Hobo Stove from Tin Can - Traditional High Tech Camp Stove

This is the tin can twig stove hoboes have used for cooking since time immemorial.
It's quick to make, easy to light, and does a lot of cooking with mere handfuls of twigs for fuel.
It doesn't make much smoke or shine much light, in case you don't want to be found.
It also doesn't leave fire scars or start forest fires very well.
That's good for both fugitives and environmentalists.

Another tin can would be the cooking pot for a living-history hobo re-enactment enthusiast. Preferably with a piece of wire through two holes through the lip to hang it like a little bucket.

Here's my favorite can for a hobo stove, a 3 liter olive oil can. I'm cooking salmon heads and giblets into soup on a driftwood pile in the rain in British Columbia. I consumed the olive oil during the weeks it took me to learn to catch salmon. This is a new stove, the paint hasn't all burned off yet, and it needs more air intakes. With just one door there will be charcoal left in the ashes. With three doors everything gets burned, and it's easier to feed fuel.

Step 1 Don't Do This

The hobo stove and some common sense will leave your campsite looking like wilderness.

Here's what bad camping leaves behind.
Please notice the pile of crap and toilet paper just behind the fire scar. Rain has washed the sand off the top of it. The bacteria washes down into the oyster beds and the tribe won't be able to sell their oysters. In this area you're supposed to crap or dispose of crap in deep water in the current, or a couple stone's throws from the water in a > 8" deep pit.

Strange to say, but kayakers are the bad guys in this case, much worse than power boaters even.

In case you're tuning in late and want the current eco-dogma,
shellfish farming is usually good for the environment, whereas salmon farming is usually bad.

Comments

[moneyfuskie935]

I just threw away that exact can! Literally- 2 Seconds ago! Arghh! someone just dumped some rotten meat on top! NOOOOOOOOO!

[ledzeppie]

wow....a actual semi original can stove...theres like a bunch of others out there that are pretty much spam now... good job

[lennyb]

actually im waiting for someone to make a spam stove out of a spam can. :)

[James (pseudo-geek)]

hahahahahaha. its really hard to find spam now days. I haven't seen it in 4+ years.

[ilpug]

Really? It is super easy to get in California.

[hjjusa]

Go to Wally World.

[lukeyj15]

It's in my supermarket in Australia

[Yerboogieman]

I own some, my dad bought some in hawaii, it's everywhere.

[Thelonelysandwitch]

I find it in shoprite all the time

[prestonm]

I had some just the other day.

[Derin]

well this site has a lot of i t>:D

[James (pseudo-geek)]

lol. try youtube.com they have LOADS more. and I meant Spam, the mystery meat in a can.

[Derin]

I know:) i was just jk

[chardster]

I had some spam about 7 months ago i think. found it at a Sam's Club. Not that bad.

[corey_caffeine]

wally world carries it but watch out for wal-martians

[lennyb]

hey i work at wal mart does that make me a walmartian? cool take me too your loss leader heh heh

[redneckjaybyrd]

Here in the south it's everywhere, if you really want spam and can't find it where you are, go to spam.com, the also have different varieties of spam like hickory smoked, bacon, hot & spicy, garlic, cheese etc... You get the idea, but yeah, you can get it there.

[KittyF]

Why are you showing a stove made from an Olive Oil can on the first page and your description talks about a juice can? which one is better? or easier to make or use? What if I have two olive oil cans and no juice cans? I also have a Service sized Bean can, HUGE. as big as the old coffee cans were before they began gypping us and pretending we were getting the same amount of coffee.

[chuckr44]

Any size can will do as long as it holds your pot, and does not melt. Thus, soda cans are too thin and will melt in a normal fire. Regular cans for food are often thick enough.

The can can be round or square or rectangular. Just be sure to have openings in the bottom and top for air flow.

[Blaaken]

Actually, most food cans, like the one that hold born or bean are made from tin or steel, whereas soda cans are made from aluminum. aluminum melts at a much lower temp than tin or steel.

[KittyF]

Ok, How did the olive oil can do with stability? any issues with that? it looks precarious.

[zays]

A wood gas stove is when the wood is heated and it releases a natural gas thats very flammable. Then the gas is ignited and the flame heats the wood and repeats the process. this uses all of the wood chip instead of just burning the wood chip

[ensnaturae]

I want to understand WOOD GAS but no one explains in an idiotproof way.
. Why does it help to make more woodgas, if you have one can inside another. Would it help to use rockwool insulation between the two cans?
Very good!I wish I was there, it sounds wonderful.

[Gileohi]

That is heated, not burned - although the wood can turn to coal depending on the way the wood gasifier works.

[Gileohi]

Wood gas is a flammable gas, much like propane, given off of wood (Any kind) when heated in an oxygen deprived area. The first vehicles used it as fuel.

[Aero9]

What exactly can be cooked with this can, for future reference. Also, this is awesome!

[abbakus]

Well done. Notice that piling up another smaller can inside the first and doing some holes, you can obtain a better result because of the "wood gas" you burn, raising the efficiency and lowering the smoke. Search on youtube for "wood gas stove". I've made one and it's easy and works very well!

[freecell64]

If i ever do that backpacking trip i wanted then ill deff bring either that or one of those explosive can stoves

[jasongbc]

@Pyro: Looks like a knife or any other thin, sharp object less than or equal to the diameter of the can that's being cut. Maybe even another can, a hard shell, a sharp rock bashed with another rock...

[peacenique]

Oatmeal with olive oil, cocoa, and honey?!

[Someguy44]

very tastah

[Armchair Pyro]

What do you cut it with? *Please use proper spelling. I can read shorthand, but severe misspelling of normal words drives me insane (granted it's not a very far drive...). thanks.

[rickets]

i used a 1 gallon cofee can to make a charcoal starter (worked wonderful) , i laid a couple of metal tent stakes across the top of it to make coffee on the cold mornings while camping. here's how i made it the top of the can was gone ,i attached a metal handle with a couple of nuts and bolts so it would stick out about a foot so i could handle it without getting burned too bad (needed leather gloves) , i cut some (5) pie shaped slots (about an inch wide) in the bottom of the can , around the outside bottom of the can i used a can opener to open holes about every 1 inch , stuff a couple of pieces of crumpled newspaper in the bottom , fill with charcoal , light paper with match , this worked very well and i used it for years for starting my barbecue and camping

[arjo]

Huck yuck yuck yck,

perfect Instrucktable, simple obvious detail, good dollop of humour, and whilst not somthing i need to know right now today, Im 100% sure, now ive read it, I'll use it some time in the future.

Cheers ;-)

... gotta get me a Make subscription, keep you'se teknoblogging hobo's fed

[The Knights Of The Round Pie]

 NEVER USE A SODA CAN i did and it melted!!

[teslafan100]

Hey that was from Les Stroud survivorman.

[Pentacle]

Very cool!

[QuestionConvenience]

i modified the design of the first stove a little to work better. cut the top out using the can opener, cut two little doors on the narrow sides at the bottom, and then pushed lengths from a wire coat-hanger through small holes to form a grid for the fuel. The grid vertically bisects the doors, so that fuel (sticks) can still go in the doors (top half) but unrestricted air-flow moves through the bottom half of the doors, up through the fuel and out the top of the 3L olive oil can. This was much more efficient. Thanks for the overall idea!

[pleabargain]

Thanks for posting and if you have any other tips/tricks to make traveling less expensive and more adventurous pass on your ideas, please.

[dasgemuse]

the amount of zinc in a tin can will not be near enough to hurt you. and by the second use of the stove, it should be mostly burned off. this is a tried and true method of cooking more efficiently