Soda Can Stoves; Alternate Title: Who Needs Eyebrows Anyways?

It was a slow day at work, actually slower than normal. I had a nagging problem with some of my outdoor gear. I had put together a daypack based on my Camelbak Mule (post next week, I promise). I wasn't happy with the fact that I had nothing to cook with in it. Lets be honest with ourselves, sometimes you just NEED that cup of hot cocoa out on the trail. So I had the brilliant idea to build a Soda Can Stove. Methanol, open flames and thin aluminium, what could go wrong?
I grabbed a few designs off the net, figured in my head what I wanted to use as a design, and started destroying soda cans. First, I needed soda cans. This made my children extremely happy because they got to have soda with dinner two nights in a row. Second, we marked them out, cut jets, and cut them open with scissors. The third step was to attach the pieces together and epoxy them. The final step was to fill them with Methanol and light them off.

From sodacanstove

I made several different designs, different heights, and different number of jets to determine what the most efficient stove. My conclusion was that it doesn't matter, they all boil a cup of 60 degree water in slightly less than four minutes. I did find that your jets should be smaller than 1/16 inch, and that you should have less than 16, 10 to 12 seemed about right.
But wait, SigBoy, you mentioned something about eyebrows!

I made one tall stove, epoxy'd it, cut the jets, filled it with fluid and lit the fuel. It burned for about twenty seconds before I heard a loud pop and I was suddenly on fire. As near as I can figure, the space where the two cans came together allowed alcohol to get trapped and create pressure as it heated. This pressure caused the two halves to separate spraying everything in a five foot radius with flaming alcohol. My pants were on fire, my shirt was on fire. I smelled the acrid smell of burning hair, and I came to the immediate realization that my goatee, mustache, eyebrows and hair was on fire! I quickly put myself out and inspected the damage. To save you the dramatic details, nobody will accuse me of having a uni-brow anytime soon, and I had to trim my facial hair down fairly short.


follow the picassa link on the center pic to find my the complete how to in pictures

72 hour food kit

My goal was simple. I wanted a 72 hour food kit for a family of four. First, it had to be kid friendly. Second, it had to have a minimum of a one year shelf life. Finally, it had to be easily transportable and inconspicuous.
My first concern was what to use as a container. This would let me know how much space I had to work with. I had thought about backpacks, plastic kitchen containers, metal drums, and even large plastic storage containers. I decided to use a new five gallon plastic bucket with a new lid. The bucket is printed with an Engine oil label. This fulfils my desire for a low profile appearance. Who expects three days worth of food to be in an oil bucket?
My second concern was what to use for food. Anybody could throw rice and beans into a Tupperware container and call it good. I wanted more, planned meals, and food that the kids would eat. Compromises had to be made in regards to meals. I wasn’t just going to pack three days worth of Chef Boy R Dee and Chicken and Stars into the bucket just to appease the children. On the other hand, three days worth of Mountain House meals would not have fit into allotted budget. In the future, I am going to attempt to supplement a two serving mountain house meal with either noodles or rice.
The main meals are:
Roast beef with rice and brown gravy
15 bean soup
Pasole
Chicken with rice
For breakfast we have several choices:
Corned beef and hash
Instant oatmeal
Hash browns with Spam
I had mentioned earlier that I wanted a kid friendly kit. To accomplish this I have added Kool-aid packets. These will keep help encourage them to drink and stay hydrated, not to mention that the sugar will be a morale booster. My kids love Nutrigrain bars, I have added eight of them. I personally believe that they have good nutrition for low weight, and can be considered a fruit serving. Following this logic, I have added two 30 oz cans of Del Monte fruit cocktail. I decided that peanut butter would also go over well, not to mention being calorie and protein rich. I didn’t want to go overboard and only added a small 17 oz jar. In order to make this more palatable for my wife, I added some seasonings. Six chicken and six beef bouillon cubes, a small bottle of salt and pepper, and some crushed pepper.
Originally I had wanted to add plastic utensils and some cheap cook ware. Unfortunately, it would not fit into the fifty dollar budget, or the 5 gallon bucket.
I packaged everything into small zip lock baggies, or vacuum sealed into airtight containers to make the most of all available space. I filled all the crevices between cans with hard candies. To fend off any unforeseen problems, I duck taped a P51 can opener to the lid of the bucket. I also included some iodine tablets to aid in water purification. Several assorted plastic bags and a box of matches rounded out our kit.
The one thing that I learned from this project was that some serious compromises had to be made in regards to space and shelf life. Three days worth of food uses up more room than you might think, especially when you are making an attempt to appease your children. This project was centered around a five gallon bucket, its low profile appearance, and ability to be sealed.
This kit has limitations, all of them do. I do not suggest that this be your only source of food storage. Without a ready supply of water, this kit will fail. Without a heat source, or a pot to cook in, this kit will fail. However, assuming that these two conditions are met, you should be able to eat, and eat well, for at least three days.

New Leash

No, not for me. Get your mind out of the gutter you freaks.

Mrs. Sigboy said that she wanted a new longer leash for our deaf, half blind, slightly special puppy. My first thought was that I wanted a longer leash(even though I cant be trusted with it). The second thought was 'Oh, I can make one of those!' For your viewing pleasure, I give you the paracord dog leash.

12 feet of braided goodness, Sorry for the colors, I used what I had on hand.

First Aid Kits

I have always tried to be prepared, some items need more work than others. I recently went thru my FAK(first aid kit) and removed all the out of date items, installed some new items, and pulled out all of the latex. As some of you know, Mrs. Sigboy has an airborne latex allergy. Did I mention that it is severe? Anyways, In the house we have the regular comfort stuff for the kids. These kits I decided to focus more on the really bad things that can happen. Broken bones, and holes in people that leak red stuff.



I put two kits together, a main kit that will handle multiple people with multiple injuries.

The smaller kit is for me personally, and maybe one other person. It contains one pressure dressing, alot of gauze, a ACE bandage, a triangle bandage, a roll of 1"medical tape, a bandaid assortment and some assorted drugs. I have also added eyedrops and more drugs.


The first pouch contains drugs, foot powder, misc tapes, moleskin, steristrips and antibiotic ointment/

The second pouch contains assorted bandaids, ACE bandages and wraps, and assorted 2x2's and 3x3's.

My current selection of tools, tweezers, forceps and scissors.

The final pocket contains a SAM splint, CPR mask, gauze, 4x4's, Q-tips, pressure dressings, temparin and eyewash.


In establishing your own FAK you have to decide what your needs are and base your kit around that. I should have more stuff for treating small kiddy boo-boo's, I'm actually considering added another bag for just the kid stuff. Remember that most prefabbed FAKs are not a catch all, you need to adjust them for your needs.

Scout Rifle Concept

First lets get the links out in front. Caleb wants a scout rifle that takes AR mags. Steve over at The Firearm Blog had visions of it, Tam ran with it, and http://www.saysuncle.com/2009/06/26/stuff-i-dont-get-small-caliber-scout-rifles/said to do it with a real caliber.
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I personally dont understand what is wrong with that Remington pump Model 7615 It takes AR mags, it even has a Tacti-cool Knoxx stock.

But onto a bolt gun idea, Caleb talked about Mausers this morning, and I remembered my own plans for a Scout Rifle. The German Army made 'trench magazines' for a very short time. They were 20 round magazines that installed into you Mauser bolt action and loaded from the top with stripper clips. There is a listing here. This would allow you to use any cartridge with a case head similar to the Mauser cartridges, this would include anything in the 308 and 30/06 family. My personal choice would be 7mm/08 or possibly 358 Winchester. My idea was to build a short scout rifle around this magazine. It would not be detachable, which makes for a hunting problem, but I was planning on solving that problem with a block of some sort, or another magazine. A Leupold 4x scout scope. Follow this with a good quality synthetic stock and we are set. In Texas hog country I would put a small piece of rail on the right side to mount a flashlight and it would be set.

Upon reflection, I think it's time to start thinking about this rifle again. Good thing my wife loves me.