Buddy Burners

[Shellshocker66]

Was wondering if any of you have made/used buddy burners? I've been saving all my cardboard to make up a batch. Still need to find some old candles/go to dollar store/or goodwill to see if they have bags of candles. Would also help if I ate tuna for a month straight to get more cans but that is not going to happen any time soon!



You can also use a #10 can to make a chimney for cooking just have to make a door for good air flow.

I've heard these will last about 5-6 hours or keep chucking some small wax in there and it will go on forever. Can also switch things around and put lantern wicks instead of cardboard with the wax poured over. The ones with wick material last a lot longer.

[jmsenk]

Thats really cool - I had seen these before (it has been a while) but never really heard them refered to as a Buddy Burner. I do eat tuna from time to time, and everyone has cardboard laying around, so I guess I'll have to make a few... basically free, and could be really useful in a survival or emergency situation.

[problemchild]

Good backup stove that never goes bad. Burn time?

[hartref]

This looks kind of familiar. I think I did something like this in Girl Scouts many years ago. I think this would be a good prep item.

[Trojans]

I'm going to make a bunch of these to have on hand. Thanks for the tip.

[Mongoblack23]

you can make something similar using dryer lint and candle wax. the lint acts as one giant wick. i made one from one of the larger tuna cans. i lit it, let it burn for half an hour, (outside, dryer lint stinks a little) and it barely made a dent, not even a 16th of an inch into the material.

[TrailerparkTrash]

This is awesome!!!! I found wax used for canning at my local grocery store on a clearance sale for $1.00 per box. (3 bars of wax in one box). Each bar is about the size of an average bar of soap. I bought 25 boxes!!!! Jackpot!!!!

This is way cheaper than buying cans of "sterno" to cook with. I made a little grill top out of rebar and now i can place an open can of canned food on top to heat it up.

Thanks i cant wait to make the wax in the morning. Thanks for the video!

[Iskra]

When I was a kid, we'd put dryer lint and melted wax into egg crates. Pull off each individual egg piece when you need to use it. We'd put them (in cans) in the bottom of our duck blinds under the stools and it would generate just enough heat that you wouldn't shiver all day in the cold, wet weather.

Rubber waders, wool sweaters, and oiled canvas jackets... now that those have been replaced by neoprene, fleece, and gore-tex, we don't need the homebrew heaters anymore haha

[jmsenk]

I broke down and made a couple of these tuesday. Some points and observations:

It was kinda hard to explain to tHe GF why i bought a giant candle at the dollar store just to destroy it and make, to her eyes, several smaller, less effective candles.

Making these can be messy. I'd put down newspapers or something first, and if you don't have an old tea pot like in the video (i know i don't) then it is better to spoon the melted wax into the cans.

They use a decent amount of cardboard. I went through an entire box (medium sized) and only got 2 burners out of it.

Whats the best use for them? I am thinking cooking in a survival situation, and probably heat as well, because otherwise, yeah, just use a candle.

I haven't tried to light these yet, but they kindof seem like they would be a pain in the azz to get started. Might want to keep a candle with you anyway, as that s easy to get going with just a match, and then you have an already burning flame to light your burner.

Would like to get some info on how these work when used... temperatures, cooking times, heating a hide, tent, etc.

[odysseus]

They seem like they would have low btu output to actually do anything real with as far as heating, however still it looks relatively easy to make for having candle-type fire.

[TheExpertish]

Cool idea, but I'd rather just stock up on Sterno's. I do use old candles in place of kindling with some paper to help start my campfires and they work great.

[odysseus]

Cool idea, but I'd rather just stock up on Sterno's. I do use old candles in place of kindling with some paper to help start my campfires and they work great.

I bought a very large amount of individually wrapped surplus military Trioxane fuel bars many years ago for cheap. What I do when I am lazy about kindling or in a damp environment is just break off a little of this stuff and light it under the fire. Works great.

[Shellshocker66]

More on buddy burners http://www.buddy-burner.com/

They are even on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/pages/buddy-...396770?sk=info

Shows that water can be boiled in under 5 minutes when using with a vagabond stove (which is a cut up #10 can basically with one end cut out and a damper cut into the side with some smoke holes poked in also (just wear gloves because of sharp edges when using/making).

This company running the web site is selling those buddy burners for $6 and change for something you can make at home for pennies!

[clbshooter]

Saw these at www.instructibles.com. Good stuff on that site

[Mongoblack23]

I haven't tried to light these yet, but they kindof seem like they would be a pain in the azz to get started.

the best way to get them started is to use a knife ort other sharp tool,and pry up multiple little "wicks" out of the wax and cardboard, these little wicks are easy to light and get the burner going pretty quick.