Rocket stoves have become quite popular for camping in recent years. One thing we love about these little stoves, is how they are designed to use less fuel and produce far less smoke than a standard-sized counterpart. The result is a stove that's highly-efficient and extremely-stealthy for camping purposes. There's a bevy of camping stoves on the market these days, but even the cheaper ones don't seem to come in for less than $30. Even then, perhaps, you just don't want to sink a ton of money into a stove, especially if it is going to be something you use only a few times a year.
In that case, building your own hobo rocket stove may be the perfect solution. YouTuber WayPoint Survival demonstrates how to build one using nothing more than a pair of tin snips and three empty tin cans. All it takes is a little cleaning, and then some careful snipping to produce a small, lightweight, and completely collapsible stove that will heat water or coffee in a pinch on the trail.
The thing we love most about this build is how once you are done using it, all the pieces nest into one another. That makes this stove incredibly easy to transport from place to place. Although, we agree that it is probably best to file down the sharp metal edges remaining from cutting and punching holes in the cans. Those edges could easily tear the fabrics in most backpacks. Once you get that sorted, this is a great moneysaving option that also upcycles what might otherwise end up in a landfill. That's always a good thing.
This is but one method of building a rocket stove. We've also seen them built from cinder blocks, and even blocks of wood. However, the option shown in the video is the lightest weight option we think we have seen. The idea behind this stove is a good thing to keep in mind in this uncertain world we live in today. You just never know when this knowledge is going to come in handy.
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Instagram For original videos, check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
