When is a Hobo not a Hobo?

[ForgeCorvus]

Everyone knows what a Wayland style Hobo looks like (SS pot, nestling in a SS drainer from Ikea normally) and I can understand the joy of making them (the hunt for the perfect billy/firepot combo)

But what about the other self built stoves, at what point do you guys think they are no longer Hobos ?


Show and tell guys



If I can get a camera working I'll post my project, I'm not sure if its a Hobo or not

 

[Peter_t]

i think the origenal hobo stove is just an old oil drum or something similar that you can burn prety much anything in. sometimes they have a grill on top to barbeque food. i dont think has anything to do with the billy can nesting inside althow this is prety jenious.

also a question for wayland, did u come up with the idea with the billy can nesting inside?

pete

 

[bikething]

also a question for wayland, did u come up with the idea with the billy can nesting inside?

pots stored inside a cooker... isn't that what a Trangia does?

 

[Robbo]

pots stored inside a cooker... isn't that what a Trangia does?

Not exaclty the cooker goes in the pots, which in turn, go inside the windshield

Andy

 

[Wayland]

i think the origenal hobo stove is just an old oil drum or something similar that you can burn prety much anything in. sometimes they have a grill on top to barbeque food. i dont think has anything to do with the billy can nesting inside althow this is prety jenious.

also a question for wayland, did u come up with the idea with the billy can nesting inside?

pete

I'm not sure I would describe it as an "idea", storing the billy inside just seemed the sensible thing to do as it kept the sooty surfaces together and away from the rest of the kit.

The original hobo stoves were simply made from tin cans and then discarded when they had served their purpose, I went for stainless as a more durable solution and kitchen containers fitted the bill.

 

[Joonsy]

when it costs more to make one than to buy one.

 

[Barney]

But what about the other self built stoves, at what point do you guys think they are no longer Hobos?

They stop being Hobo stoves as soon as you have to buy something to make it. Its all in the name IMO. Hobo's would have spent all the money on Beer and fags not cookers.

Not knocking the ingeniousness of Waylands creative cooking system masterclass of course.

 

[Wayland]

when it costs more to make one than to buy one.

They stop being Hobo stoves as soon as you have to buy something to make it. Its all in the name IMO. Hobo's would have spent all the money on Beer and fags not cookers.

Not knocking the ingeniousness of Waylands creative cooking system masterclass of course.

I think you've both got fair points there.

Apart from the kitchen container mine was made from bits I already had lying around.

I've been constantly impressed by the ingenuity shown by people making their own and I do think that's a big part of the fun.

You wouldn't believe the number of people who have e-mailed me through my site asking me to make one for them.

Quite apart from the fact that I don't need another job doing that, I think buying one fully made defeats the object of the exercise.

OK mine is a bit "posh" compared to a tin can, but if I needed to I could very quickly put one together with a bean tin and a pointed object in true hobo style.

 

[Opal]

Wayland, I love those leather bags you put the stove, etc in, did you make them yerself? as I'd love one.

 

[Wayland]

Yes they were home made from scraps of reindeer hide.

They do help to stop things getting messed up by soot and the like.

 

[webmuppet]

They stop being Hobo stoves as soon as you have to buy something to make it. Its all in the name IMO. Hobo's would have spent all the money on Beer and fags not cookers.

Not knocking the ingeniousness of Waylands creative cooking system masterclass of course.

I figures if it was made from stuff you could find lying around it was still hobo. Like you buy an Ikea cutlery drainer instead of spending the morning at the dump finding one..

 

[ForgeCorvus]

So, a SS floating shelf bracket is OK as I picked it out of a skip ? (plus a piece of mesh from an industrial light and the rivets and welding rod out of the shed-zone)

Right then, camera sorting....comence

 

[Chance]

So what have we all been making (those of us who sleep with a roof over our head and don't have a form of transport as part of our name) ?

Are we allowed a neologism, or are they just home-made-hobo-style stoves ?

"Last year I made my first Wayland."
"That's a fancy HMHS you've got there !"
"My bushcraft stove boils 500ml in 3 minutes".
"We're planning to take a twig-burner to the next Moot."

 

[Chance]

I finally got around to making a stainless version of my hobo shield. If the base material was a skip-scavenged water heater, but I used a HSS-CO drill bit, does that make it some kind of Supertramp stove ? A hobo hybrid ?

Frustratingly, after a day's sawing, straightening, drilling, bending, filing and swearing, I've ended up with something that is difficult to distinguish from a saucepan with the bottom cut off and a slit in the side. I could have saved myself a load of time raiding the kitchen instead.

Still, it does the job, though.
The job being to still the voices by displacement activity (or 'having a hobby').
And it was satisfyingly fast to brew up some mint tea.

 

[Tengu]

Sophistry, methinks

 

[Tadpole]

I think that to be in the 'true spirit' of hobo technology, the item has to be imminently replaceable/deposable. You make it from what you find when you arrive at you destination, use it and throw it away when you’ve finished or when you move on. In that your average hobo, nicks a tin can from the rubbish, punches a few dozen holes in it, fills it with coal/wood/rubbish.

We none of us do that, nor would I suggest that is sustainable as a way of life. What we do is reduce reuse recycle, added to that reinvent and make do.
Rather than spend hard earnt money on high cost items, we reduce the cost by using/reusing items that do a job for which the inventors/designers never intended. Rather than use disposable items we recycle items and reinvent them to suit our needs, rather than the desire to spend and infinitely consume, we make do
Hobo style with a twist of eco genius.

 

[Minotaur]

I have a slightly different point of view.

A Hobo stove, would be one you do not have to pay for fuel, and can be easily transported by person.

My understanding is that a lot of them were not drunks, but poor. It was the hitch hiking of the day, a lot of famous people hobo'ed to get to places.

 

[Tye Possum]

Well I think if it looks like a hobo stove and works like a hobo stove and can use fuel that you don't have to buy, chances are it's a hobo stove. I mean technically if you've bought some parts to make it or you've used tools that the average hobo doesn't tend to carry then it is just a hobo style stove but unless you're selling them and worried about a group of hobos and their highly paid lawyers coming after you, I think you can still call it a hobo stove.

 

[Hetzen]

Is a Pepsi can stove a Pepsi can stove if it's made with Coke can?

 

[Minotaur]

Is a Pepsi can stove a Pepsi can stove if it's made with Coke can?

Yes. First one to press gets to name it, and that is what he called it.

'Hobo stoves' is a slang term that has stuck around.

Think that is how it works.