Make Your Own Hobo Stove From Scrap

By 'Above Average' Joe on January 10, 2014

A hobo stove is a style of improvised heat-producing and cooking device used in survival situations, by backpackers, hobos, tramps and homeless people. Hobo stoves can be functional to boil water for purification purposes during a power outage and in other survival situations,  and can be used for outdoor cooking.

The key thing to remember with a hobo stove is that it is an item that is built from easily identifiable and readily available material.

This stove may be built from a discarded tin can of any size by removing the top of the can, punching several small holes near the upper edge, and a larger opening on the side of the can near the bottom, for fuel and air.

The bottom of the can is generally left in place, as this yields a stronger stove structure and minimizes spread of fire to combustible material on the ground.

Fuel is placed in the can and ignited. Convection draws air in through the bottom/side orifice, and heat emerges from the top. A cooking vessel may be placed on the top. The bottom/side hole may face the wind for more heat or it may be partially covered with scrap metal if the fire is too hot.

The stove itself can be constructed out of a variety of materials: paint cans, coffee cans, food tins, buckets, and large drums are most often put to that purpose. Further flexibility lies in the fact that nearly anything combustible can be used as a fuel source.

Typical fuels are dry twigs and small pine cones. Use of animal dung is also possible.

Use of a Buddy Burner allows a switch to use of such less-volatile liquid fuels as rubbing alcohol or kerosene or wax.

There are more than a dozen different versions of rocket stoves available on the market  that have a huge range in price.

But many of them are big and heavy…

And let’s face it, when TSHTF  and you need to be light on your feet, the last thing you’re going to want to carry is a 30 pound stove with you.

The great thing about a hobo stove ( or the more politically correct term “rocket stove”) is that with a little innovation you can make one from some pretty common household objects.

If you’ve never made one of these, you should give it a try, it doesn’t take very long and you can make them with scraps.

So now you know WHY  the ability to create a rocket stove is a great skill to have, but HOW do you make one?

Check out this video my friends over at DIYready.com put together showing you how to make one variation using a couple of paint cans and some aluminum flashing: