Over the last couple of years I have seen a number of Do It Yourself (DIY) outdoor projects, you know the ones for hiking and camping. So over Yule I decided to do one of these projects and the one I chose was building my own portable wood stove. If you have seen commercial wood stoves at the store they can run as much as $100. Since I didn't want to pay that, why not make one. The first design I found on YouTube is made with two cans, one four-inch and the other three-inch. That is a can of peaches and a can of beans. Anyway, the first video for making one of these (see below) was a pretty good design.
I followed the instructions, but when I got to the end I just couldn't make the lid snap back on the stove. So I looked for another design and I found one. Instead of cutting the whole top off the big can and then trying to fit it back together you just cut the bottom out the regular way and then cut the hole in the top to fit the second can onto (see video below).
I will say this design was easier to do and it worked. I put it together lit it and the stove burned like a charm. I did incorporate some of the design ideas from the first video mostly on the inner can, but it was mostly the second video that worked.
The final touch to the project was adding a pot holder. I made mine out of a piece of a gutter guard, but I might try to get something a little thicker late. Still, the piece I used works, so I took my hiking pot and placed it on top and heated up some water in it. It is good I left a gap in the pot holder which made it easier to add wood. Anyway, it heated up the water in about 12 minutes which isn't half bad (might have been faster had I added the pot lid). Another good thing about the second design was the pot holder nests up in the stove. With some work and very low cost I was more than pleased in how this stove came out.
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