A cubical pocket stove

Even with all of the fast food restaurants in my area I occasionally find use for this stove to make boiled eggs or hot water for coffee or tea. If you are careful you can use it in your cubicle at work to do the same thing. For pan fried foods, however, I do not recommend this stove but rather one of the pressure pocket stoves, since your fry pan needs to move around.

If you need boiled water for coffee, tea, soup or to make eggs then this stove will get you there.

Step 1 Basic materials

Acquire some small, pocket sized, zip lock storage bags and some paper towels, absorbent paper drink coasters or tissue paper. Try to avoid using absorbent material that might contain unwanted chemicals. Tissue paper works okay but becomes delicate to handle when it gets wet. Ever tried to dry your hand with tissue paper? What a mess!

Comments

[Matt D655]

That could burn your whole house down ya pyro.

[DELETED_kage_no_akiri]

(removed by author or community request)

[Matt D655]

I appoligize for my comment so many years ago.

are you japanese?

[maxman]

A cheap metal hip flask, the kind used for booze, makes a good container for your fuel.  Just be certain to CLEARLY LABEL IT AS FUEL so that no one drinks from it.  You could spray paint it red then label it with black letters.

[dathomar]

I wonder if you could use this setup to make char cloth at the same time you are cooking your eggs. Don't know will have to look into that. Great instructable BTW!

[junits15]

imagine making like 20 and bringing them on a backpacking trip. easy way to avoid paying $40-50 for a cheap backpacking stove!

[J@50n]

I used 70% isopropyl alcohol and it worked amazing!!! it took about 10 minutes for the water to boil and my dad took the temp of it and it got up to 240 degrees feranhight (sp?). i have a few pics i took...here they r..... i also rated it 5* it deserved it!!!!!

[Broom]

Thanks, this is really food for thought for ultralight camping cookstoves.

[pb92929]

Really works! I made a 'kit', so that I can use it to make coffee when I'm out in the woods painting. Weighs next to nothing and, with the addition of a tinfoil windscreen, works every time. With the stove already wet and in its bag, and an additional 1 oz. bottle of fuel, I can make up to 4 cups of coffee and never have to worry about sparks or other fire hazards in the field. Thanks!

[sk8erdude]

that's rubbing alcohol right??? (isopropyl???)

[bylerfamily]

Yes it is rubbing alcohol.

[blodefood]

You should use only methyl hydrate. It is very clean burning, reasonably cheap and is available in the paint section of your local Crappy Tire or hardware store. It is also used as a shellac thinner.

You must have an easy and effective way to extinguish this.

[Broom]

And make sure you only boil distilled, organic water, using a clean oxygen source that you backpacked in to avoid absorbing any air pollutants... Personally, I use sterilized free-range wood chips for my camp fires.

[admiral001]

Lmao!

[thinkahead]

Also read: Health and Safety Concerns

[thinkahead]

One of the drawbacks of methanol as a fuel is its corrosivity to some metals, including aluminium. Methanol, although a weak acid, attacks the oxide coating that normally protects the aluminium from corrosion:

6 CH3OH + Al2O3 → 2 Al(OCH3)3 + 3 H2O

The resulting methoxide salts are soluble in methanol, resulting in clean aluminum surface, which is readily oxidised by some dissolved oxygen. Also the methanol can act as an oxidizer:

6 CH3OH + 2 Al → 2 Al(OCH3)3 + 3 H2

This reciprocal process effectively fuels corrosion until either the metal is eaten away or the concentration of CH3OH is negligible.

Source: Methanol as fuel

[blodefood]

Hmm. Ok, but since the exposure is brief, during cooking time only, is this not better than using rubbing alcohol, gas-line antifreeze and the like? I don't have the science behind it. Besides, I avoid aluminium in favour of steel or glass where possible for storing and using liquids of any sort. Would like to hear your comments thinkahead, thanks.

[thinkahead]

The advantages of Isopropyl are that while you can not easily make your own like you can ethanol, 70% can be easily dehydrated, is readily available in small quantities, can be used to clean wounds and burns cleanly when used as a fuel for LTCFV type stoves. The ideal alternative in my experience is solar when available or wind or water powered resistance or inductive based heaters. One meal heating project I know of was designed around a human powered friction generator attached to a bicycle but humans do not make very good energy storage units, i.e., batteries and need what little energy they can store just to power their brains. I like butane, even though it is pressurized at ambient temperature. Hydrogen fueled fuel cells and micro turbines are being developed to power everything from cell phones to ipods and possibly to heat food. Only in science fiction is there a hydrogen fusion reactor to heat water for coffee or tea. Given enough time and an era of post-terrorism and we may have a fusion based suitcase that will solve any and every energy need we have.

[thinkahead]

Right. I havent tried EverClear yet or Methanol but the flash points are nearly the same. Of the three Isopropyl is the cheapestor at least was prior to about a year ago when 1 quart of 70% sold for $0.99 and today sells for $1.76 - nearly a 45% jump in price.

[coolkid109]

um..would 70% isopropyl alcohol work..it's all I've got at home

[bylerfamily]

Yeah,it would.It would not burn as long as 91% though.

[blodefood]

I wouldn't use anything but Methyl Hydrate which is found in the paint department of hardware stores. The label should say on it "Methyl Hydrate" as well as "Alcohol Stove Fuel." It is cheaper by unit cost than the isopropyl you get at the drug store and burns a lot cleaner. You can buy it in larger quantities too.

[blodefood]

This would be ok for outdoor use, but I would not use it in an office or workplace setting.

[Fred82664]

effective however I would not use it in my cubical or office . for under $10.00 at most to just about any Army surplus store one can pick up a shirt pocket stove and a box of Trioxide fuel bars. at a good out doors camping store one can get a little three winged bottle cap stove and Trioxide tablets that fits it like a big pill. both will boil a Qt of water in 5Min @ low altitudes less @ higher altitudes the can fit in side a pack of king sized smokes (Box)

[HAL 9000]

I have read some pretty nasty things about Triox, ESBIT, and Hex solid fuels. the molecular structure of that stuff is incredibly complicated, and as Sangamon's Principle dictates the more complicated the molecule the more unpredictable it is. Those fuels give off ammonia and formaldehyde, among many other chemicals. Sure, they're fine for emergency use, but for just cooking an egg at the office they might be a little too toxic. I dont know if you have ever used a Penny alcohol stove (or any pressurized homemade alcohol stoves) but i absolutely love mine. as others have stated below, burning alcohol is very safe and smokeless, however i dont think i would use this in an office. cool instructable, also, interesting idea. ill have to try this as a way to prime my Soda can stove.

[Fred82664]

personally I would not cook any thing in an office that used any open flame. regardless of what fuel. it just has way to many things that could go wrong.
most brake room that I have seen are large and have a fresh air supply that will dissipate small exotic gasses that Trioxide may produce. granted if you burn a 10l Lb block of it at once_{, yes you could get lots of toxic gasses that would put you in grate danger. now be realistic a pill about 3/4 " to about an 1" OD and 1/2 thick that puts out 1 part per 800Mil. of toxic gasses. I do not see the grate concern considering the office contains much worse toxic items. like Inks, Toners, ect}

[lukethedog]

Hmmm...If you use this in any office, cubical or any building where people are working you will surely get a one-way trip out the door. The fumes, smoke and flames will set off every fire alarm in the place. After the evacuation, security will be waiting for you with a box for all your personal stuff. Whatever you do don't use this inside or in an office building. But, other than that. The design is effective.

[lasermaster3531]

the flame on this is blue and stoichiometric. it won't make smoke. the can won't smoke because the water inside won't let the surface get above 200 deg.F. the flame is practically invisible. just stay out of view of the security cameras. the fumes become undetectable about 5 ft. above the stove.

[Matt D655]

Now that makes me a bit peeved heinekin is my favorate beer.

[Thaikarl]

but is it your favorite can? and somebody has to get the beer out, so you can use the can for a stove pot. heh heh heh

[redkcir]

Instead of paper, use cotton swaps, like the kind used to remove makeup. A bag of 100 large round ones are a dollar. Don't have to worry about the mess wet paper leaves.

[rbneville]

wont the paint from the can create smoke??

[Foaly7]

Interesting instructable....

P.S.: You spelled CUBICLE wrong :-)

[stevec038]

I have tried several of the "cat stoves" described in the "zenstoves.net" sight but for ease of use and simplicity I really like this one. Try it with gas line anti-freeze (Heet), the methanol version for less smoke. It seems to burn hotter also.

[jman109]

thats really cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! if u upsize the pot just upsize the paper towel and base,right?

[GroundedDreamer]

Simple, effective and quick! This is an excellent Instructable! This would work well too if you need to boil water for safety reasons in a disaster situation. Thanks for the contribution!

[Matt D655]

Actually thats a unsafe but creative idea

[motorcyclegrrl]

I didn't pay attention to exactly how much burn time I got. I'd say about 7 to 8 minutes.

[motorcyclegrrl]

Ok, that didn't take long to set up and I now have 10 oz of boiling water at 2minutes.. I used a coffe can for a base and a 12 oz keystone light beer can for my "pot" I put about 9 oz of water in it. I used a paper towel folded and folded until it was about the size of the beer can. I trimmed it, soaked it in a alcohol and set it on fire after I put the "pot on it". I'm starting to worry it might boil over but so far it hasn't. The kitchen sink would have been a better place for this experiment. If only the room I work in didn't have fm200 in it for fire safely. HA!

[motorcyclegrrl]

This is the single most informative and instructive "alcohol stove" how to I've seen yet. and by far the most entertaining. thanks so much. I'm going to try it now . . .