Free easy to make stove/burner made from recycled every day household items.

[klause]

I saw a clip on you tube whilst looking to make my own mehhs/alcohol cooker.
I had all the equipment in my house that's probibly why i made it.
(MOST PEOPLE WILL HAVE - WAX, CARDBOARD, TUNA TIN).
We take one out most times we go into the woods it boils a camping kettle no worries and has never let me down.
I wrapped some cardboard in tin foil for a wind guard and take three nails to rest/raise my kettle.


Not the clip i first watched but same reliable burner.

BOILS KETTLE EVERY TIME - SAVES ON GAS - 100% FREE - WIN WIN WIN

[robin]

Thanks klause, I haven't seen one of those before. Are you able to tell us any more information such as how long it burns for, how long it takes to boil up a certain amount of water, are you able to extinguish it to reuse later, etc?

[klause]

Hi Robin,
It doesn't take too long (soon has my little kettle whistling !). I normally set it up and let it boil whilst im seting up camp.
It seems to burn for ever (the tighter the coils when made the better i find) and can be put out by placing my boot on top to starve of oxygen.
Leave to cool (let the wax reset) and it can be put away to reuse when ever...
I use it when i'm stopped for camp (because its cheep as chips), if i'm on the move i use my jet boil (cus it's faster and so i don't have to wait for the wax to set as it takes a while)...

Hope that helps Robin..

[robin]

Thank you klause, that was very helpful. As I keep bees I usually have a fair bit of wax lying around so I think I shall have a go at making one myself.

[klause]

Thanks Robin, i usually get a big bag of tea lights from Pound Land lol. a right royal pain in the backside but i get there in the end.
I recently saw a post on youtube, same thing realy just no tin - 'fire lighters' looked a good idea i'll find the post and send the link...

[robin]

I saw the fire lighters on this website a few days ago, they look great. I don't have a fire at home so would not use them there and when I'm out in the field I always use cotton wool and vaseline to start my fires as I carry them as part of my first aid kit/fire kit.

Why do you find it a 'right royal pain'? Is it the cleaning issue? If you are using wax regularly it will pay to have a separate pan, a double boiler or bain marie for your wax. If using just a pan make sure you nestle it inside another pan of water. I also microwave small amounts of wax in short bursts which works well but do worry about whether wax has a flash point, must do some investigation on that!

[Martin]

On a trip to the beach for a coastal foraging session early last year. Ashley made one of these and we used it for making brews. I remember it worked really well.

In terms of the flash point of paraffin wax. Yes it does have a flash point which is between 200 and 250 degrees C,as far as I can tell (source Google so it must be right??).

Anyway, the general advice has to be to be very careful when heating paraffin wax and the use of a bain marie is an excellent idea.

Martin

[klause]

I just used to melt it in a tin can on the gas stove !!! i'll have to go the 'ban marie' way in future !

Thanks for the warning guys....

[bushcraft.mcf]

thanks klause this is great i made one the other day and its really easy to use and heats up really quick....great for boiling up some water or soup exct.

[chrisj]

I made firelighters and 'fire logs' in a similar way by mixing sawdust / wood shavings produced by the chainsaw when cutting logs with melted wax and pressing into moulds. It was more to make use of the wood shavings than anything else as it seemed a real shame to throw them away.
I also keep bees and always have wax around but I tend to keep the bees wax for making candles and polish etc. For this sort of thing we have friends and family keeping their old candle ends for us. It's amazing how little candle ends and the dregs left in the bottom of tea lights add up especially when word gets around and everyone you know gives you a little bag full every so often.