We've had an Origo spirit stove for years and love it - it's much preferrable to carting about gas bottles, the flame burns nice and clean and methylated spirits is quite cheap. But we wanted one for the boat, and we didn't want to foot out another couple of hundred bucks for a new one. The hubs had a few old trangias from a box given to him with 'junk' - and he's kept them for years.
'What about making a box for them to sit in?' he wondered.
'Babe', says I. 'Don't we already have a kinda box?'. And we did - we've been storing my parents old camp stove for some ten years. Forty years old, it still worked, but it was looking worse for wear and it was the kind of thing people would take to the dump.
With our DIY heads on and the glee that comes from some creative inspiration, we set to work pulling it apart. The gas pipes and jets were discarded.
Next was cutting out holes for the trangias to fit within. We'd drawn around them and cut the basic holes with curved tin snips, and then neatened them up so they weren't so sharp.
After that, it was my job to sand, sand and sand some more. The old paint was badly chipped, so it needed to be flattened. We used rust kill on some parts too. We then used a filler primer, sanded again, and sprayed with enamel paint - we already had old tins of white and grey on the shelf, so we didn't have to spend a penny.
The part the trangias rest in needed some special paint, as they would get quite hot. We used a caliper paint we'd normally use for the parts of the cars that super heat, like the gearbox. Whilst that was drying, I scrubbed the old stainless steel to the best of my ability - it was impossible to get it completely shiny, but it was certainly good enough.
Then it was simply a matter of putting it back together, and slotting the trangias inside the hole. We almost ordered the flame adjuster thingies from ebay for 10 bucks but then we had a squirrel around in the camping box and realised we had them already. They aren't overly easy to use without burning your fingers, so we need to devise a special tool for that. Still, fancy!
But let's see the finished product as a whole. Don't you just love the two tone? I couldn't stop staring at it. We were pretty proud of turning an old piece of junk into something not only functional and free, but quite good looking as well. Now all our friends want one, so we are keeping an eye out in junk shops and garage sales for cheap, old and vintage camp ovens to make a few more for gifts.
We've put it in a waterproof bag, which will sit inside a box, ready for camping missions in the boat. I can't wait to make tea when we're out on a lake or in a bay somewhere. It just feels really good to have built something, rather than buying it. What do you think?
What do you use as a camp cooker? Have you ever made your own stove?
With Love,
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