Vagabond Stove
Supplies:
One gallon (#10) tin can
Can opener
Tin snips
Punch opener
Gloves
Remove lid from one end of the tin can using a can opener. This is the bottom of the stove. While wearing gloves, use the tin snips to cut a 3" x 3" door on one side of the tin can from the open end. Bend this door out but leave attached for ventilation control. Using the punch opener, punch two or three small holes on the opposite side of the door for air holes.
Use with a Buddy Burner.
Place the stove over the lighted Buddy Burner.
Caution: Do not touch the stove-- it will get VERY hot!
Use the door to control the heat.
Season your stove, by burning a buddy burner under it until top of stove is heated to cooking temperature and then heat for at least three minutes. Using heavy duty oven mitts, lift the can off the heat source and extinguish the buddy burner. Be careful. The can will be very hot. Using oven mitts on both hands, hold the can securely and wipe the cooking surface (top end) of the hot can carefully with paper towels until any chemical finish of the can is completely wiped off.
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Buddy Burner
Supplies:
Shallow tin can ( tuna, dog or cat can)
Corrugated cardboard*
Scissors
Paraffin wax
Cut the cardboard into strips slightly narrower than the depth of the can. Usually 1 1/2 inches wide X 15 inches long should be enough. Roll the cardboard strips into a coil and place into the can. Melt the paraffin wax and pour over the cardboard in the can. Let harden.
*You can substitute sawdust for the cardboard.
Light the Buddy Burner with a match.
Use with a Vagabond Stove or for emergency fuel or drive four 6" nails into the ground around the Buddy Burner to make a pan rest.
To extinguish the Buddy Burner, remove the Vagabond Stove with a pot holder
Caution: Stove will be VERY hot. Smother the flame with a larger tin can lid or something similar.
Caution: The paraffin wax will be liquid and very hot--wait till it hardens and cools before handling it.
The buddy burner, oven mitts and cooking utensils may be stored and carried inside the vagabond stove. Save any plastic lid of the #10 can for use as a cover. Once the stove is used the inside will be sooty, so you may want to include a small plastic bag in which to place the oven mitts and cooking utensils before you store them in the vagabond stove.
I’d read about hobo stoves and have to admit I approached this project with a lot of skepticism. The stoves I’ve used in the past range from gasoline stoves for heating a ten man tent to the small butane and alcohol stoves that live in most hikers backpacks. A friend told me about a stove he’d made during his hiking days and described a hobo stove I’d read about online, so I decided to give it a try.