The absolutely lightest kitchen?

David,
We're fortunate to have a pretty fine salvage yard in our town. They conveniently separate the different metals so I don't have to paw through every pile. I was able to find a stainless steel "box" two sides of which were 1/2" welded stainless mesh. The wire size was a bit thick but I bought the whole "box and was able to get a piece of mesh that made 5 stove stands.

Might you be able to find such a place?

Hey Denis,

I do have a lead on a local place that supplies "screening" stuff. They told me I could drop by and see if they have any scrap that would do what I need. Of course… being an industrial supply company… they are only open M-F and close at 4:30… but they open at 7:30… so I may take my car to work some day next week and try to swing out there before work. I just thought it might be easier if someone knew of a good place online other than McMaster… who told me that won't ship to Canada.

Dave

Send Aaron at Brasslite.com an email. I bought a piece from him.

Great idea Bill!!! All his stoves use that stuff. Thanks for the tip.

Good deal. The neat thing about salvage yards is that, while looking for a particular item, you find all sorts of stuff for other projects. Last week, while looking for some brass rod to make staples to hold down garden sclpture, I found several 30"x30" thin aluminum sheets for wind screens etc… They're about half the thickness of aluminum flashing and of an alloy that has just the right amount of "springiness". I also happened upon some light weight aluminum angle for a stereo cabinet project. I also found a heavy industrial caster wheel for my boat trailer.

It's like treasure hunting.

Thanks so much Bill. I contacted Aaron and he fixed me up!

By the way… I mentioned the idea of Titanium welded wire earlier in this thread. McMaster Carr does sell it… but it's almost $100 for one square foot!!!!!!!!! Crazy.

I was also just looking at the ingenious Ultralight Outfitters Stove again. I was surprised at how "heavy" it is… as 4.4 oz. My beercan setup is 1.7 oz… and that's with a pot handle and lid… which the Ultralight Outfitters stove lacks.

Anyway… thanks again Bill. I'm very excited about making my stove with a nice shiny (and non-toxic) stainless steel stand. My friend is going to love it :)

If you are stuck with a stainless mesh which is more heavy duty than you need, you could try removing every second (or third etc) wire from the mesh using small cutters. Experiment to see how many wires you can remove before the mesh becomes too weak for practical service?
I know it would be a fiddly job but hey you are chasing grams to make it the lightest aren't you? ;-)

BTW I'm now inspired to make one of these!

(edited for spelling)

>>My friend is going to love it :)<<

David, I wish I had (a) freind(s) like you with crazy ideas and who surprises me with a Esbit-Heine kitchen.

Eins

I've been waiting and waiting for the small Ti windscreens to come back in stock so I can complete the stove I'm making for a friend of mine (I may make a couple actually… one for another friend)… but then I realized… my beercan windscreen is only 3.5" x 15". If I bought the small Ti windscreen at 4" x 24" for $16… I can get 1 windscreen out of that. However… if I bought the large at 9" x 32" for $24… I can get FOUR windscreens!!!!! That works out to $6 a piece. Not bad! So it's a good thing the smalls are out of stock or I never would have thought of that! That was… by far… the most expensive part of this gift… since I already have a pile of Ti rods left over… and cat food cans and beer cans don't cost much. Plus I got a great deal on stainless hardware cloth from the Brasslite guy… Aaron.

Anyway… just thought I would post this if anyone is thinking of making a beercan stove. If you want to make a couple stoves… you can save a LOT of money by buying the bigger Ti windscreen.

I went with a modified and more weighty version of David Lewis' design. The can, pot stand and top are the same, but instead of Esbit I use a small alcohol stove from MiniBull. I use a bicycle spoke instead of a titanium rod and use aluminum foil for the wind screen. This setup works great. I boil water in the can, pour it into a baggie meal, throw the baggie into a pot cozy. When cooked, I plop the open bag back into the can so it seems like I'm eating from something solid.

David, thank you for the ideas and inspiration. When I win the lotto I will upgrade to a titanium windscreen. I may even experiment with an esbit tab or two.

Got my stainless mesh today. My stand went from 6 grams (galvanized mesh from Home Depot) to 12 grams! I knew it would be heavier… but I didn't think it would double. I know it's only 6 grams… but that's a fait bit with you're talking about a doubling of the weight. Still… I don't want to use that galvanized mesh. Aside from the potentially harmful heavy metal vapors… it's cheap and doesn't last. In any case… 1/2" mesh is overkill. I can cut out every other vertical wire and it will still be more than strong enough. But it's a heck of a tedious job with the dremel… cutting out all those little sections. Still… by doing that… the stand would probably end up at about 8 grams.

I know this post has been dead for a while but I’ve found it twice now reading about alcohol stoves so time to bring it back from the dead (perhaps).

Of course stainless steel is heavy so how about aluminum mesh? This link sells a 6″x6″ swatch for $8.00 which is decent and yields enough mesh for multiple stoves.

I have seen bits of the steel mesh glow red from an alky stove in photos. Roughly speaking, that would put the steel around 800 C.
Aluminiun melts at 660 C, but is very soft by about 550 C. Do you get a feeling that it might melt under these conditions?

Cheers

Certainly anything is possible depending on the configuration of the stove. However, my super-thin gauge aluminum cat food can is almost cool to the touch after it brings 2 cups of water to a boil.

I think aluminum mesh is the way to go here, assuming you are not cooking anything special that has to be over-the-top hot…

http://www.bwire.com/

Check here see what they have available, they sent me a few samples of the aluminum mesh, I tested it out under my regular fire conditions, and I eventually placed the order with them for a few cut pieces of this stuff.

-J

My experience agrees with Roger's conjecture. Had a piece of thin (~0.015") perforated metal sheet I thought was stainless. Made a stove stand from it. Turns out it was aluminum and melted on first use (which fortunately was in my kitchen, not the backcountry). The stand I made from galvanized steel hardware cloth routinely glows red during use, and the zinc coating has mostly burned off. I suppose a wide pot and a small stove would keep an aluminum stand away from the flame, but a super cat works great with a wide pot, and needs no stand.

See my edited 1st post on P. 1 of this thread about the Caldera Cone Sidewinder & ESBIT.