The soda can stove, the aluminum beer bottle stove, the coffee can/toilet paper stove, and more.

Your vehicle is stuck in the snow, no damage, just stuck. And night is falling and there's no one around. Stay till morning and deal with it in daylight. The wife and kids are kind of nervous.

(We won't point out that you're rubbing your hands together in glee, FINALLY able to use some of your gear, and justify your buying sprees to your wife.)

You pull out your trusty bug-home bag and plan to use the little stove to heat some water for cocoa and occasionally to warm up the car (fool, you let the gas tank run low, so you don't want to use the car heater to do that).

But what do you put the stove on? I'm sure at least part of it will be hot, maybe all of it (the beer bottle stove review guy said it does). I can see a square of plywood that fits the armrest thing between the front seats, but wood burns. What do you put on top of the wood and under the stove?

Sue

You might have something already in the vehicle that could be used. Some jacks have a metal base that you could use, or perhaps a hubcap, if it's metal. (We made a small fire in a hubcap for tailgating "back in the day".) On an older car, the metal cover that goes over the air filter mounted atop the carb would be a nice (although possibly dirty) base.

Of course, you could bring a dedicated item for this purpose, but, just thought you might want to consider things on your vehicle that would do the trick rather than extra kit. Think about how you'd improvise before you need to...

I'm not familiar with the "Beer Bottle Stove", but wood would be safe as a base up to about 400deg. Unless the entire stove got that hot I don't think you would have a problem.

What about a piece of silicone cooking mat? We use them all the time to set just-sterilized instruments on until they cool....

Here ya go...

If it is sticking with the car, a small piece of plywood works fine. Doesn't have to be huge, you just have to not mind it that will be a little scorched looking after a few uses.

Hmm, just to go back to the original scenario: I'm not sure it would be wise to use anything but a couple of candles to warm the interior of a vehicle. Too much flammable stuff in there, and not enough air. You would need to crack a window for ventilation anyway; the more smoke generated, the more ventilation needed, so you'd lose the extra heat. Stoves belong outside. I'd put a tarp off one side of the car, bottom enclosed with snow, for a stove (and/or bathroom) nook out of the wind. That's my take.

But back to the question:

If you were serious about the plywood, you could staple/tack a layer or two of aluminum on top of it, shiny side out. This will reflect the IR and conduct heat away from the wood. Free sources: pop cans, scraps of flashing from construction.

The beer can stove won;t set the wood on fire, just scorch it. I'm going out in the shop right now and burn an ounce on a piece of mahogany (an ounce IN the stove). Give me ten minutes.

Ok.
Base: 3/4" x 7.5" x 4" piece of Honduras Mahogany.
Stove: modified beer can.
Fuel: .67 ounce of 100% denatured alcohol
Burn-Time: 9 minutes, 15 seconds
Damage: none. no scorching. barely warm to the touch under the can.
Pictures: tomorrow

I'm thinking I'll try plastic as a base. The flooring carpet shouldn;t even scorch (that sounds dangerous though ). The aluminum cans get too hot to handle, of course, but not really hot enough (ESPECIALLY at the bottom of the can) to scorch or burn things. THe biggest threat would be from spillage or something over the top....like hair.