Trails.com - Your Guide to the Outdoors
Your guide to the outdoors.
Search for:
  • Trails
  • Photos
  • Members
  • Gear
Toyota2009-A

For full access to Trails.com, Log In or begin your 14-Day Free Trial. Learn more…

How to Make a Soda Can Camp Stove

Email Share
By Richard Thomas
A soda can stove in action.

Wikimedia Commons

The soda can stove is a popular choice for ultralight backpackers with a do-it-yourself spirit. Such stoves aren't very fuel efficient, but they weigh only a faction of a normal portable stove.These effective cookers can be made in less than an hour and require only few common tools to do the job, making them a cheap and useful option for camp cooking.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Making the Stove

Things You'll Need:
  • Measuring tape or ruler Magic marker 2 soda cans Nail or pin Hammer Metal screw Screwdriver Metal shears (wire cutters can substitute) Sand Ethanol or denatured alcohol Matches
  • Measuring tape or ruler
  • Magic marker
  • 2 soda cans
  • Nail or pin
  • Hammer
  • Metal screw
  • Screwdriver
  • Metal shears (wire cutters can substitute)
  • Sand
  • Ethanol or denatured alcohol
  • Matches
Step 1
Take one of the cans and measure and mark 3 or 4 points about 1.5 inches from the bottom of the can, and then draw a circle around the outside of the can along those points. This circle will help you draw a straight line all around the circumference of the can. This can is now the stove "base can."
Step 2
Repeat the procedure from Step 1 on the other can (now the "burner can").
Step 3
Soda can bottom with raised rim.
Soda can bottom with raised rim.
Take the burner can and mark 15 to 20 holes spaced in a roughly even pattern around the bottom, just outside the rim, or the raised part upon which the can rests.
Step 4
Poke holes in the burner can through the markings from Step 2, using a nail or pin. A hammer might be handy if it proves too tough to push the nail/pin through. These holes are the flame vents for the stove's burner
Step 5
Cut both cans along the lines marked in Steps 1 and 2. Use your nail or pin to poke a hole in the side along the marked line, and then cut using metal sheers or a wire cutter. Keep the 1.5-inch-high sections of the cans, and discard the rest.
Step 6
Tap a metal screw into the middle of the top of the burner can with the hammer, and then screw it in the rest of the way. This will be the fuel drainage hole and cap for the stove.
Step 7
Cut half a dozen 0.5-inch slits around the base of the burner can. One of the cans must have some give if they are to be fitted snugly together, and the slits will provide that.
Step 8
Put a layer of sand into the base can. This should fill it to between 0.25 and 0.5 inches, so not a lot of sand is required.
Step 9
Push the burner can and the base can together.

Using the Stove

Step 1
Fuel the can by removing the screw-plug and pouring a steady trickle of ethanol (or denaturated alcohol) into the can. Fill the base to about halfway, and then replace the plug.
Step 2
Prime the stove by pouring a little ethanol into the middle of the burner. Try to splash or rub a little around the burner holes, too.
Step 3
Light the center of the stove with a match or candle. The heat of the burning fuel will start vaporizing the fuel inside the cans and then ignite them into a burning jet of gas.

About The Author

Richard Thomas has been writing since earning his M.A. in international affairs in 1997. A former cheap travel blogger for eHow and senior travel editor for Associated Content, he has traveled from Argentina to Vietnam. Thomas usually writes about boxing, hiking and scuba diving, as well as on the food and wine of his current home of Portugal.
Write for Trails.com

  • Editor's Pick

    3 Main Types of Altitude Sickness

    3 Main Types of Altitude Sickness

    Some of the world's most noted tourist attractions, such as the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu, require visitors to ascend to high altitudes. Mountaineers, skiers and trekkers venture into ever higher locations in search of fresh adventure or untrampled destinations. The com...

    More Mountain Climbing...

  • Popular Article

    How to Repair Trekking Poles

    How to Repair Trekking Poles

    Trekking poles can do wonders for relieving the stress of hiking on the back, knees and feet, particularly if you are carrying a backpack. Poles are suggested to be able to reduce up to 25 pounds of carried weight pressing down on your joints by transferring the load to ...

    More Walking & Nature Walks...

  • Featured Video

    Choosing Ski Types & Sizes

    Choosing Ski Types & Sizes

    Learn how to find the right style and size of ski in this free beginner skiing lesson on video, with tips on how ski size affects speed and control.

    More Alpine Skiing...

Trail Finder

US Map

Search by Keyword