Alcohol Stove Build #1

This is my first "successful" attempt on building an alcohol stove. (It was successful from my point of view) It burns well, and seems to be "frugal" on the alcohol. (HEET, antifreeze for gasoline, cheap fuel!) I watched several videos, some over and over again, just to get the idea in my head. I really liked and wanted to build a "crumb catcher" stove like many have. But I could NOT find a "crumb catcher" like theirs. All I could find was the "mesh" ones, theirs were hard metal (maybe copper) and little holes in the neck ....see video




I'll keep looking, because that is a really, really neat stove! OK, the hardest part for me was pushing the 2 pieces of can together..SEVERAL TIMES I WOULD PUSH AND END UP SPLITTING EITHER THE TOP PART OR THE BOTTOM PART. I seen another video where they "flared out" the edge of the can. You take pliers (needle nose for me) and grab the edge and give it a twist, and you continue this all around the can. (now it looks like a flower) It makes it much easier to get one piece inside the other, and with a little persuasion it will fit nicely and NOT SPLIT!

Once together (I did it backwards--normal for me) I put "jets" (holes) around the outside edge, I used a thumbtack, and then I cut out some of the top of the can. (this is much, much easier, if you do it BEFORE you cut the can apart!!) Once this is done..that's it, that's your stove!

Now you need to put about 2 ounces of HEET in and this should give you about 7 to 8 minute burn. This doesn't have a "wick" (that's whole 'nother deal all to it's self), it simply burns the alcohol, and when you run out of fuel the flame extuinguishes on it's own. Being that it is an aluminum can, the can doesn't hold the heat very long, so if you need to move it OR put it away, in just a minute or two..it's cool to the touch.

I'm making a couple of more "styles" and will post an update for each in future posts..

So Stay Tuned...