Ultralight blower stove formed in a hole in the ground.

Rock-N-Hole ultralight blower stove

A Rock-N-Hole ultralight blower stove (~125g including power supply) uses rocks and or a little hole in the ground to make a powerful cooking stove for an ultralight backpacker. The blower makes the ‘stove’ powerful with intense targeted and controlled heat, even with damp fuel sticks.

Note: Only use rocks that do not explode when heated. Otherwise, just use a hole.

Introduction

Many blower stoves that have fixed in place blower fans have been invented (Zen wood stoves and stickmanstove). For me, these were too bulky and lacked versatility as the fan was integral to the stove and could be subjected to excessive heat feedback from the stove. Needing to prepare very small fuel chunks was also a never-ending chore while doing camp cooking. Nevertheless, the intense clean heat that these stoves could produce inspired me to take another path of making the fan a separate, collapsible and somewhat remote unit that was powered by a tiny USB power bank.

A blower stove with a fixed-in-place fan. A glimmer of hope for me, but it was heavy, bulky, lacked versatility, was tedious to keep fuelled and was getting so hot that it started to crack apart (See one of the multiple cracks forming above the second air hole to the right of the power plug & socket.)
A blower stove with a fixed-in-place fan. A glimmer of hope for me, but it was heavy, bulky, lacked versatility, was tedious to keep fuelled and was getting so hot that it started to crack apart (See one of the multiple cracks forming above the second air hole to the right of the power plug & socket.)

Blower stoves with a stove body

Briefly, I developed ultralight roll up titanium stoves that could be used with a standard and stand-alone USB fire blower. These could be rolled up to fit inside their respective cooking pots.

Then these morphed into rigid ‘fiddle free’ stainless steel fire bowl stoves. Then they morphed into multifunctional tent stoves for heating and slow cooking and snow melting. They also could convert into an outside blower stove for fast cooking and be used with a tiny alcohol burner as a backup fuel.

The disassembled parts of a USB fire blower (~125g). They are designed to pack into small spaces with no part exceeding 8 cm in length. Left to right: Blower fan & manifold with USB power supply (blue) containing a 18650 lithium-ion battery & USB A plug and cable. Air tube and air tube extension.
The disassembled parts of a USB fire blower (~125g). They are designed to pack into small spaces with no part exceeding 8 cm in length. Left to right: Blower fan & manifold with USB power supply (blue) containing a 18650 lithium-ion battery & USB A plug and cable. Air tube and air tube extension.
A roll up blower stove that has morphed into a two pot stove that is powered by a single USB fire blower.
A roll up blower stove that has morphed into a two pot stove that is powered by a single USB fire blower.
Kiss hot tent stove at night. It can be transformed to also become a fast outside cooking blower stove or a back up alcohol stove.
Kiss hot tent stove at night. It can be transformed to also become a fast outside cooking blower stove or a back up alcohol stove.

Hybrid blower stoves

To save weight and space the hybrid blower stove was developed to combine a rigid blower stove fire bowl with rocks to make a stove with two cooking positions.

A hybrid blower stove using rocks as a support for the luxury of a second cooking pot position. "The Moroka River valley rocks were the kind kind that doesn't explode with heat!"
A hybrid blower stove using rocks as a support for the luxury of a second cooking pot position. “The Moroka River valley rocks were the kind kind that doesn’t explode with heat!”

A blower stove without a stove?

The next and natural final minimalist innovation (or regression) was to do away with the blower stove body altogether. I called them Rock-N-Hole stoves. These are primitive and ultralight and provide easy and plentiful cooking in multiple pots.

A three rock blower stove, primitive but effective and light so long as you don’t carry the rocks with you.
A stone-age ultralight two-pot blower stove for cooking two pots at the same time.
Two boiling pots on stone age ultralight blower stove.
A two-pot ultralight blower stove formed in a hole in the ground.
An in hole ultralight blower stove boiling water in the pot that is closest to the blower and simmering in the other pot.

A simple hole in the ground with some rocks as a pot stand makes a quick and effective ultralight blower stove when a DragonHead attachment is fitted to the long air tube of the blower.

Rock-N-Hole Stove with a few small rocks as a pot stand and a deflector on the air tube driving air down into the hole to make a small but very hot cooking stove.
The DragonHead elbow attachment that enables the air stream to be directed downwards into the Rock-N-Hole Stove when required.

Tim

3 Comments

  2. Looks great tim! Can’t wait to get one from you 👌

    1. Hi Ben, Thanks for your comment. It was good fun to chat with you on the chairlift. What a great ski week. I will send a PM to you with some stove option details.
      Tim

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