#canstove

With only 100 things, you are somewhat limited in the things that you can do with your spare time.

I have been riding my new bike in to work every day. Today I rode in, but some of the other guys on my team ended up not coming in today so I left a little bit earlier than I normally would have. I didn’t have any plans other than a get together with my church group later that evening, so I decided to take the long way home. I ride past the mouth of a canyon on my commute home, so this time I decided that I would head up it. It was beautiful! The trees and the cool canyon air were quite nice in comparison to the hot day that it was. I rode all the way up the trail until it ended, then turned around and rode out. It was so great. A total of 20 miles and I hardly felt tired. Until later when I finally sat down, of course.

Another thing that I’ve done to fill my time is little do it yourself projects. I really enjoy fixing little things around my apartment, but this is a bit different. I’ve been working on this little project for a bit and I finally got it the way I wanted it. Behold, the can stove:

My little soda can stove.

This is made with the bottoms of two aluminum cans that are carefully cut to size, then fitted together. There are 24 holes drilled around the rim of one, in addition to punching the bottom out of the same piece. It’s an alcohol fueled stove, so you pour a bit into the center and light it. After a little while, the alcohol vaporizes in the edge of the can, pouring out the holes. The result is pretty impressive.

Ready to cook.

It lasts a lot longer than you would think considering how much you pour in, and it burns incredibly hot, so it’s great for boiling water. This is a cheap, lightweight way to bring along a stove for a back/bike packing trip as an alternative to a Jet Boil or Coleman camp stove. It’s not incredibly convenient (you can get a Coleman jet stove for about $15) but it sure was tons of fun to make. Just about every evening I sit on my back steps and light my stove 3 or 4 times. I don’t have a little cook pot that I could even boil water in.