Upside Down Hobo Stove | Will it Work?

 Hobo Stoves, or Stick Stoves, are easy to make and work perfect for cooking food in the woods. 

I had an idea that if I turned one upside down, it would trap heat from my forest woodstove and keep food or water warm. 

The prototype worked but does require modifications to be useful in the field. 

This video shows the making and testing of the prototype. 

 

Easy build survival stove.

Tin cans have been utilized as makeshift stoves for many years. The tin-can stoves became known as Hobo stoves due to the fact that they were used extensively during the great depression as people drifted around the country looking for work. 

As a survival or camp stove, the tin-can stove is perfect. It will boil water in less than five minutes, it is easy to make and it is lightweight.  There is no need to carry bulky propane canisters or white gas containers and it is easy and safe to use.  

If you create a rock cairn around the stove, you can place your pan on the rock-rim and efficiently direct the heat to cook your food. 

When you are cold and wet from a long haul through the portage trail, this little stove is a quick way of warming up before hitting the rain laden lake for the next leg of your journey. 

The only downfall to this little stove is the noise it makes as it clangs off your backpack when you move down the trail. Stuff it with leaves and forest debris and that will help solve the issue of noise. (Unless of course you feel more comfortable letting the wild ones know you are coming.) 

I make these stoves very plain and simple. There are many fancy designs floating around on the internet. As long as you have a loading/air intake hole at the bottom of the stove - it will work perfectly.  

Give this little stove a try, I am sure you will love it. 

A Winter Walk in Algonquin Highlands.

The March sun fills the forest with a warmth which has been absent for several months. 

As the sun stretches the shadows from the trees, I wander through the woods with no destination in mind. Animal tracks dictate my direction of travel.  

Wandering in this fashion allows one to purge the concerns of tomorrow and live for the very moment in which you find yourself. 

Even if it is just a fleeting release from the realities of the man-made world in which we all must function, taking a walk in a place where trees grow and wild ones walk always returns me to a place within myself which I call home. 

Whenever you get a chance to drift away from everyone and wander through the woods, don't hesitate, jump right in and lose tomorrow for today.