Homemade sterno can?

[marylp]

Does anyone know how to make a homemade sterno can? What kind of fuel would I use? it would have to be something safe for indoors and get hot enough to boil water. Someone told me about some tablets that burn really hot that can be used also. Any ideas you guys? Thanks in advance

[Rick]

Homemade sterno can? Are you looking for a stove? I'm not certain what you are asking.

[marylp]

I have the sterno stove, lets say in an emergency, I ran out of the sterno cans, What could I use instead? I guess I am looking for something to work as back up.

[crashdive123]

Rubbing alcohol. Did a test a while back with the smaller sterno cans. I got almost 50 minutes of burn time (If I remember correctly). I then filled the empty can (after it cooled) with rubbing alcohol. Similar burn time. There are several solid fuel tablets on the market that are designed for little folding stoves. Esbit and trioxane are two that are popular.

[Rick]

Oooooh! I get you. Is this it?

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You could use esbit fuel (it's smokey when you blow it out but burns clean), Trioxane (but it's nasty inside) or denatured alcohol (can be explosive). I can't think of anything else I'd use inside without a good vent.

Outside, you could add Coughlan's fire sticks or just wood.....if that's a picture of yours.

[wareagle69]

each can has about 6 hrs of burn time so haveing a dozen or so around would give you 72 hrs of cooking time, thats allot of cooking time in my book

[crashdive123]

Here are a few. The one on the left is a folding sterno stove. The two on the right are folding solid fuel stoves. The picture on the right is all three folded up.

[wareagle69]

hey rick i was just looking at one of those yesterday, but 3 rocks will do the same thing and save ya 12 bucks, although i do like coughlans stuff i always use their seirra saw

[marylp]

Really Crash? just like that pour alcohol into the can and light? Will 70% percent work? Do I need a wick? Sorry for the stupid questions , I am really new at this. Where can I learn about esbit stoves? Thank You so much!!

[Gray Wolf]

I would use the Esbit fuel tablets, safe inside a car too.

[crashdive123]

Mary - for my little test I used a 70% solution. The can burns real hot, so safety would be a big concern. Also, I would only do something like that in a very well ventilated area.

[Rick]

Gee, now who would sell Esbit gear? Hmmm. Wonder who that would be????

WE, I don't have one just trying to figure out what kind Mary has. I do have an Esbit stove like the one Crash posted and use the Esbit fuel. You could use just about any fuel on that little stove.

Mary, alcohol burns with little or no flame so very often you can't see the fire in the day time. Personally, I would be hesitant to pour alcohol in an open can and ignite it. But that's just me. I have an alcohol stove but I don't use it very often. Some of these other folks might be very comfortable with burning the alcohol that way.

[marylp]

Hi Hopeak, I live in deep South Texas and I do 911 at our local Sherrifs office. I have known of so many people in dire situations in various senarios and they think we at 911 know about survival things like this, One guy was stranded on our lake for 12 hours with kids and wanted to cook on his bass boat and wanted to know how to start a fire. I am not lying!! He caught some fish and wanted to feed ot to his family. (Our Parks and Wildlife people were out of town).

[Sourdough]

Mary, Are you getting Ike'ed....?

Darn, I thought deleted undetected.

[Rick]

One of your main concerns when frickaseein' a freshly hogged bass on top yer bass boat is being able to chop the fiberglass into a reasonable sized hole. Not a great big hole, mind you, but a reasonable sized hole that will draft well from the bottom. As you can see I've used my Rambo IV survival knife to hack a hole in the top of the deck right cheer and gutted and scaled ma bass. I'm pouring a tad bit of gasoline down in the hole from my spare tank. Just enough to get your fire started. Don't them fumes smell good? A love the smell of gasoline in the morning. Smells like trophy bass. Now then. I actually poured a bit more gas down in there than I intended that's why I'm waving my hat over the hole. We call it "venting". Or somethin' like that. Anyway, let's gives this puppy a whirl. I got me a strike anywhere match and I'll just give her a flick right......HOLLY MOTHER OF GOD!!!!! SOMEONE CALL 911!!!!! GRAB A FIRE EXTINGUISHER!!!!!! ABANDON SHIP!!!!!!!!

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[Sourdough]

Looks like a Viking funeral.

[marylp]

Rick, Rick,Rick very funny!! This guy was serious! he has kids to feed. hehehe I feel bad for laughing. Oh and Hopeak naw Iked totally ignored us! Great or I would still be on shift.

[crashdive123]

Mary - If you are concerned about being able to cook at home during some sort of power outage or other condition that does not allow you to keep with your regular routine - Hopeak's advice is very good. Those small green Coleman propane canisters (about $2.50) and a small stove that mounts to the top of it (probably under $25) are good choices to have on hand if you need them. Here's what they look like http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colem...ategoryid=2010 Wally World may have them cheaper.

[Gray Wolf]

Rick that was funny!

(No offense to those in trouble with Ike.)

[sh4d0wm4573ri7]

stuff empty sterno can with cotton and use dentured or rubbing alcohol it acts as a wick and burns longer the dentured works better in my tests is easier to light and just seems to perform better(water will put it out if it gets away also) My Etowah stove uses the same principle the cotton wick provides a long simmer