Ok Sue. Here's the skinny. All this time, and I never thought of doing this before......

You can literally burn the beer can stove on your hand!! I did it and, while it's certainly not safe because of spillage, it proved to me that the bottom of the can stays cool. The sides are of course too hot to handle while burning, but the fuel in the can, because it burns from the top and through the sides (interior walls), keeps the bottom cool.

So..... nearly ANY surface, as long as it's level and stable, can serve as a base for the stove. Now, at the very end of the burn, the last minute or less, the bottom gets very warm, becasue the fuel is burning at its lowest level....at the bottom. But it's still not too hot to touch.

No pictures becasue I can;t find where my daughter has the camera! Maybe tomorrow night...after dark.

Thanks, Stretch!

I did wonder if most of the heat was near the top because what was burning was the vapors rather than the liquid.

But what scorched the plywood, the last minute or two of fuel?

ETS scientific testing at its best!

Sue

An upside down cookie sheet works well!! The bottom sheet is raised off the ground, floor, table 1/2 inch or so because of the sides of the cookie sheet and allow any heat to safely dissipate!!

SD

An old license plate works well for any backpacking type stove on the snow. Don't know how much effect the cold of the snow has on the temp of the plate tho. Plastic blade of a show shovel works well too...

No, Sue, no scorching of wood. I think Ironraven said there might be some scorching of plywood, and I initially posted that it would scorch wood....but no such thing occurred! Today (I have pictures but haven;t uploaded to photobucket yet) I burned two ounces on a blue paper shop towel. The towel wasn;t even warm underneath the stove immediately after the flame went out. So you can literally hold the stove in the palm of your hand, from start to finish (I mean, as far as bottom temperature goes).

Stretch, thank you for the testing done in the name of Science! I do appreciate it.

Sue

I wouldn't try that with an Esbit solid-fuel tab stove.

Thanks Brangdon! I actually don't do it with an alcohol stove either (but I tried it *after* assuring myself that the bottom doesn;t get too hot for that feat), I just mention it to show that it stays cool. I mean, IF you dared burn an alcohol stove in the palm of your hand, it would leave you with certain assurances about where you would feel safe burning the stove. As Sue's question centered around burning a stove in the car and what might be suitable as a base, I centered my experiments around that. I held the can with some tongs - not so much for fear of heat (I was already assured it wouldn;t be too hot by that time), but more because if I faltered and it tipped, it could get toasty all around the shop!

I know the Esbit stoves get !hot! so I wouldn;t want to try burning one say, for example, on the rear floorboard carpet of a station wagon. But I think even those you might be able to burn on a piece of hardwood or plywood.

Hmmmm. Time for another experiment!

Here are a couple of photos of the Pepsi-can stove burning atop a blue paper shop towel. As soon as the stove goes out, I pushed it aside and put my palm down on the shop towel. Not even warm! I would have no problem burning it on the carpeted (or rubber mat) floorboard of a car.