An Overview of Improvised Cooking Stoves

The original (or at least most popular and familiar) improvised stove is the Soda Can Stove, sometimes called the Beverage Can Stove; this is a stove created from the bottoms of two cans, usually secured by thermal foil tape or high-temperature epoxy. The first beverage can stove I made that successfully worked used a Guiness beer can for the base and interior wall, and a Pepsi can bottom for the topmost portion. The bev-can stove has become very popular with backpackers looking to shed weight from their packs, and thus has become something of an art form over the years, with many different variants appearing, though they generally all are designed to burn denatured alcohol, methyl alcohol or 90% isopropyl alcohol.

Amongst the original pressure-based can stove derivatives is the “side-burner” stove. This is essentially the use of a single can, with holes for the flame punched both in a ring around the open can top, and around the base/sides. A clever derivative of this is an 11 or 12 oz. can with the top cut out and holes punched in this manner, which simply fills with alcohol in the middle to just below your lowest row of holes, and is lit via match applied to the bottom holes, which causes a “chimney” action of the flame up the middle of the can. When the cookpot is set on top of the can, the flames come out through the side-holes instead, which, when constructed correctly, is an extremely efficient design in which virtually no heat is wasted through the sides (also even easier to make than the traditional bev-can stove, as it only requires a can and something with which to cut it and poke holes in it). A link to building this particular type of stove is included below.

For a slightly larger can-based stove there is the classic “plumber’s stove”, cobbled together by clever tradesmen since the days of World War II. This design uses an 8 oz. paint can, sheet metal and a radiator hose clamp to create a quick means of boiling water within ten minutes.

Tuna and cat food cans are also frequently used to build ultralight improvised stoves. This is a design frequently incorporated in “hobo stoves”, which aimed for the most absolute simplicity possible (a variant of the hobo stove called the “Buddy Burner” used a strip of cardboard wrapped into a cylinder inside the can, and soaked in wax or diesel.) And if you want to give solid fuel (Esbit tabs) a try instead of alcohol, there are improvised stoves of that nature as well. A recommended design for fuel tabs is the “Sweeper Stove”.

Thus far we have talked only about lightweight, small stoves, with a focus on hiking and backpacking. But what if you want a larger improvised stove, for home or campsite use?

If you are in a permanent home, or a place where you will be for awhile and can undertake minor construction, consider a Justa stove, also sometimes called the “rocket stove”. This is a fairly easily made stove designed to operate on minimal fuel with less smoke production than a campfire. The Justa stove does require a chimney to vent to the outside, however.

There is also the idea of solar stoves to consider, if you are in a hot climate with regular sunlight. The principle is simply creating a set of reflective surfaces to concentrate the heat in a small area, and theoretically you could build a solar stove with just some aluminum foil and cardboard. There are many more complex designs that build off of this however, mostly using either a parabolic or a boxed design. The Solar Cooking Archive website is a great source of such designs, and is linked below.

And though this doesn’t exactly qualify as “improvised”, if you have lots of sunlight but no electricity to cook with, and don’t want to use or carry fuel, you might consider purchasing a small portable electric stove or hot plate, along with portable solar panels, which are sold in the neighborhood of $100 for every 5 to 6 watts generated, or craft a DIY solar cell.

Whatever means by which you get cooking, there are also some little tricks you can use to increase efficiency of heat use. For example, when boiling food, let the water reach a boil for about 30 seconds, then place a pot lid on top with a strip of some sort of insulation around the lid. This will keep the food cooking for as long as up to 20 minutes with no further fuel expended. This is great for quick-cook items like pasta and hotdogs that are pre-thawed. Also take a tip from the old hobos, and use a “hobo packet” when cooking meats over a pan, wrap them up in foil (possibly along with seasonings and veggies too) and cook the foil packet over the heat source (also can be done in ovens). Also less mess to clean up!

And finally, here is a list of links to resources on creating your own improvised stoves :

http://www.bushwalking.org.au/FAQ/FAQ_Efficiency.htm – A review of stove weights, fuel weights and fuel efficiencies from bushwalking.org

http://ygingras.net/b/2007/6/a-better-soda-can-stove – Illustrated instructions on the “Hannah” can stove

http://wings.interfree.it/html/main.html – Wings : The Homemade Stove Archive

http://www.csun.edu/~mjurey/penny.html – Penny Alcohol backpacking stove instructions

http://www.instructables.com/id/SYVBESJFCHYO4AP/ – Simple but efficient “chimney” side-burner stove

http://www.hedon.info/goto.php/EstufaJustaConstruction – Justa stove construction

http://solarcooking.org/ – The Solar Cooking Archive

http://zenstoves.net/LinksGeneral-DIY.htm – ZenStoves.net DIY page