The Hobo Stove

Several months ago I mentioned buying a cutlery caddy from Ikea and yesterday I finally took my Dremel Tool to it to open up a fuel door and then ran a test burn and boil.

It was probably in the 30s (F) here with little wind and the stove worked a treat. It took longer to grind down the burrs from the cutting than it did to put in the door. I used the many holes as a guide and just cut from one to the next until I had an opening large enough to feed in sticks and pinecones. I suppose I could still open it up a bit more as the caddy is made of some nice sturdy stainless and could still withstand additional material removal.

I used my drop point knife from ML Knives for all the splitting and carving of larger pieces of firewood to reduce them to a useable size. Can you believe the patina on that beauty? Matt can really make a heck of a knife and this is truly one of my most treasured pieces of gear. I've gone on and on about it in the past so I won't do so here.

This was such an easy project that I'm not toying with the idea of cutting a hole through the bottom of a caddy to use it with a Trangia burner. I could also cut around the caddy to make a shorter stand that would support a pot and lift everything off of the Trangia burner while still nesting around a 10cm or 12cm billy can. I don't know which will fit the easiest so it'll take a bit of experimentation.

Stay tuned as this project unfolds.


Thanks for reading,


B