This is a very useful hiking stove you can make with a paper punch from Officeworks and some empty cat food cans. Its inception was a genius idea from Jim Woods. Be sure you only use the punch on aluminium cans. I have found that there are two sizes of aluminium can and that one fits snugly inside the other (and both inside your cup and inside your billy) so that you can have one for simply boiling and one for simmering (the one with just the single row of top holes). You may have to search delicatessens and imported food shops to find the second size now.
I have also discovered that an esbit burns so slowly in the double holed model that you can bake in your billy on top of it if you make a holey platform with legs out of aluminium flashing which fits inside your billy and suspends (eg the damper) to be cooked about an inch above the bottom of the billy.
A windscreen of the same material (flashing) is also a good idea (and also fits inside your billy): http://jwbasecamp.com/Articles/SuperCat/
First Published 8 May 2013
Since I wrote this post I have I have made a lot of progress on DIY stoves. For example I have a DIY roll-up wood-burning stove which weighs less than 20 grams and can also be used as a windscreen. Also a carbon fibre cosy which improves the efficiency of alcohol stoves enormously. See the post Mastery of Fire. I have also been working on DIY tent stoves and have one now which weighs around 250 grams including the chimney see eg The Overnight Tent Stove
See also:
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/supercat-hiking-stove/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/super-cat-metho-stove/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/soda-can-stove/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/diy-side-burner-metho-stove/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/windscreens/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/the-ultralight-trail-baker/
Lots more stoves here: http://zenstoves.net/
I’ve wondered if you could still simmer on this stove by adding a “collar” or ring that you can slide up to cover the bottom row of holes to reduce the output. I’m intending to make one to have a try.
Love all the info you have shared here. Taking up a lot of my time going through it. You’ve inspired me to look at really look at lightening my load and have a go at a backpack hunt, which I had put out of my mind due to health issues meaning I don’t have near the energy I used to. Haven’t had a pack on my back for years
A simmer ring would work but it is just as easy to make two nested ones with differing numbers of holes. Thank you for the praise. I hope you enjoy the backpack hunting. You should enjoy it if you get your gear down to a reasonable level. I sometimes take a very light (100 gram) day pack ( as well) so I can leave most of my gear in camp. In the colder weather the meat will be fine in a cold hole in the river for a day or two. Cheers, Steve.