I have made a few ?Pepsi-Can? alcohol stoves in my quest for the Holy Grail of stoves. However, nothing as yet beats my Trangia.

Can stoves are the tops in weight (the lightest) and cost (nothing, but time and the willingness to drink a Pepsi). And, they are a lot of fun to make and fiddle with. However, they are delicate (dropped a wrench on one accidentally, and well??), they do not give you a great bang-for-the-fuel compared to other alcohol stoves, and you must burn off all the fuel when you use them ? you can not store them with fuel. My Trangia is built like a tank (pun intended) and you can store fuel in it with the cap in place (it?s a tank ? get it? Ha. Ha. Ha.) <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />. I?m in the process of making a windscreen/stand for using my Trangia with a USGI Canteen cup, as the Natick stand is not tall enough to use with a Trangia. I?m going to make it so it can be used with larger pots, too. Of course, I will post images of my utter brilliance and stunning creativity when done. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Hope this helps,

?..CLIFF

Note to Tom: You were right ? now that I have a house with a workshop, I don?t know how I ever got along without one. Heaven ? lots of power tools and a place to use them!

Nope have a Trancia stove from Major surplus and survival.

Lee

Cliff:

Do you know about the Clikstand? I have one, and it's great. Here's the site. It might give you some ideas if you're not already aware of it.

Clikstand

These are cool to make. I've made several. There are hundreds of designs..that's kindof the fun of these, plus they are real practical. Here in tornado alley, I have a few made up with fuel in our scaredy hole.

Couple of things I have noticed in making mine.

Pepsi product cans seem to work better..don't know why. I used a couple of coke cans on one and they just didn't seem to work as well.

If your particular design calls for a sealed burner, make sure you are using the High Temp JB weld. There are two types..at least they sell two here in OK.

I use the electronic ignition lighters to fire my stoves. That way, when I poor a little fuel on the base, I can turn the lighter upside down and light it.

Have fun making them.

My Camping m.b counselor made them for us when we had to learn about the different types of stoves, they're awesome!

I am also looking at making an alcohol stove to boil water for my cup-of-soup on hunting trips. But strictly for "Survival" I have yet to see one that beats a can of Sterno. The stoves I've seen will all burn for 8 minutes (give or take) on an ounce of fuel. The larger 7 oz. can of Sterno will burn for over 3 hours (the specs say 2 but I've timed them far longer.) To get that burn time with a stove you would have to pack 22.5 ounces of fuel and you would have to be constantly refueling the stove. The Sterno does take MUCH longer to boil water--I've timed it at 18 minutes--but its lower output is actually a plus when you are using it as a heater under your poncho/space blanket/garbage bag. It's simple and uncomplicated, and you can even make your own gelled fuel if you are so inclined. I plan on carrying both this fall.

Regards, Vince

You can make a dandy little stove from a discarded tin can; simply punch some holes in the sides all the way around the bottom; if you've got a couple of nails, drive them through the sides about 3/4"up from the holes so that they form a bit of a grate to support the fuel. Throw in some tinder, followed by firewood broken to size, and light from underneath via the holes. Not only does it catch well because your tinder is sheltered, it draws like a chimney and burns beautifully, especially if there's a bit of breeze.

This obviously works better with larger, taller cans; I've had good success with apple juice cans.

We made a few up here at work.
Only need a knife and ONE coke can.
Works VERY well.
Most of the instructions seem to think that when it is finished, it has to look like a commercial stove...
Got the plans for this one from Backwoodsman Magazine

The slits you make with the knife to make the nozzles work MUCH better than you would think.
This is not an open burner style... It is a full double wall center light burner.