Ravenlore Bushcraft and Wilderness Skills. Drink Can Stove

Drink Can Stove.

There are sadly few places in the world where empty drink cans cannot be picked up from the trail and any likely camp sites.

Fortunately they are not without their uses, this alcohol stove is one of them.

For this you will need two tins of the same diameter.

Use a small piece of wood or stone to set the height of your knife blade and turn the tin to score a line.

Separate the can along the scrored line.

First score one of the tins around it’s base with a knife held level with a stick or stone while turning the tin.

The tin should now separate along the scored line giving you a base for your stove.

Put this to one side.

Take the second tin and using the point of the knife make small perforations around the base at regular intervals.

Score inside the base for the fuel chamber.

Now score around the edge of the dished base of the can. The knife will follow the natural line with care.

The dished section should now pop out.

Score around the base as you did with the first can and you now have the top section.

Carefully split the sides of this top section with the knife so that it can fit over the base section.

You now need a strip of metal from one of the tins.

Score around the tin as described above to make this but it should be wide enough to fit between the top and the bottom at the widest points when the two are fitted together.



				Curl the strip so that it fits in the groove around the domed base and split the band half way up one end and halfway down the other end. These splits should fit together to keep the band the right diameter. Put a small nick in the bottom edge of the band to let fuel into the stove. Now fit the top section over the bottom section.



	Add a small quantity of Denatured alcohol (Meths) into the centre of the stove. It should drain through into the outer wall. Light the meths. (Caution it is very difficult to see the flame in daylight) As the stove heats up it creates pressure in the walled section and soon vapour will form strong jet like flames through the perforated holes. Your stove is now complete.

Many thanks to my good friend, Stuart Telford for his expertise and nimble fingers in putting this tutorial together.

For more alcohol stove ideas take a look at Zen Stoves

Bushcraft and wilderness skills should always be practised with respect for the environment and other users of the outdoors. Leave No Trace.