I admit it, I love my Trangia burners. And I love messing around with what most people would describe as junk.

The other day, I noticed a similarity in size between the bottoms of a Trangia and the top of a 5 ounce can. Checking, I discovered that the can, when emptied and cleaned, is a perfect fit. Ideas!

First idea is that it could be used to hold my brew kit. Not a bad idea- the stove fits in a GSI or Olicamp cup for a Nalgene, put a couple of tea bags, some lemon, and some sugar in the 5oz can, and slide a water bottle on top. Not bad, could be better.

Idea two, use the can as a windscreen. Drilled two rows of 1/4" holes at one inch interval around a third of the can, one row offset from the other. Set it on the burned when it is going, let it run with a pot on top. Snuffed the flame.

Idea 2.1, go all the way around with the holes, use it as a pot stand. Still snuffs the flames.

Idea 2.2, add a ring of smaller holes at the very top of the can. Test burn at an 1/8th of an inch... it's ok. Open them up to 3/16th, as large as I can go with the test piece.

Light the burner. Set the stand on top. In a minute, it's HOT, a flicked drop of water blasts to steam almost instantly. Put the pot on top. The flames are still going... At about three minutes, I hear what sounds like a bunsen burner!



It seems that the alcohol vapor was building up until it was able to burn through what had once been intended as air holes. It brought a pint of water from simmering uncovered to a rolling boil in about another minute. I've had a boil, but never a rolling boil, from a trangia!

I tried it again with a liter of slightly cooler than room temp water in a bigger pot. Oh, oh wow- boiling in about five and a half minutes, roaring like a baby jet engine. Not tea water hot, not simmering, still not yet a rolling boil, but a sterile-not-pasturized, little bubbles in a steady stream boil. (OK, sometimes I get happy from the littlest things.)

Oddly, it won't reach this point without having something on top of it to weigh it down. I'm guessing it's a vapor pressure thing? But once it is going, as you can see, it stays lit.


This is how it looks nested:

It adds about a 1/3 of an inch to the height of the stove. I'm thinking that I'll actually wait until I have another can, and try doing the top burner ring, with a partial set of lower air holes. But this guy is going in my kit for now. Combined with the coffee can stove systemI've used, this should have some really impressive improvements over just the trangia.

And I'm also going to try nesting these this winter, using an unholed can packed with insulation, as a base to keep the fuel from cooling.