I made this last night out of some aluminium flashing. The aluminium will most likely not stand up to the intense heat of a fire for long, but as a prototype/proof of concept I am happy with it. Some .5mm (soft) stainless steel foil has arrived this morning in the mail so I will be able to try that soon instead.
I may even need a harder stainless steel or even titanium. It took me less than an hour to make on (a piece of plywood so as not to damage) the kitchen table after dinner.
I have made this (exactly) just wider than my 1100 ml pot so that as little heat as possible escapes and so that I can make a carbon fibre cosy to conserve heat when I am burning alcohol in it (such as with one of Tinny’s Gnomes). Preliminary results show a saving of at least a third in fuel usage! I have ordered some fire-resistant thread (aramid) to sew the cosy up with.
Because it is a cylinder it will press up against the inside of the pot (it fits completely inside) so that it takes up next to no space. It doubles as a wood stove and windscreen. This prototype weighs exactly 40 grams. I can see that the .5mm stainless steel one will weigh considerable less, probably less than an ounce (~30 grams)!
It would be easy to include a further piece of the same material in the pot to protect the ground and create a dry fire-lighting floor as the height of the is stove is greater than its diameter.
Note the piano hinge and tent peg joiner. I have folded all the bent over edges inwards where you will not cut your fingers on them.
Construction details from the inside. You will see I have rolled over the various edges to increase strength and protect one’s fingers from sharp edges.
Detail of that hinge.
You can see how well such a stove burns here:
BTW: The stove may be so light you need to peg it to the ground. You can just press down on the peg that forms the joint and slip a couple more into the ground diagonally through the air holes at the bottom
See Also:
How to Light A Fire In the Wet!
