Let’s Make an Alcohol Stove

In a previous post, I talked about what I like about alcohol stoves. One of the things that I mentioned is that you can make your own, out of items found easily at hand. So today I’m going to show you how to make your own alcohol stove out of a couple aluminum beverage cans.

About this stove

This stove is my interpretation of the “pop can” or “Pepsi can” stove. I built mine based on a loose interpretation of the instructions found here and here. This is what’s known as an “open jet” stove. They’re simple to build and operate, extremely lightweight, and reasonably efficient.

Tools and materials

For materials you’ll need empty beverage cans. You’ll need two for the burner, and a third for a snuffer if you feel the need. Most 12 ounce beverage cans are identical regardless of their contents, just look to see that the shape of all the cans are the same. It’s best if the cans aren’t dented. Rinse the cans out and dry them thoroughly.

You’ll also need aluminum foil tape. This isn’t duct tape, it’s actually a sheet of aluminum foil with adhesive on the back. It comes on backing paper that you have to peel off before sticking on the tape. Here’s a link to it on Amazon (note, no affiliation).

You absolutely do NOT need all the tools shown above. For sure you need scissors, hammer, a ruler, and a permanent marker. You also need a way to drill or punch holes in the burner ring. This could be anything from a heavy thumbtack to a drill bit to the point of a utility knife. You’ll also want some sort of sandpaper or emery cloth to smooth out sharp edges. Lastly, you’ll need something substantial to pound on. I used the “anvil” area behind the jaws of my vise, but a scrap of board would probably do.

Obligatory Warnings!

We’re going to be cutting bits out of aluminum beverage cans. They’re made of really thin metal, so the bits are sharp, and could cut you. Be careful! Also, tools are sharp too. Or pokey. Or smashy. They could hurt you too. Be careful! Also also, some or all of the tools and materials involved are known by the state of Cancer to cause California. If you follow these instructions and cut off your legs, don’t come running to me.

Making the Burner Ring

The burner ring is the fussiest part to make, so we’ll start with that. It’s made from the bottom of one of the cans. We’ll do all of the work that we need to on the bottom before we trim it to size, so that we have something easy to hold on to while we’re working.

To start, we need a ring of holes around the angled face of the can bottom. I use a template I got here to lay out the holes, specifically the “inner wall and sideburner” template for a 12 ounce can. I cut out the template, roughly centered it on the bottom of the can, and taped it down with a little masking tape.

I will be making 24 holes with a #59 drill, which is 0.041″, or 1.04mm. One millimeter would be fine. It doesn’t have to be exact, I actually chose that drill size because it’s one of the drills in the set that isn’t actually used for much. Rather than using a drill that might have some prescribed use, I chose to use this one.

I laid out the holes by making a dot with a marker roughly in the middle of the angled part of the can, and roughly in line with the lines on the template. A small chuck held the drill, and the small chuck fit into the regular chuck of a cordless drill. I didn’t concern myself with great precision during any part of this process, as the results plainly show.

I used a bit of emery cloth to clean up the burrs from the drilling.

Next, we have to remove the concave portion of the can bottom just where the concave bit meets the vertical rib. I took a utility knife and ran the point around the cut line for five or six laps.

Once you’ve deeply scored the line, you’re ready to knock out the middle. If you have a punch and hammer you can easily knock it out by working around the perimeter. A big nail or tent stake could substitute for the punch. Or, you can do what I did and use the handle of the hammer instead of the punch, and whack the top of the hammer with your hand. It seemed to work pretty well.

Now we mark it and trim it to size. Flip the can back over. You’ll need some way to mark the can so that the burner ring ends up the correct height. For today’s stove it’s going to be 20 mm.

I am using a machinist’s tool called a surface gauge, which is expressly designed to scribe a mark on metal at a precise height. But I only use that tool because I already had it. If I didn’t, I would probably opt for a Sharpie sticking out of a thick book, and set as close as possible to the desired height. You don’t need to be absolutely perfect on the height.

Once it’s marked, cut it off. I did an initial puncture with a utility knife before I switched to the scissors. I cut it off about 1/4″ (6mm) too long, then did a cleanup cut to get as close as I could.

Once it’s trimmed to size, I ran it over a sheet of emery paper to take off the burrs. This will make it easier to assemble and less of a hazard to my fingers.

Making the bowl

The bowl is quite straightforward. You’ll set your marking tool to 35 millimeters above your work surface and mark a second beverage can. Cut it off, trim, and sand the edges as before. It’s done! It went so quickly I didn’t even get a picture.

We’re going to stop there for this week. Next week we’ll make the inner wall, and put the whole thing together. Thanks for reading!