Mike Vanderboegh posts a semi-regular series of "Praxis" articles discussing field gear and craft for the unorganized militia on his blog. But the usefulness of his articles extends beyond those interested in the militia; the field gear articles are also great for campers and hikers. I highly recommend reading his blog regularly.

Earlier today, he posted a piece that discussed small wood-burning stoves for camping. Since I've done a lot of living in the field, this subject is dear to me. Over the years, I've used various types of stoves. There was a nice little Coleman® single burner dual fuel stove I rather liked, unfortunately stolen (along with my coffee and coffee pot!) in Saint Louis several years ago. After surviving with homemade hobo stoves for a while, I finally bought a Coleman® single burner propane stove -- the sort that screws onto the top on the propane bottle. It works well enough, but I decided I needed a diversified approach to cooking. What if I ran out of propane? What if TSHTF and there was no propane? And what if -- as usual -- I'm broke?

What you might call the stove proper was easy: several years ago my brother Mark gave me a neat little folding Sterno® stove.

As you can see, it's been used extensively. ;^)

I wasn't sure who made this, but it appears to be this Rothco Single Burner Folding Stove.

What I like about my stove is that it very sturdily built and will hold a good-sized, heavy, full pot. But it still folds up nicely into a 6.25" by 6.25" square. A little bigger than an Esbit stove, but it will hold a lot more.

Now, I referred to this as a Sterno® stove. But remember what I also said about diversity? Here are some of my heat source options for my stove.

Clockwise from the top left: Sterno®, a miniature hobo stove, waxed corrugated cardboard, and a candle.

• The hobo stove is the real diversifier here: If it burns, and you can break it up to fit in the can, you can cook with it.
• The waxed cardboard was an experiment (I was bored that day) that happened to work, so I hung onto it. It's a spiral of corrugated cardboard in a tuna can, with wax poured over it. Essentially, it's a full surface candle. Have a cover on hand to smother it when you're done cooking; it is reuseable.
• The candle, also in a tuna can, is a scaled-up version of those little tea candles for chafing dishes. With a much larger wick, it puts out a lot more heat.
• Sterno® oughta speak for itself.

Heat-wise, it's about on par with tea candles. It will heat water for coffee, but patience is required. I hung onto it mainly to keep cooked food warm.

This is my baby, though.

That's a Penny Alcohol Stove. Doesn't look like much, does it? But it is. It's made from the bottoms of two beer cans and one soda can, some wire for a lid handle, and... a penny. You can find detailed construction instructions and theory here.

In short, you fill the base with alcohol, set a penny over the fill hole to seal it, light the alcohol above the penny, and wait for the heat to start vaporizing alcohol internally. The jets ignite, providing clean flame to cook over.

These are a breeze to make; I've got six or seven laying around now.

In reality, this little stove is also multi-fuel. I've used regular denatured alcohol from the hardware store (and that's my primary fuel), 70% isopropyl rubbing alcohol (low heat), and 90% isopropyl (much better, but the denatured is better yet). I've also experimented with white gas and gasoline. They both work, but I wouldn't normally recommend them; they're more energetic than alcohol and can flare dangerously. But if TSHTF, it's nice to know you could do that. I haven't yet tried kerosene; it may not be volatile enough to work the jets. Diesel likewise wouldn't work, so I haven't even tried.

Though not pictured, Esbit® fuel tabs and mil-style trioxane bars work great with the folding stove.

Twigs, cardboard, candles, Sterno®, alcohol, gas... Now that's multi-fuel!

And here's a handy accessory for a small stove: A little wind screen/heat reflector improvised from a two pound coffee can.

As is, it isn't very compact; but with some planning you could arrange packed items around it. I would segment and hinge it if I were backpacking, but I'm usually living out of the back of a truck, so bulk is a little less important. Besides the obvious cooking applications, this works nicely with a small campfire to direct some heat towards the tent door on chilly nights.