Thursday, March 29, 2012

"Houston, we have landed..."

My modern take on a Penny alcohol stove. Had a couple of can/bottle ends I didn't want to toss. Looks like either a Mercury capsule, or a steampunk light bulb.
Three ml of priming, about an ounce capacity, and it'll pass the tea test.

Making a cool-handling simmer ring handle...

I have found that if you wrap a few winds of aluminum screen material around a handle of a simmer or snuffing ring, then it's possible to handle the etremely hot handle without gloves. The aluminum screen helps dissipate the heat better than the plain handle or ring (probably because of the far greater surface area).
To secure it easily, use a little JB weld.

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Only free-range electrons were used to compose this email.

Neill Currie
Hillsboro
NH 03244

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The Mountain Goat website is at:
http://www.geocities.com/neill1234/index.html?1011568933040
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my blog is here:
http://blogericious.blogspot.com/

Working with very fragile materials...

That's a ring of aluminum Miller beer bottle, on the end of a steel cat food can for support. Fits perfectly, and is very supportive.
I make simmer rings this way.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Rolling an edge into a blind hole in a Fancy Feast can...




Figured out how to achieve what I wanted.
Take a Fancy Feast can. Open a small hole in the bottom of the can, and "remove" the contents (I use the non-business end of a spoon). Feed to Lovie or Minnie-Moo. Wash out the can...you now have an intact FF can: the pull-ringed top is still attached to the can.
I use a Dremel and a sanding disk to smooth the edges of the hole to about seven eight's diameter, finish the edge with fine emery paper so there are no nicks or blemishes in the edge. Blemishes will start cracking if present during the next steps.
Make yourself a tool like I show. I used the stainless steel mounting hardware for a bicycle rack. You need something that's quite a bit stronger than the thin-walled aluminum can, and fairly small sectioned as you will eventually need all the probing power and clearance possible when working the can edge to vertical.
Go slowly around the edge of the can in small steps, gradually creating an edge that rolls inwards towards the top of the can. I found that about three passes worked well, in steps of 30, 60 and finally 90 degrees. Take your time, and resist the temptation to do it in just two passes (helps prevent cracks in the edge if you roll in gradually).

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Two two-way stoves...

The squatter stove is made from Arizona iced tea cans, the other from Miller lite bottles.
Both work with a pot stand to boil, or just place the pot directly on the stove itself and they become simmer stoves.

Thursday, March 01, 2012

Video of my homemade twist to simmer stove in action...

It's really hard shooting a video, doing a voiceover, and adjusting a hot stove all simultaneously ;-)

Stove with lots of self control...

Use it without any attachment and it boils fast. Put on the snuffer plate, and the stove switches to a low simmer (flame now comes out of the side holes instead). Or put on the simmer ring and adjust the central flame incrementally.



Also, a shot of the snow outside. See most of the stoves I have made so far on the window ledge.