[Video Quick Tip] How To Make A “Hobo Stove” From Scrap

5 Comments

1. 

   jimigreyghost

   January 10, 2014 at 5:31 PM

   What most people call The Hobo Stove is not exactly accurate. What you have described is an accurate description of the original Hob Stove. I am over 70 years old and grew up in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s near railroads with hundreds of real life ingenious hardscrabble Hobos. The original Hobo Stove did not have a separate fire chamber (a can within a can) that is often described. The Hobo Stove I grew up experiencing, was usually a one pound coffee can with strategically located vents and a fuel-feed aperture. Those men traveling with families usually used a three pound coffee can or (what is now called) No. 10 food can or one-gallon paint can.
   Most of them carried a can opener (euphemistically called a “Church Key”), a folding pocket knife, a spoon (and sometimes a fork), a box of strike-anywhere matches, a bedroll, and sundry personal items. The bedroll was usually a Red Cross or military surplus wool blanket. About half of them carried a dedicated cook pot or another coffee can used to cook in. If their cook”pot” did not have a handle, there was usually bailing wire available to form one.
   On numerous occasions I witnessed the speedy manufacture of a Hobo Stove in five to ten minutes. The really good ones could do it in three. They would start by cutting an approximately 3 inch hole in the side of the can near the open top. They would then take the “Church Key” and puncture a series of holes around the top sides and in the bottom of the can. Some would puncture the holes around the bottom sides instead of the direct bottom. This difference was usually predicated on the size of cook pot or can used to cook in. The Hobo Stove can was then turned up-side down and the fire started thru the hole in the side
   Fuel was usually small branches and twigs. However, they would use anything handy, even your wood furniture if you left anything outside.

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   • 

     Bonnie

     January 10, 2014 at 8:48 PM

     To jimigreyghost:

     I have made something very similar to what you have described. It was actually with my son at a Scouting event called the Klondike Derby. Yes..a large coffee can, no extra can, it was 10 degrees with a wind chill of -2 and snowing and we had a great fried egg breakfast cooked right on top of that can! Thanks for the post!

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2. 

   Jeffrey Bonneville

   January 10, 2014 at 8:44 PM

   Thanks for the demo

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3. 

   Faye Coleman

   June 15, 2018 at 4:38 PM

   When I was in Girl Scouts, we had what was called a Buddy Burner to cook on. We would take a large metal can, turn it upside down and punch holes with a manual punch type can opener around the can’s side. We had a smaller tuna fish/chicken type can that we rolled up corrugated cardboard tightly cut just a little taller than the can (for the wick) and placed down in the smaller can. Then we melted Gulf wax and poured into the smaller can on the cardboard, making sure all the corrugated holes were filled with wax. When wax was set you could light the cardboard and set the small can under the larger can and put your cookware on top and cook away. So much fun. Everything seemed to taste so much better. Lots of memories. Faye, Jonesboro, GA

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