While I cannot claim originality on this, I made an alcohol stove out of soda cans the other day. Why is this a big deal given all the web coverage of this? Because of how easy it was.

Me, sitting at my desk in my office, grabbed two soda cans out of the recycle bin. Using a pair of scissors, a sharpie, a push pin, and a sheet metal screw I found lying around in a drawer, spent about 15 minutes building the basic alcohol stove. Cut the cans to the same height, punched a hole in the center of one with the push pin, fenagled them together, punched 16 burnder jets around the edge, enlarged the center hole to fit the screw and was done. Could have walked downstairs and hit the gas station to grab some HEET gas line antifreeze (yellow bottle) but instead, grabbed it on the way home. Went out back, fueled and lit the sucker up. Worked just fine. Made a pot stand out of coat hangers that I will try tonight. It is not rocket science, but does work in the urban environment quite well.

I recommend everyone take a look at http://zenstoves.net/ or similar and give it a try. Even without the extras (JB Weld epoxy) they work.

Bill