Vagabond/Tin Can Stoves
How to make and use
Judy Bober
53 Calgary Guides, Camp Advisor
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
A tin can stove can make it easy for everyone to cook their own food. A large can is the stove or oven and a small can holds the heat giving you the use of a frypan, a pot and an oven all rolled into one.
Materials:
one large can-1 kg coffee can or large juice tin
one small can-salmon, tuna or pet food can
strip of corrugated cardboard as wide as the small tin is deep
a few candle wicks
two cakes of paraffin wax
tinsnips,regular can opener, punch can opener
a strip of tin foil
Method
1. Cut out one end of the large can with a can opener if not already done.
2. On the side and at the same end, cut an opening slightly larger than the small tin; bend in the cut tab.
3. Punch two smoke holes near the sealed end of the larger can.
4. Roll the corrugated cardboard and fit it snugly into the small tin. Trim the cardboard flush with the top of the tin and insert a few candle wicks.
5. Melt the wax in a double boiler.
6. Carefully fill the tin with hot wax and wait until the cardboard has soaked up much of it. Then refill the tin to the top and leave to cool.
The smaller tin is called the buddy burner
To use the stove
1. Set the open end of the large can on the ground.
2. Light the buddy burner and slide it under the large can. The wax and cardboard fuel will burn for about 90 minutes.
3. For easier cleanup, put a piece of tin foil over the top of the large can and cook on it or you may wrap food in foil.
4. A strip of foil is useful as a damper as it allows you to control the heat of your stove.
The tins can be refilled with wax and used many times. You will know when to throw out the burner.
Tiger's Tips
Tiger
Guide Guider/Pathfinder, Guider/Trainer, Scouter/Trainer
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
You can melt wax slowly in a double boiler or if I am at a meeting hall, I
melt the wax in a coffee can set in an electric frying pan with a couple
inches of water in the bottom of the pan. Watch for the water evaporating
and add more when needed. If you are doing this at a meeting, melt the wax
at home first, then simply reheat. ALWAYS attend the melting wax - it is
very flammable and DO NOT allow children to come close. If you are pouring
from the coffee can itself, bend a serviceable spout in the can first to
allow for better pouring later.
Punch out a few vent holes around the rim of the can (top). Cut a flap
from the open portion of the can large enough to allow the burner to slide
inside easily. If you are using the can and burner in the snow, use a
juice can but punch a hole to remove the juice (usually tomato) and do not
remove an end. This way, all the ashes will remain in the can, and you are
less likely to lose the whole thing by melting to the ground! All sharp
edges are filed down to prevent cuts. The flap can be cut away or left on
and simply bent up or inside the can.
The burner consists of a tuna can, cardboard, wax and a wick. Be careful of
cans that have flip tops - the edges are sharp to work with. Cut strips of
corrugated cardboard, wide enough that when tightly rolled inside the can,
the cardboard does not appear over the lip of the can. If the cardboard
sits too high, it will not properly be covered with wax and when lit, will
burn away to an empty can. Make sure the strips are not so tightly wrapped
that the wax cannot flow through to the bottom. Fill with wax and insert a
piece of string or two for a wick or stick 3 or 4 matches standing up
into the cardboard, so you only have to strike the matches on cement or
such to light them.
I also use small fires instead of burners and keep them constantly fed.
Once the fire is going, place the cooking can over top.
I personally use one can and burner for every three girls. One girl tends
the fire, one girl is cooking her meal, and the other is preparing her meal
for cooking or helping out. Make sure the girls have plenty of wood to
last the meal. There is nothing worse than a fire starting to go out, and
the three start panicking hollering for someone to get wood. The girls
wind up kicking sand into the meal and rushing through the area looking
for bits of wood. Preparation is the key.
Sandy's Tips
Sandy Keeney
Cadette Troop 497, Mid-Continent Council
Kansas City, Missouri, United States
When our girls were young, they loved vagabond stoves; mainly, because
then they didn't have to all agree on what to have for breakfast - - they
could each fix their own. This worked out great, until we had an accident
which involved too much bacon cooked on one stove, which produced too
much grease, which spilled onto a girl's hand, and produced a pretty good
burn. No fun! Also, the leader (me) was tired of having to make new
stoves every camping trip. So here's what we do now:
Instead of cooking directly on the top of the can, we cut the top
completely off. Then we punched 8 holes, more or less evenly spaced,
around the top edge. Through these holes, thread sections of wire cut
from wire coat hangers so that they cross the can in the middle and make
a grill. Leave a loop of hanger to use for a handle, so you can lift the
hot can. Then the girls use their mess kit skillet to cook with. Much
easier to clean up after, too.
Another hint: turn the can upside down so the grill part is on the
bottom. Set it on top of a couple of rocks or bricks so the air can get
underneath. Put one of those egg carton fire starters in the bottom, and
fill the can with charcoal. Light the egg carton, and the charcoal lights
in no time - and it's just the right amount for one Dutch oven!
And yet another: bend a wire coat hanger so it has a loop on one end just
a bit larger than your tuna can buddy burner, and a long handle. Cover
the loop with foil. Use this as a damper for your burner flame, and you
can control the heat and reduce burning. Then when you're finished, you
can use the damper to smother the flame.
Lela's Hints
Lela C. Arnes
San Jacinto Girl Scout Council
Houston Texas, United States
The vent holes at the top should only be on the side opposite the "door"
and 4 or 5 is usually the right number, spaced about l/2 inch apart, using
the triangular, punch can opener. This produces a chimney effect.
This is the best hint I have ever gotten: Save the metal top of the can, put it back inside the can, up near the top, and you will have a insulated cooking surface. No more burned French toast or grilled cheese :) . It will be held in place when you make the vent holes.
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