The altoids tin stove

I was bored and doing some research on DIY camping stoves today and came across some designs for an alcohol stove made out of an altoids tin. What caught my attention was how it was described as an EZ-Bit tablet on steroids. I keep an EZ-Bit stove in my ultra light go bag. I just take that when I'm riding my bike or spending the day at a park or something. Unfortunately, EZ-Bit tablets suck, they're expensive and they're not always easy to find so this seemed like a good solution. I have a few of these tins lying around so I decided to whip one up.

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It's as simple as it looks. Just take an altoids tin, fill it with perlite (I used vermiculite) and cut an aluminum screen to fit on top. Add some everclear, 91% rubbing alcohol or Heet and watch it burn. A couple of tablespoons burns for 10 minutes or so. It brought about a quart of water to a boil and then went out. It's light and takes up very little space. You can't fold the stove with the altoid can inside, though. It's not perfect but it fits the bill nicely for what I need it for.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Its 'Esbit'.
June 13, 2010 at 3:38 AM
russell1200 said…
So where do you get aluminum screen without cutting up a screen window?
June 16, 2010 at 3:50 AM
The Urban Survivalist said…
I cut up a screen window :). I had a spare in the shed. I'm sure that you could probably get one from home depot or something.
June 16, 2010 at 7:30 AM
The Urban Survivalist said…
So I found a better source for screen that fits these little stoves perfectly. You can buy screen repair kits from hardware stores. They're just a few small squares of aluminum screen in a little package. You Put a couple of them together and you can make them fit perfectly.
August 29, 2010 at 10:32 AM
nacho said…
look into beer can stoves, ultralight backpackers use them, easy to make, they are super conservative with your fuel and small plus the R/D phase requires the generation of beer cans sounds like a great friday night to me
November 30, 2010 at 6:47 AM
HB said…
What is the altoids box sitting in?
August 25, 2011 at 1:01 PM
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
June 9, 2016 at 1:41 AM
Roy E said…
Thanks for thiis blog post
October 30, 2024 at 4:24 PM
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