looking like the best way to is to make a can, put some cotton balls in it, seal it up, and just keep the bottle of fuel in its own container with the stove and use it when you need it.