Trangia did put out a Ti version for a while. I think just the windscreens were Ti. It was relatively expensive compared to the aluminum versions -- and the aluminum versions were (still are) already quite expensive. It must not have done well; it was discontinued. Part of what may have killed the Ti version was that Trangia changed their alloy. Their current alloy is quite a bit lighter than say my pre 1988 version. I'm not sure there was enough weight savings between the current alloy and the Ti versions to justify the cost.

There is a Titanium burner available from Evernew that is similar to a Trangia burner. It is not as efficient as the Trangia burner from the tests I've seen.

And, yes, when I say efficient, I mean the ability to do "X" amount of "work" (boiling water in this case) with a given amount of fuel. In my tests, the Trangia burner in a stand alone configuration (i.e. without the patented windshields) was able to boil water consistently with less than 3/4 fl. ounce whereas many of the stoves shown in the photo above could not.

I haven't done the painstaking work to calculate the break even point where the greater efficiency of a Trangia burner makes up for the lighter weight of some of the aluminum beverage can burners. That's a lot of work if you do it right. Time hasn't permitted.

As a "short cut" (partially), I just "baseline" any alcohol stove I test against the Trangia burner. If it can't match up against a Trangia, then it's not particularly efficient. If it can beat a Trangia, then it's a pretty darned good burner. My Caldera Cone when used as a system (cone + 12-10 stove) beats a Trangia in a Clikstand set up in terms of efficiency. I haven't compared a full Trangia 27 set up to the Caldera Cone (sort of like comparing an aircraft carrier to a PT boat, totally different class of thing).

HJ

Pretty cool. Wish wood fires weren't so frowned upon in (dry) Southern California. I could (if you'll pardon the expression) have a blast.

From Blast's blog: Say it isn't so!

Good thing that hasn't happened to me.


HJ

Yeah, you've made thousands of stoves and never once got addicted!

Exactly! I'm glad we cleared that up.

HJ

On a more serious note, re the following:

I haven't tried the exact stove that bacpacjac is describing, but:
-Probably any denatured alcohol will work.
-"Green" denatured alcohol has a higher ethanol content than most denatured alcohols and therefore will burn a little hotter which might give you a little faster boil time.
-Methanol (such as HEET in the yellow bottle) will work although it might be a little slower than denatured alcohol. Methanol is typically a better choice than denatured alcohol in cold weather.
-Sterno tends to be really slow. I don't think anyone would try to scoop out some Sterno onto bacpacjac's stove, but just in case that was on your mind, it probably won't work very well.
-Isopropanaol (rubbing alcohol or HEET in the red bottle) will kind of work, but it's typically a big, smokey mess.

I definitely don't recommend isopropanol and sterno. The other three (regular denatured alcohol, green denatured alcohol, and methanol) should all work reasonably well. High proof drinking alcohol (at least 150 proof) will also work, but that's an expensive way to go and, well, it seems like kind of a waste.

HJ

Thanks kd7fqd. Great thread! Making a tuna can stove is now on our project list!

Do you think this would work with an altoids tin as well?

Thanks Blast!

Thanks gang! It's going to be fun to experiment with at home.

DS tried to make a wood burning stove out of a pop/soda can in the summer and his twigs ended up burning through the thin aluminum. We're going with stronger cans from now on. He's got a collection going of different ones and I think we'll start with the tuna can this weekend.

Physics IS fun after all!

Ken, I could not have said it better myself. I am one of hundreds of thousands of men who really can look back (I just turned 40 this September)at my past and see how much Scouting and the Explorer programs influenced me. I made it to Life Scout but not Eagle. Very few people make Eagle Scout, Please pass on to your Son for me a hearty Well Done!
Matt

2 small soup cans, 2 large soup cans, 2 large coffee cans, 2 half-size large coffee cans, 2 tuna cans, 2 altoids tins, 1 pack of esbit fuel tabs, 1 pack of zip fire starters, some wax, some butcher's twine, some corrugated cardboard and a pile of twigs ready for experimenting this weekend with DS.

Attempt number one, in July 2011, of making a stove out of a pop can was a fail.



Lots of heat but we burnt through the can and had to put it into the can we put on top of it to try to boil water.



Lesson #1 - don't put you can stove on something flammable like a woo. The wooden pinic table we were using got scorched.

Lesson #2 - keep to hand something the you can handle the burning can with (i.e. tongs, oven mitts) and somewhere to put it, or some way to snuff it if it gets out of hand.

Lesson # 3 - aluminum cans are thin and a roaring twig fire inside them will burn through them.