The Canteen Cup Stove

Outline

The canteen cup stove is a very durable, versatile and easily stored stove, if you carry a military style canteen.  Since I do so on Search and Rescue and Ottawa County Emergency Communications missions, this makes good sense.  The canteen cup will fit over the bottom of the military "kidney bean" canteen, and the canteen stove will fit over the canteen cup.  Then they all fit inside the canteen cover.  No extra space required.  Not much weight at about 10.5 oz. if you are carrying it on your waist.  For ultralight backpacking this would be a terrible choice, but for emergency public service, where you could find yourself up to your neck in water searching for a lost person, or on an ARES mission where space is limited, this is a good, and faithful servant.

Fuel for the Canteen Cup Stove

The canteen Cup Stove can use several fuels.  Of course, you can use the canteen cup without the stove, over a campfire, but, that can cause the now blackened cup to stick to the canteen stove, so always clean the outside of the canteen cup after use.

Trioxane bars

The fuel made for the Canteen stove is Trioxane bars.  Trioxane bars are toxic to touch or burn, so avoid touching the trioxane after opening the packet, and wash your hands before eating.  Trioxane should never be used in a closed environment such as a tent, small building, cave, etc. even if ventilated.  Many members of the armed forces have reported nose bleeds after inhaling the fumes of trioxane bars.

A better Fuel

Esbit heat tabs are non-toxic, either to touch, or to burn.  The manufacturer says they can even be used in a properly vented tent, although I never recommend using any heating source inside a shelter.  Esbit tabs are considerably more expensive to buy and harder to find than trioxane.  Another nice feature of Esbit tabs is that they can be blown out, and saved for use at a later fire.

Hobo Stove

Small twigs and other burnables can be placed under the canteen cup stove, and lit.  The holes on the backside of the stove, along with the slot on the frontside, can be used like a hobo stove to heat the contents of the cup.  Again, cleaning the cup to remove tar, sap, etc.  is recommended if you ever want to get that stove off the cup again.

Campfire

the best way to use the canteen cup with a campfire is to not use the stove at all.  Make a good sized campfire, and with a flat rock on the perimeter of the fire, heat the cup on the hot rock.

Rockin' Coffee

If you want to heat a cup of coffee quick, just take a small clean rock from the fire, and place it in a canteen cup full of water.  It will be hot in a matter of seconds.



This page last updated by KF8GR on Oct 24, 2004