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Alaina and I have been super excited about camping this summer, and I wanted to make a small, effective, and affordable stove to take with us when we go camping, especially when we are traveling on a plane with all our camping gear. I had a used mint tin lying around that was made by one of my favorite teachers of Jewish History, Rabbi Mintz. He created his own mints, I mean why wouldn’t he? He’s rabbi Mintz! (Make an effort to find a very cool and swanky tin, Altoids tins will work fine, but it seriously lacks points in the creative department.) All the stuff you need to make this stove can be found at any hardware store, you might even have most things in your house or garage.

You can do it! Now let’s make McGyver proud and say “Oh snap son! These cats are sick!”

Here is the list:

-1 mint tin
-Metal (gutter) Mesh
-Fiber Glass
-Epoxy and Q-tips
-4 Flat top screws 1.5″ tall (size 10-32)
-4 Flat bottom screw post (size 10-32)
-Sand paper or something sharp to scrape.
-Rubbing Alcohol

DIRECTIONS:

1. Rough up the inside of the tin and the bottom of the screw caps with the sand paper, then clean out all of the dust and particles.
2. Mix the epoxy together on a thick plastic bag using a Q-tip. The epoxy is super heavy duty so don’t get it on your hands, clothes, or furniture or life will suck for a little bit.
3. Put some of the epoxy in each of the corners of the tin can and then place the screw post snug and flat in the corners of the tin. Put some extra glue around the base of the screw post’s but don’t get any inside the post.
4. Let that dry for about 45 minutes, make sure it’s completely hard before continuing with the rest of the steps.

5. Next cut some fiber glass to fit nice and snug into the tin.
6. Cut the metal mesh, and bend the sides and corners just enough so you can squeeze the mesh into the tin. You want to try and make it as flush as you can with the top of the tin.
7. After the epoxy has completely dried, put the fiber glass into the tin and then squeeze the metal mesh over the top of it, it should look nice and snug.
8. Before you insert the screws you may need to hollow out a little pathway through the fiber glass and possibly bend or snip the metal mesh in the corners so that you can see where to put the screws.

9. Once you do that, insert the screws.
10. Take about 3 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol and pour into the tin. Light a match and touch the mesh surface and your flame will begin.
The flame can burn up to 30 minutes or more, and I was able to boil 1 cup of water in my stainless steel pot in 4 minutes. After you are finished let the screws cool down and take them out and place into the tin and scream “Kitchen is closed!”

There you go!

P.S – Don’t try the stove out in your home like I did. Bad move on my part, it’s not safe and it will make your house smell like someone dropped their bottle of vodka in a bonfire.