Hobo stoves, tin cans and braziers

[Celtic Dragon]

MMM, just followed the first link in this thread, and it reminds me of a impromptu cooker I made in scouts may moons ago.

It was a old tabacco tin and put in some corrigated cardboard strips end on into it so the through section of the cardboard is showing then pour in molten wax to just below the level of the cardboard. When you want to use it just put it under a grate and set fire to the cardboard.

Now to have a go at a solid (wood burner)

Simon

 

[alick]

Here's a thought:

For anyone living near an IKEA store, for the princely sum of £2 you can by a stainless steel can ready punched with holes - a draining board organiser for cutlery. It makes an excellent and durable mini brazier when filled with charcoal. Lots of ventilation helps it burn brightly once properly lit.
I've added an improvised grate that sits an inch up from the bottom to help air to get in from below when it's placed on the ground. I used a standard sized wire grill meant to protect the fan in a computer. It happened to fit. A piece of grill from a disposible BBQ would be just as good.

4 1/2 ins dia x 5 ins tall, and 550 grams all up when stuffed full of charcoal. It's a lot hotter and more friendly than a gas stove for an overnight stopover where you can't or don't want to set an open fire.

Cheers

 

[Andy]

talk to your local cafe and see if you could get the catering sized tins. they work well but i'm having a difficult time putting hoes in the sides

 

[sargey]

tk maxx often have bargain s/steel tins that also make grea billy cans.

cheers, and.

 

[Tony]

I have 4 billy's made from TK Max s/steel cans, they are great. I am going to put together a DIY article on them.

 

[Gary]

My local pound shop sells the same thing - real bargin.

 

[Celtic Dragon]

I have 4 billy's made from TK Max s/steel cans, they are great. I am going to put together a DIY article on them.

Tony, I'm waiting with baited breath as I have a couple of TK special billy cans!!! I just need to put the handle on.

ATB
Simon

 

[larry the spark]

Made a simple woodburning stove from one of the 16cm dia. TK maxx ss tins mentioned above. Dead simple. Just drilled loads of 6mm holes and one large central hole in the bottom and fitted 3 long bolts to the underside that serve as retractable legs. Filed a few grooves in the top to house tent pegs that serve as a pot rest.

14cm dia. Zebra billy fits inside perfect though I hadn't forked out for the zebra as I would have rather had a go at making a billy from a 14cm dia. can from TK maxx.

Stove burns like a B****** and all for about £4

 

[Ed]

Any chance of a pic of the stove in action larry?


Ed

 

[larry the spark]

Sure. I'll get one sorted soon. Tony has asked me to do a DIY tutorial so might post that too though wouldn't be much more than whats written above! It's that easy!

 

[maddave]

I have 4 billy's made from TK Max s/steel cans, they are great. I am going to put together a DIY article on them.

Looks like I've got to get my backside to TK Max on Monday. Tony, did you get your tins from the Manchester branch?? :shock:

 

[sargey]

larry, does your stick stove have a raised grate?

cheers, and.

 

[Tony]

I have 4 billy's made from TK Max s/steel cans, they are great. I am going to put together a DIY article on them.

Looks like I've got to get my backside to TK Max on Monday. Tony, did you get your tins from the Manchester branch?? :shock:

I've got one from them about 2 years ago. Other than that I have got them from Preston and Southport. I have a couple that I have to work on yet. Whenever we go places with a good pan and SS section I always wander around trying to work out if I can use things in the bush :-D

 

[larry the spark]

In response to sargeys question about the raised grate...No it doesn't. I decided to try it without as the retractable legs allow the airflow under and up through the can. It's just a simplified way of making one and seems to work great.

Might try another with the more traditional approaches that can be found on the web. [/quote]

 

[sargey]

d'oh! i just re-read your first post. with the holes in the bottom and legs i suppose you have a raised grate already.

do use anything underneath the stove to catch hot ashes?

cheers, and.

 

[larry the spark]

Hadn't thought about it :idea: Any suggestions? In fact I'm going to do a wee tutorial but its my first go at making one and any suggestions would be more than welcome

 

[martin]

I made a stove this week with a catering size bean tin. Drilled 10mm holes around the bottom rim then cut slots in the top with tin snips. Bent the lugs in and out alternately. It burns fuel well enough until you put a Billy on top then it smokes something rotten. Going to to put a Sargey style grate in it and drill more holes about halfway up.

 

[sargey]

holes halfway up don't seem to help usually. i think the idea is to make as long a chimney as is possible to get a good draft going. i have always had problems getting/keeping the fire going with a pot on top. then jimbo suggested suspending the pot over the top of the stove and it works a treat. so my experimentation sort of dropped off. the other advantages with a suspended cookpot are stability, tall skinny stove with heavy weight on top very unstable! and the ability to keep adding fuel without worrying about knocking the pot off.

the grate helps if you have holes in the side of the can. if you have holes in the bottom of the can and you stand the can on legs or rocks to lift it up you already have a grate. the only problem with that is that it takes away the "leave no trace" side of using a stick stove, you could still leave blackened rocks and a small circle of scorched earth. it sort of depends where you are. perhaps less disconcerting on a semi urban canal towpath while fishing, than it is after an illicit lunch stop in somebody else's woodland. :shock: not that anyone here would do a thing like that, obviously! :-?

forgot to add, a grate can be made from the cut out tin lid with a load of holes drilled in it, or, cut out a piece of grill from a disposable bbq. you can hold the grate up with three screws, or a couple of bits of wire coat hanger. or make the holes with church key.

see http://outdoors-magazine.com/s_article.php?id_article=46 for a few more ideas.

cheers, and.

 

[larry the spark]

Thanks for the info sargey, really sound advise . A nice stove can be found here

www.trailstove.com

Although I don't think anybody should buy a bit of kit like this as half the fun is in making your own! However, the principles used in this set up look almost ideal to me. Perhaps a little customisation is in order :idea:

 

[larry the spark]

A good point about the scorching of ground Sargey

After a bit of thought I think the lid for the ss can could be transported on the bottom of the can then set up as a base for the retractable legs to prevent the ground becoming scorched.