Here’s a tutorial by Mark Jurey on how to make a homemade backpacking and camping stove. From the site, “The low-pressure Penny Stove is so simple that you can build a rough one on the trail with a pocket full service knife – no insulation, rulers, epoxy, needles, or tape. If you have played with homebuilt stoves before, this one should be a snap. Some have built the burner in just 10 minutes.” Link.
6 thoughts on “Penny alcohol backpacking stove”
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My dad used to make something very similar for use as a lantern, can’t remember what he used as fuel, think it was canola oil or something like that, gave a long burning low light, like a strong moonlight.
But now I want to make a magnum version of one of these out of a Foster’s can, or maybe a 1 gallon heineken keg.
This stove works really well. It will boil a pot of water with just a couple tablespoons of ethanol. I have been using mine for a while now, and recently made chilli starting entirely from dried ingredients: beans, a little pasta, spices and sun-dried tomotoes (soak the beans overnight first, kids!) It is not a bad idea to build an insulating box, too- helps conserve fuel and is kind of like a crock pot. Just put the pot in the box after it has been brought to a boil.
I just built one and it works quite fine (I don’t drink so I used coca-cola cans). Be careful that you light it correctly though. Heh @ magnum version. Don’t burn your house down!