$4 Swiss "volcano" camping stove

[houseoftang]

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/WX130-509-534.html

Picked up a couple of these from Cheaper than Dirt, and I just used one this morning to cook some 9-grain mush meal.  Took about 10 minutes to boil 12 oz of water, and then a couple more minutes to cook the mush in the boiling water.  Wasn't altogether that hard to get it going, either, with just some pieces of moulding as fuel (busted up into little sticks).  It took about twice the fuel that my Sierra Zip, but doesn't need a battery, and it's a lot lighter.  CTD says to use the Esbit fuel, but it's actually designed to use wood, and from what I've read, it'll actually destroy the stove over time.

They're cheap, they're mostly aluminum (including the flask and the cup), but it works like a charm as a budget bug-out stove.  It's a 1 L canteen, a .5 L cup, and the torpedo tube stove that it all fits together in.  It's a handy little package, not altogether much bigger than the canteen (which has a cork as a top, and would probably be improved by wrapping it in plastic wrap), and light.  It was in pretty good condition, quite clean but a little dented.  The bottom of the cup gets entirely blackened, as does the inside of the stove, but that just makes it heat faster.  I figure you can keep dry rice in the canteen if you don't want to store water in it.

For $4, it's a good little spare to have, even if it IS made of aluminum.  I read that the 1 L Sigg bottles fit in place of the raw aluminum canteen, but I  haven't seen any cups with the little step that allows for convection ventilation through the top holes.  I figure if you use it a dozen times, it's paid for itself (and probably better than that).  So four days of bugging out, 3 meals a day (I'm basing this on the MRE heaters that CTD has for $4/dozen).

Maybe JDD ought to pick up a few of these and sell them for $10 (I've seen them selling for $20).

Cheaper than Dirt also has .30-06 ammo at about half the price of Midway, at the moment (surplus Greek stuff, brass case, boxer primed), and pretty good prices on gas masks and other stuff (though REI has better prices on the magnesium fire starter blocks).  I'm not affiliated with them in any way except buying stuff from them, and don't get anything for recommending them.

Yes, I know I should be cutting up tin cans to make hobo stoves, but I figured this is a nice, cheap, ready-made mess kit, or most of one.

EDIT:

The actual volume of the bottle is more like 31 oz, with the cork on.  And the actual volume of the cup, up to the lip, is 20 oz, but for cooking, I'd say 16 oz is about the max. 

Furthermore, my Stanley .5L stainless steel thermos (the kind recommended by Kurt Saxon for thermos cooking, but in a smaller size with a smaller mouth) fits inside almost perfectly (you have to take off the cup), replacing the aluminum water bottle with a more useful one, albeit a smaller one.

[oklahoma89]

thanks, just orders a few!

[houseoftang]

I'm experimenting with fuel for these.  One thing I tried was cardboard rolled up in a tin can, soaked in candlewax.  Took a while to get going but gave off little smoke.  More updates to come.

[houseoftang]

Updates on the cardboard in a can fuel:

With a can cut to about 1 1/2" high (or probably the same with a tuna or catfish can if you're not using it in this particular stove), you get about an hour burn time, probably more.  Takes a little while to get going if there's a lot of wax, so your best bet is to let the match touch down in one place and start up, then move it, and leave the match in it.  The cardboard acts as a wick, a massive wick for the melting wax, and won't really burn til the wax has run out (so you can refill it with wax and reuse the cardboard if you're so inclined).  This is almost impossible to blow out--so you need to put the pot or bottle or something on top of it to extinguish it.  You can re-use it (my figure of 1 hour burn time is based on using it 3 times, a couple times for 20 minutes and then letting it burn out for well over half an hour after that).  One caveat:  make sure there's cardboard sticking up when you add the liquid wax, or in other words don't fill it so much you submerge the cardboard entirely.  Starts easier and faster that way.

Once you've started burning the cardboard, the can is going to smell like a bonfire for weeks afterward, and stink up any cabinet you put it in.  Thus it might be wise to use it a couple times then refill with wax.

A failed experiment I tried was wax in sawdust.  Just wouldn't light, because there was no real wick.

Easiest way to cut a can is with tinsnips, following one of the creases.  Failing that, use a hacksaw, but don't go all the way through anywhere, just make a few strokes and turn the can, repeat.  Eventually it'll get thin enough to just sort of snap off.  The edges are quite sharp, and could benefit from a little filing or folding over.

Another failed experiment was a roll of newspaper and cardboard.  It blocked the airflow.  Not sure if you could realistically get away with using strips of cardboard as a fuel for this stove.

Still to come:  rice and beans, mung bean tarka, and bulgur wheat and lentils cooked bug-out style!