Hello!!  Despite designating this time as “rest period” to get ready for the new year’s major work on the farm, Gnome is still tinkering around.  Right now, we are renovating (actually, we are always in this state and will remain in this state for a long time) and we are back to cold water showering  awaiting the re-location of the hot water shower.  Because it has been so cold (20C/68F), we have resorted to bucket washes with hot water.  Water requires energy to heat up so we were burning through a butane tank like there was no tomorrow (we bathe a lot).  So, Gnome put his “Saving Money” cap on and decided to try making a home-made charcoal burner made out of an old milk tin.  This is a prequel to Panda’s last entry about the Gnome Mk1 Charcoal burner.  We thought that Panda was in a similar situation with hot water requirements, so Gnome also gave him one of these to try out.

Pictures of Tin Smithing with Gnome:

Make holes in tin with hand drill:

Then make air holes, at the bottom of the tin, with a jig saw:

The square air holes are not completely cut out and are bent into the tin to form a shelf for mesh wire.  This is Panda’s picture which shows the air holes:

Charcoal (filled right up to the top) is then placed on the mesh wire and a fire is started:

It is important to place a piece of metal on top of the tin to allow partial elevation of the cooking pot; we used an old hob ring.

Viola!  Water boiling in a kettle:

Note: use manky camp-fire kettles and pots.  Do not use your fine cookware on these stoves or you will be scrubbing a lot!!  The tin full of charcoal lasts for about 1 or 2 hours so you can boil quite a lot water and then cook a meal afterwards.  Basic food can be made like toasting bread and cooking thinly sliced sweet potato:

Cooking with the charcoal burner:

This design is not perfect (yet!) and Gnome is working on a new model with air flow control and a handle.  Watch this space…