Surly and I were discussing some arcane things, as we are wont to do, and the subject of disaster preparedness came up. In the event of a natural disaster or some other event requiring evacuation, living without electricity, black UN helicopters, etc., a small stove would be handy to have. I made myself a plumber's backpacking stove a couple of years ago and the little thing works really well. All you need is a tuna can, some cotton balls, a piece of scrap aluminum and a little alcohol. The link has all the info you need to make one up. In fact, that's where I got the idea to make mine. I usually use Heet gas line antifreeze for my fuel. They have twist off lids now on the bottles and you can find it almost everywhere. The aluminum strip will also fit around the little Sterno fuel cans like Coghlan markets.
I've carried mine on two long distance cycle trips and a couple of backpacking trips and it does the job with very little weight to drag around. It heats up a Sierra cup full of water in about 5 minutes and cools off in even less time. I don't know how it would work at high altitudes but I did make coffee at about 5,000 ft just down the road from the Idaho/Montana border at Lolo Pass.
So in keeping with the make stuff theme of the blog, get out the tinsnips and build a stove. I took mine into school for a pattern and had a couple of students each make one. They knocked them out pretty quick with little or no instruction. One for Surly and one for a spare. You can take one camping on these late fall days or throw it in your bug out bag so you're ready when the zombies attack.
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