Well here is the trial run of my version of the honey stove and the infamous Wal-mart grease pot. I have been browsing the lightweight backpacking websites and it started with the alcohol stove bug. I have always been a borderline firebug and these little stoves are fun to make and play with. So I made a few from pop cans, here is one of my first ones.
After seeing that these little pop can stylestoves aren't practical for group cooking. I decided that the honey stove was something I could easily copy and possibly improve upon. My first build was rather sloppy fitting and seemed to want to rattle around and fall apart. I had made the interlocking slots too wide and the inner panels too small. Putting a pot on this thing would have been a disaster. Here are some of the first panels I made.
I altered the slots and made the inner panels bigger. This made assembly a little tougher but the stove would now work. Here it is in use, frying fish.
This version is all 20g stainless, which is heavier than the original honey stove but I'm car camping with the family so weight does not matter to me. If you notice that is the current version of the Wal-mart grease pot which now has a riveted handle. It is made by IMUSA which is not made in the USA but nice try China. My buddy was in charge of bringing the cast iron skillet, he did bring it to my house but we left it in my kitchen. Looks like we are cooking fish in the grease pot! I used a can opener to cut the rolled lip of the strainer plate and it was attached to the loop to lift out the fish. Fish cooked in about 1 minute, this thing is very hot!
This little stove performed perfectly and was used to cook eggs in the morning also. I was very surprised at how easy it was to remove the eggs from this. I had used the alcohol stove before and did not use it this time. I filled the top dish twice with a little pool of alcohol but it did not prime since all the heat was going straight up, these things don't prime unless you get fire around the bottom. There was plenty of fuel in the form of sticks all around me so I just used wood this time.
When I test fit the alcohol ring, the one with the big round hole in it I realized this does nothing other than center the alcohol stove. It is just extra weight that does nothing. In the future I plan to test a stove with some aluminum panels and some 26g panels to see if the 20g is even necessary. Maybe some high-temp paint and mild steel will survive. I have priced some titanium sheet and boy is it expensive, I see no reason for me to mess with that unless people start beating down my door for them. One other thing I feel needs addressed is that the ashes build up under the stove slowing decreasing air flow and lowering heat output. I plan to address this by raising the clearance to the ground, I may raise the rack height 1/4" or so also.
If someone knows the easy way to take the black soot of your pots let me know since I have only been able to blacken my hands and not change the look of the pots much. I have heard that putting dish soap on before works, but I am past that point right now.
We camped at Geode State park in Iowa which is a short drive from home. Campsite security was handled by Diesel, he is very intimidating as you can see from this photo.
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