Uncle Milo Explains # 4 - Hobo Stove

Milo explains number four about how to make a homo homo stove is an old tin can the holes in it so that you can make a fire in it is to start with a number 10 can and that's a large can like this size is important any size smaller is going to be too small to sustain a fire for a reasonable amount of time another one what I generally do is I go over to the local the local Italian restaurant and I get the tomato soup can the tomato pasta has paste can I just ask permission to go to the recycling bin win if the recycling bin and got a lot of them unfortunately this one needs to be clean be right back I'm going to go and clean this up another type of can they like to use these are all the same size you can see all number Ten's sometimes a couple a little higher a little lower that's okay it's the width the diameter of the fire that's going to make a difference to keep it going there's a stove on the market now called the bio light in it burns wood and creates electricity well that's got a blower on it bio light is a little bit smaller with a blower it'll keep the fire going without a blower you need to use natural ventilation and the fires got to be that large to stay going for a long time the type of can I like thee is is this this is a coffee can coffee can now this label has already come off but the coffee can has this little extra rim around the top which is very useful a one comment about the labels labels are problem if you leave them on you got to take them off but some cans some cans actually come with paint on the cans if the paints on the can you just leave it and it'll burn right off the paint will burn off the first time to use it that's fine there are three basic tools that I use I use a old fashioned american-made can opener it's important to use an american-made can opener I'm going to show you in a moment why you don't use one of these new Chinese made can openers I use a pair of pliers needle nose long nose but it has to be nice and wide it's got a good ease this to make some final adjustment and I have now this is again an old american-made tool and the reason why I use this is for the sharp point you can use a drill bit there's a little bit of extra that I add a little bit of secret sauce that makes this a very usable stove and that's what this is for now using the technically again you can just use these two tools take off with the lamp all right now we have the plane can ready to go what I do is I need to be able to when I use it this is this is again one of my little extras that really helps a lot when I really get it going sometimes you need to know where you put your tinder this is an example the fully loaded stove I need to know where the seam is now on this one I did not mark the seam seam is right here and I think no good yeah let's get seam is right here and that's where I put my tinder inside so when I light this fire this thing will go up all just with one match problem is I don't really know where it is so I've come up with a design this is some sort of a preliminary design I'm still learning how to make them I find this scene the scene will sort of disappear once you use it a lot will turn to rust so what I do is I take and I just put a couple of a couple of holes there's other ways you could mark it but basically I just want to mark I just want to make a mark here and here I can now tell now that's got to be straightened out see its sways pliers okay string that out of it okay now I have a mark top and bottom that tells me where to start if I'm going to start a fire I'm going to put this put the tender in the corner that's just very useful next I generally I don't want to put a lot of stuff on the top I do the top first but when I do and Matt so I'm going to show you the basic design as simple as designed to simply take this can opener and just go down now very carefully space them you don't want it if you if you put them too close together and literally punch the bottom of the can right off so you need to put a space between each hole you get anywhere for 18 to 20 holes this way if you space them close by not touching and then just fell completely around last part yeah sometimes if you don't have enough room with it putting on something here would be a problem then you won't put it in but I've got just enough room to put that in there and there we go all right that's your basic Hobo stove design it this will work but I'm going to have to add some stuff like I added these two little things to show me what the seamless would add some more stuff to make it actually usable now I'm going to do the top the top is a bit of a problem that's why I use these I'm going to show you how to do it it's not it it's not a fun part but it has to be done because otherwise it's too easy to smother if you have closed top like this put something on top smothers the flame I need to add holes around the outside to flood it breathe and also so I can use it upside down which is useful in bad weather so I'm going to start here I've discovered the best way to do it is I just start here and here both sides here and just put one on each now notice I can only do a little bit here is a nasty piece of wicked metal I'm going to deal with that later then I go on the other side I just put that down go up on top do one there turn it sideways put one on top turn it sideways again the other side one on the bottom and then add one extra between each hole all around the top I should end up with basically nine holes alright next I start at the seam and I'm going to do a straightening pass it straighten it like this straightening it up takes basically four times I have to go around and what I'm doing is I'm getting this metal out of the way okay if now I start at the seam again come in like this I want to just make it go make it come in at a different angle I'm trying to make this come in so that is going to be closer and I'll show you how I make it wrap around okay then the next part is coming in like this I have to in effect start wrapping it around so I pull it like this I want to make sure the point goes outside where I'm going to actually wrap it in just another to the last step last step I go in from the backside wrap it right around like that so this is where that point gets pushed right around or you don't see it anymore it's going to actually be in a safe position sometimes if you've got a can opener that use a great big hole you have you can end up with it wrapping all the way around but anyways the whole idea is it gets it up out of the way and keeps it out keeps it in out of trouble can opener piercing style distributed by convenience valet made in China see valet this may have been picked up anyways I picked up in the store these are whether they're sold in stores nowadays this is a shame this is a shame to China it's a shame for the American company that sells that they should be ashamed of themselves I think it was local a local store I don't remember which one I don't want to explain it by name but there's no reinforcements Eko patented this can opener I don't think this was patented at all this was properly hardened this then opened right up let's see how long this last one oh dear Oh oh dear okay that bent a little bit - oh dear and that's it it's all she wrote Thank You China for such cheap merchandise junk absolute junk don't buy Chinese stuff go to a thrift store go to the Salvation Army look for something old old old old american-made made in USA these will work good tools put them in a safe place don't lose them the last a lifetime I actually took the diamond home yes the time at home was made in China where else you're going to go but I honed this edge make it nice and sharp I took a magnifying glass and verified it has a nice sharp edge that sharp edge works like a charm the metal is hardened and it does not deflect it works great so make sure you always have an american-made hardened steel can opener when you're going to do it buy the cheap Chinese one it's not going to work yeah the final thing this is again like one of my secret sauce type of things but use this a lot use these they work great problem that I have is use them and start burning great you get a great fire about half an hour later everything is burned down and you get ash right down begins to clog these holes you are going to have to blow it out okay sticking it whatever you're going to do but the problem is they will completely clogged up and the fire will go out my solution is create sort of carburetor holes what I do is I go and I'm going to make one hole below each one these holes here now you can use some people will have both actually use a drill bit you take a drill you put the hole in I go up to over the first door on this case I'll take the the second hole the second rib up above and right below here I go down there and I'll take it and push real hard it's very stiff I actually sharpened this end but however you can do but I'm going to make holes all the way around okay what's the once that's done and take each one and I just twist it to make the hole large enough now what these do is these are going to actually give the fire a little bit of extra air when it burns down and everything is all clogged up the fire is still going to burn very poorly but it gives it enough to keep it going this is sort of a keepalive it's secret sauce that allows it to be a very effective fire people don't really realize it then really know that it's working but the difference between not having these holes and having the holes is the difference between a fire going completely out and a fire working pretty effectively that's how I make my hobo stove I'll show you how to lights and oh yes when you line it up the bottom of the stove gets very hot this is not like a normal stove where you've got some insulation underneath this is directly Heat you pull if I put it on here it would burn this whole thing right up so it's got to be on a rock on a pavement something that's not going to burn if you put it in on the ground it's going to cause the grass all around it to fire up turn to turn to flame you really got to be careful put this someplace safe got a got a old cinder block here put on top of the tray all right let's all load it up ready to go let's find that seam so take one match we've got our matches here just regular old just regular old wooden matches and let's see how she goes now I have here thorns that I got from from a apple orchard I loaded with various sizes of wood and the staggered formation once it starts you can literally pick it up and tip it if you want the fire to work a little bit better but better basically there goes begins to throw off some flame after a while and look under go now you can already see down at the bottom you can see how the ashes are starting to clog up the bottom already that's what I was warning you about is that those ashes eventually clog up the whole bottom and then you need the carburetor holes so big flame coming out of the top that's fine that's good for marshmallows hot dogs if you want to actually cook though if you want to boil water you throw some sticks across the top when it gets going a bit better and then you can just keep fire going poke little sticks down on top if one of the nicest things about a hobo stove is I go camping you go to the big fire place and they've got sticks all over the place little ones they never made it to the fire they couldn't use it little tiny twigs little tiny pieces those are fuel for my hobo stove I don't need to make a big campfire a lot of fire just get the hobo stove going it's great I don't have to worry about how to get big branches and stuff generally I end up feeding my hobo stove with the waste from everybody else who's made up these have been working on fires and there's this mess all over the place works out really well that way I cook it's contained easy to put out easy to transport a matter of fact when I go camping those holes on the top bungee cord just take one end of the bungee cord hook it on so on the outside of my backpack take it with me super light there's all sorts of fuel or continue I need to put this fire out so definitely got to be put out because I've got to show you the next part pick it up move it and it's cool within seconds those out incredibly fast easy efficient when camping Oh bestow work great then it ring everything was soaking wet rain for fifteen hours and nothing nothing dry how do I get a fire going well here's the trick remember I told you have to put those holes on the top well here's the secret it's an old boy scout trick it's a cat food can you could use tuna faux tuna fish can take a coil up cut cardboard coil it up inside corrugated cardboard and then you melt wax carefully melting wax has got to be done very carefully best do it with water or double boiler anyways poured the wax in and got this all going important thing about it is wax is not going to get wet it's not going to get wet it's going to stay stay waterproof no matter what you do I always put a wick in here because it just doesn't work and doesn't like easily I don't know if you notice but this this block is steaming because it got a little bit hot with the with the stove going on it and I told you it heats the stove heats up the stuff under it anyways you get this going this will burn approximately well a minimum of half an hour I've gotten to 40 minutes out of most of these but half an hour is what you have to estimate on we'll do an entire batch of eggs bacon and heat up your coffee water all in one in one thing when you when you need to put it out do not put water on this smother it because if you put water on it and it's really hot it's going to explode you're gonna have steam is going to water's going to flash to steam you're going to have molten burning wax all over the place you have to smother it but anyways this thing is starting to go now and it's going to work well now here's the trick take this can put it on upside down if it's raining that's going to keep it from getting hit with water and getting wet okay it seems been going for a while just a nice job so really going well take it off flame time this is what it looks looks like without the the Sun the flames got to be contained and make it work properly as a stove air is going in the bottom coming off the top that works great and sees that's four Hobo stove gonna put this out now save that for another time once I light that up it'll work again I've probably got another half an hour left on that I work great that's done that cooled down so that's it that's the Hobo stove that I've perfected over several years of work all right this is uncle Milo saying thank you for watching uncle Milo explains episode number four how to make a hobo stuff

Channel: Milo Tsukroff

Views: 354,791

Rating: 4.7737808 out of 5

Keywords: hobo stove, camping, how-to

Id: caQfdWjTXdQ

Length: 19min 29sec (1169 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 04 2012