Hobo Stove

Having been reading about these on the internet for a while now on places like Zombie Squad and Practical Survivor, I decided to have a go at making one myself. One of the best examples I've seen so far is the one in the video below.



I wanted something a bit bigger than that so my hobo stove consists of a baby milk can and a sugar tin with lid. I have a small half litre kettle (currently in the loft so I have yet to see if my theory pans out) that should also sit neatly on the top of the milk can.



I started by marking a length of tape with 8 marks 1.5 inches apart for the large half inch ventilation holes around the bottom, this tape was wrapped around the bottom of the can. I then marked up four strips of tape with marks one inch apart for the smaller holes. These were placed vertically on the can with the bottom mark overlaying every other large hole mark so that the strips were a couple of inches apart. I then drilled a pilot hole in each mark before drilling half inch and quarter inch holes.



Having drilled these holes, I gave each one a few tap with a hammer to flatten the burrs out and cut the rectangular hole in the front with a Dremel (this was done over the course of two days, but like the iPhone advert, steps have been removed to shorten the sequence).



The pot rest is made from a couple of lengths of wire coat hanger which I will replace with a couple of old tent pegs when I can get to the camping gear in the loft. The wire coat hanger sections are okay but not very sturdy. On top of them, I've used a PC fan grill that was lying around. You can get these off eBay for about £2.50. I had to cut the screw holes off so it would fit in the milk can, but then it fitted perfectly.

Two holes were drilled in the sugar can to allow the attachment of the wire coat hanger handle as well as a hole in the lid for the knob. The only things missing are a small bag for tinder and firelighting gear, a tin for some hexi blocks and perhaps a steel mug with a folding handle to nest inside and a meths burner to give it a true multi-fuel capability. Oh, and a pouch (preferably suede or leather) to keep it in. All in all, this probably took me about two hours once I had all the parts together. Job done.

GEAR REVIEW - K J Eriksson Mora clipper knife

I’ve been meaning to buy a decent bushcraft/camping/general purpose outdoor knife for sometime but have, for various reasons, only just got round to it. I don’t need a massive Rambo style survival knife, just something that I can use for a bit of cooking, whittling, and in a pinch, any emergency cutting scenario that, god forbid, may arise on the odd occasion that I veer awar from central heating and readymeals. In the end, I went for a Swedish Mora knife. There are various types of these available under a variety of similar names and all fall around the £10-13 mark, which isn’t bad when you actually get the knife and weigh it up.



Much more than just a glorified kitchen knife (which is very much how it appears in pictures), it is very much more. It has a weighty blade and a nice, hefty, ergonomic grip made from what feels like very durable, grippy rubber. It feels very reassuring in your hand, like it’s not going to break on you at the first attempt to cut anything particularly sturdy, the blade is four inches long and etched with the manufacturers name of KJ Erickson of Sweden. It is surprisingly thick, razor sharp and should hold the edge nicely for a while before needing to be sharpened. The knife, overall is about nine inches long.

The sheath is a nice heavyweight plastic with a positive hold on the knife when it’s inserted. There is a chunky belt clip on the back that should accommodate most belts, although some sort of loop to stop it coming off in extreme circumstances is missing and would be a worthy addition.

I paid £4.99 plus £2.50 postage and packing for this knife from ebay. I dare say if you lurked there for a while, you could get one a bit cheaper, but a knife this versatile and useful is well worth seven and a half quid of anyone’s money.