Last month I took along my Photon Alchohol stove for a winter field test at our BSA Council Klondike Derby. It was a brisk January day. Temps were in the upper 20's and there was a constant breeze around 3-5 MPHs. I filled the stove up with 2 oz. of denature alchohol and fired her up.

I boiled 2 cups of water in a stainless steel pot in 3 minutes. I thought this was pretty good, especially since this is my first stove and the burner holes are too large, which wastes alot of fuel and and doesn't burn as efficiently.

Just an update.

I've built 10 or so PepsiG stoves in the past 3 weeks, and have a four day outing this weekend in Mark Twain Nat'l Forest in Missouri. Plan on putting them to the test, along with my new Becker CU-7 and the fish bags generously donated by dchinel .

My best stove can boil 2 cups of water (rolling boil that is) with 2 Tbsp of fuel in about 7 minutes. This is with normal tap water temperature, in the garage (around 50 degrees) and without windscreen. I'll have to see how it does in the wild under less optimal conditions. At least I'm shaving around 2.5 pounds off my pack weight on this trip by using a stove with no parts to wear out, and weighs just grams.

how do you determain the right size of the burning holes ?
i tryed to make a few, but everytime i try to punchure the holes, mine intire awl goes throw it or not at all and mine knife's makes ver long holes, with's doesnt look very well compared with pictures of the web.

I used a push-pin (thumbtack) to make 24 holes in my best one. I've tried making some with 36 holes (used fuel faster), but based on other boards and forums I've read, a push pin and 24 holes is ideal. But make many, as I found no two burn alike. Some are hotter, some burn more efficient. For me fuel consumption and boiling times were what I was after. This way I can try to cook two meals a day on 2 oz of fuel.

But real world testing may show different.

IMHO the windscreen really kicks up the efficiency with these stoves regardless - even if it is calm. But our windscreens are sized closely to the specific pots used - they have relatively little side clearance on the pots (maybe 1/2")

Use a small sewing needle and contrive to restrict how deeply it can penetrate the can. I use a pin vise to hold the needle - choked up so that very little of the needle protrudes from the pin vise. Then I tap the back of the pin vise with a very light hammer (2 oz). This also keeps the exposed needle stiffer and less likely to bend/break. No picture - left the camera at work.



Another sewing needle holder you can try is to force it through a wine bottle cork until enough of it protrudes to make small puncture in the can. I used that technique a couple of times (making KFMs, not alcohol stoves) and it works OK - I just recall that it was fairly difficult to force the needle through the cork.



And the other idea on one of the stove sites is to secure a sewing needle to the side of a small rod (say, 3/8" or 9mm up to about a 1/2" or 12mm diameter) using a screw-type automotive hose clamp. Adjust the position of the needle so that only about 1/8 the needle protrudes beyond the end of the rod



I have not tried this technique, so I cannot report how well it works.

But regardless of what exact model stove you make, this site has about the best instructions and pictures on how to make the holes in the aluminum can. It's where the pics in this post are linked from.

HTH,

Tom

Yet another use for the altoids mini tin - an altoids stove!!

No mess, no holes to poke and it works with a esbit stove!
I haven't tried it yet but it looks quite promising!

Altoids stove

I use a sewing maching needle, they are a little tougher and stiffer than a regular needle. I have not tried to use any sort of a depth guage with them, I just eyeball the hole, keeping it as small as possible. I also poke the holes while the soda can is still full (don't shake the can before you poke the first hole), it makes it easier for me to control the can without crushing it...

Don't forget to cover the pot with a lid to avoid heat from escaping up. I also planned on paining my pot black using heat resistent gas grill spray paint. In theory, the black color should absorb heat faster. But I'm hesitating on commiting my pot to the experiment <img src="images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

If you want a black bottomed pot that is low maintenance and easy to create simply cook over a wood fire for a week or so and don't scrub the outside. It will gather a layer of soot and creosote and grime that will be black and smooth as lacquer and fairly impervious to wearing off. After a week of cooking this way it should last even through a trip in the dishwasher. It might smell of wood smoke when you are cooking but who cares in an outside situation? <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Sewing needles placed in needle nose visegrips work well. Place the needle in line with the jaws and use the end of your visegrips as your depth stop.

with's sodacan stove did you guys made ?
the cheap, dirty one ?
http://hometown.aol.com/walkingfire//halconstove.htm
or the good looking one ?
http://www.pcthiker.com/pages/gear/pepsistove.shtml

i made the halcon one... still have to test it yet..

I built mine using the Don Johnston plan. Another version that has an interesting twist to the windscreen that doubles as the pot stand can be found Here.

The nice thing about the "cheap & dirty" one is that it can be made with just a knife and single soda can, in about 10 minutes if you've built one before. Something to be said for being able to create something effective on-the-fly. I'm sure it's not as efficient as a photon stove, but it works, and can be made in the field easily.

http://hometown.aol.com/walkingfire//halconstove.htm

What fuel do you use? If you use methyl alcohol, I have a possible source for some of you to check into. I work at a school and the technolcgy is finally catching up. All the old duplicating machines used methyl alcohol for fluid. I grabbed about 5 gallons before they threw all of them away.

What happened to "Sterno" ? Is it still around ? It fired up without problems, came in a gel / can. Cheap too...M

i still seen them in store's and the web. i don't use them, though. they are like cooking with a soda can stove with a simmer ring on it, maybe a little beter, but i already think the soda can stove is a bit slow...

I was amazed at the performance of an alcohol stove compared to my white gas "jet engine" Optimus stove. I did several rather unscientific tests boiling 8 oz. of water in a titanium cook pot. Both stoves were allowed to reach maximum output before placing the pot on the burner.

The alcohol stove beat the white gas stove by 45 seconds. This particular stove was made by Dave Goodling. My attempt at making a stove was not as successful, taking over 4 minutes to boil a cup of water.

For those of you wanting a quality stove at a really good price Dave's URL is here.