Combination Wood - Alcohol Stove

Now that winter is just a week away, I find it hard to gather dried twigs to fuel my wood stove. I like to drink coffee when I'm out on the trail. Well, it's actually a trail and a park because there is a picnic grove too. I don't go deep into the woods really. After I come out from work on a night shift, I just take a short walk on the trail and then prepare my coffee. So I modified my hobo stove to accomodate my DIY alcohol stove to boil water.


To be able to use my alcohol stove, I just punch 4 holes on the hobo stove and inserted 2 wires which will serve as a platform for the acohol stove. This way the hobo stove will act as a wind screen at the same time.


This is how it works. The alcohol stove is already fired up but you can't see the flames. I used heet for fuel and the flame is not visible. You will note the condensation forming on the lower portion of my space saver cup. The outside temperature is 34F when I made this test.


It took 12 minutes for bubbles to form on the water. I didn't get a rolling boil maybe because it was also too windy that day. Anyway, the water was hot enough for a good cup of coffee. And yes, I had to refill the alcohol stove too.


Result is not really bad. Maybe I would make a taller alcohol stove so there would be no need for fuel refill. I was also thinking of a way to use solid fuels like esbit solid fuel for example. That would be my next project I guess.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Miami Woods Revisited

I went back to Miami Woods first to find out what animal made that scat (refer to my previous blog post) and second to test my new hobo stove.

While walking on the trail, I saw this.



And this.


So I guess this is the animal who made that scat. Do you agree?


I brought with me (from top left clockwise) my water bottle and a stainless cup, hobo stove, Gatorade, pear, 3-in-1 coffee in plastic container, shopping bag, knife, plastic spoon, macaroons, a slice of cake. Dried twigs on the bottom left are fuel for the hobo stove. I just pick them up from the grounds, some I broke off from the trees.


Boiling water for my coffee using the hobo stove. It took 8 minutes for the water to come to a boil. The hobo stove performed satisfactorily but I guess I need to make a cover for the cup to speed up the boiling process.


Coffee ready to drink.


A nice sip of coffee on a cool morning to unwind after an overnight shift.


The KA-BAR Adventure Piggyback with the handle wrap in paracord. The knife is now more comfortable in my hands.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Small Hobo Stove

The first hobo stove I made was too big to carry around so now I just use it at home. For hiking, I made a small hobo stove.


This is made from a Chunky container and is quite the right size I wanted. Eight holes punched at the bottom using a church key.


Testing the hobo stove in the backyard using dried twigs. I used petroleum jelly coated cotton balls as fire starter.


Quite a fire going on there. Will be testing it in the woods soon.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Hobo Stove & Char Cloth

I want to make char cloth for my fire kit but first I will make a hobo stove out of a fruit cocktail can. My wife made a fruit salad so I have a can like below.



First, I remove the sticker then I prepared the tools and other materials I'm going to use.


Then I punched 6 holes around the side of the can at the bottom part for ventilation. I used the triangle can opener to punch the holes.


Next, I punched holes for the 2 coat hanger wire pot support.


Then I cut the pot support from a coat hanger and insert in the holes I just made above and voila - I have a hobo stove.


Okay, I have a hobo stove now - time to make char cloth.


Yes, my stove works well.


Let it cool for a while before you open it.


I've got char cloth. Mission accomplished!

For the sake of others who doesn't know yet what char cloth is for. It is used as tinder when making fire, for cooking or camping. Click this char cloth for more info.

Of course the hobo stove is not just for making charcloth. It can be your camping stove, you can use it at home, or you can bring it anywhere you want to go. I suggest you carry your stove in a separate bag else your things will be full of soot.

Happy cooking everybody!

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.