Q. on home made stoves

“Thanks for the thread, helinka. I've learned a lot about the fuels and want to try the 99 % alcohol now. I made a pepsi can stove not a cat can stove, so I don't know about the church key problem. You could try to make a pepsi can stove; it is pretty easy. I tried several push pins until I found one that made good holes. I used an exacto knife to cut the aluminum, and a round file on the fuel hole to smooth it out. The stove is very light. I used hardware mesh to make a pot stand, and some heavy alum foil for a windscreen. A friend on this site, RichB, made a pepsi can stove with a simmer function. He made the regular stove, then used a small can cut to the height of the pepsi can stove to set it in. He set this in a coffee can cut an inch taller, with a thin long slit to allow a can lid cut to fit, to slip in and out. When you slip it in the slit, it covers part of the pepsi stove, causing the burn to slow, allowing it to simmer. He used a hack saw to make the slit. Works great. You need some holes for air in the lower part of the coffee can piece. This double can pot stand results in a somewhat heavier stove, but allows you to boil full out or have lower heat for simmering soup or cooking pancakes. So only take the heavier stuff when planning a more extensive menu. It is still lighter than most other stove/cannister situations.”

“I had an interesting experience today as I was cooking a Liptons noodle thing over a turbo-v8 alcohol stove - it was boiling too hard so I had the idea of just removing the windscreen to cool down the flame - worked fine but I did have to be careful to approach the pot from the up wind side in order to stir it to avoid the possibility of escaping flame.”

“I love my Turbo V8, that stove it the POOP!

HOI, have you tried the Cat stove I sent you yet?”

“SGT R0ck - yes I have tried the Cat stove - it really puts out the heat but I will need to get more used to simmering with it - I feel more comfortable with the smaller turbo-v8 but that may just be the fact that I have used it more.”

“Most likely it is because the Yurbo V8 is a better stove IMHO. The Cat Stove is like a dragster- it can heat water faster than any other stove, but it isn't the most fuel efficient or lightest one out ther. Honestly I quit simmering and use a pot cozy. More weight/fuel efficient and my put cozy makes it wasier to handle hot pots.”

“I prefer my Supercharged V8 stove, as my personally designed self-engineered supercharger-slit burner hole configuration has proven to be a much more superior design to any other Al can stove found on the web, and performs lightyears ahead of any other homemade stove for that matter. Don't accept immitations, and don't leave home without it!”

“Mine is very similar to the V8 slit can design you use. I got the idea of slits from you, I just changed the way the pot rests on my stove and added my always present fiberglass for good pre-heating. And of course making the proper windscreen is a HUGE part of good stove perfomance - I have a detailed article on making your wind screen correctly.”

“OK I guess its time to make another V8 stove - how many slits to y'all use?”

“8”

“I was just being a jerk with that last post.

On your website you cite those whose stoves you've modified and improved, and you give alot of credit to yourself for your improved modifications of these popular homemade stove, and yet no honorable mention has been given to those whose suggestions you've used to make your stove the best it can be...like you're taking credit for those ideas too.

Please excuse me as I woke up not feeling ill and in an ugly mood this morning. I guess I'm still being a jerk, aren't I?”

“LOL, no, I just have a lot of people to thank if I ever listed all the modifications, probably couldn't find them all. But I really should give you credit for the slits, they are an easy to trace idea for improvement! I normally list credit when I can link to a web site, but I will make sure to add ah honerable mention to you dude... BTW do you have a web site yet? Ohh, and I think my simmer cap for the Soda Can Stove came from you, but I could be wrong... Was that you?


Stuff like fiberglass I saw somewhere a long time ago, but can't remember, the hardware cloth was my own idea, and of course I give credit to the Cat and V8 stoves to the original designers.”

“well I tried out my new turbo V8 with the Buddur originated slits - works great - the jets from the slits look a lot better than my other V8 with the small holes - the hot spot on the jets comes just where my pot sits. I think a few more slits could be used - 10 for sure (ie 2 more) and possibly 12 (ie 4 more) slits total.”