Anvils, rubber pads and rolling rods for forming curves in titanium and stainless steel foils. From left to right: narrow steel anvil with narrow and thin sealed cell foam rubber pad, wide wooden anvil with wide and thin pad and wide and thick foam pad. Across the pads are a long and short hard steel rollers.

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This post is about hand rolling of circles, rings, tubes, pipes, curves, tapers and cones in titanium and stainless steel hardened alloy foils and thin sheet. Introduction Small sheet metal rollers are expensive and bulky and have such a short rolling mouth width. They use 3 geared rollers that rotateRead More →

Alcohol flame lance.

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An alcohol flame lance to burn in roll up stove pipes This post is about using an alcohol flame lance to change the shape memory of roll up stove pipes. It also considers techniques to help improve the shape of the stove pipe. Note: This is just one little part ofRead More →

Micro ceramic stick stove light.

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Experimental ceramic stick burner A report on an experimental micro ceramic stick burner made as an inverted J-burners. It is made from largely clay free loam soil and sodium silicate. It is configured for; natural or forced draft operation. It also was designed with an optional fussed quartz charcoal-burner glassRead More →

A crude pipe made from post-hole soil and sodium silicate. The pipe has been air dried and the ends have been ground flat on aluminium oxide 'sandpaper'. The pipe is very hard and is ready for curing and then firing.

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Refractory mixing An easy in-bag mixing method for sodium silicate refractory mixes is described. It allows the mix to have a stiff consistency with low water content. The resulting ‘plasticine’ texture makes handling and molding easy. In my previous post about dense DIY refractories from sodium silicate, I have intentionallyRead More →

Lightest USB backpacking stove gently simmering a pot of water in the second pot over a hole blower stove

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This article describes the lightest wood stove that can burn damp wood sticks and simultaneously cook in two pots. The small blower unit and battery (~75g) is all that needs to be carried to provide 2-3 hours/battery or more cooking time for two pots. The blower unit also doubles as a tool for rapidly starting camp fires under difficult conditions.Read More →

Lightest backpacking stove. A two pot blower stove formed in a small trench cut into the ground.

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This article describes the lightest wood stove that can burn damp wood sticks and simultaneously cook in two pots. The small blower unit and battery (~75g) is all that needs to be carried to provide 2-3 hours/battery or more cooking time for two pots. The blower unit also doubles as a tool for rapidly starting camp fires under difficult conditions.Read More →

A DIY sanding cone made with wooden turned cone with a 9mm dia spindle threaded and glued into it. It is covered with discarded quality cloth backed belt sander abrasive (it appears to be aluminium oxide grit).

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This is a list of DIY hand tools that I use for tinkering with making my ultralight stoves and related small projects. I will add to the list as I bump into these old workshop friends. Introduction “A good tool makes the difficult easy and the impossible possible”– Mothy theRead More →

Toothpaste tubes connected together ready for quick, clean and efficient transfer of toothpaste in appropriate quantities for ultralight backpacking.

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Toothpaste tube filling- for ultralight backpacking A simple method for toothpaste tube filling from a large one to a small one. It is a handy trick for ultralight backpacking. Background to toothpaste tube filling I begrudge purchasing expensive small tubes of toothpaste for ultralight backpacking. “Yes, some people call meRead More →

Example of glueing different silnylons to each other. The orange patch of silnylon is effectively glued onto a silnylon dry bag using acetic cure silicone rubber. The dry bag has subsequently survived many outdoor adventures without the patch breaking down.

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Silnylon glueing Glueing, laminating and seam sealing of silnylon with acetic cure silicone rubber for DIY ultralight backpacking projects are discussed. This is an early post about only silnylon glueing and there is a later post about many other more general RTV silicone rubber glueing ideas and projects including cotton fabric.Read More →