Swiss Gizmo (and no, it's not a knife)

Finally got myself a digital camera so let the gizmo-games begin!

First on the list is a nifty little number called a Swiss Ranger Volcano Stove Kit. Long name, I know. All buttoned up, it's a little under 12 inches long (or high in this case) and weighs in at around 15oz. Closed, it's kinda hard to tell what the heck it is, but it's an aluminum canteen, cup, and volcano stove all in one lightweight package.

First step in opening it up is to pull the wire handle down away from the cup. Note the little notch in the body of the stove. The swiveling support on the handle fits into that notch.

Then remove the cup and unfold the handle-halves on it.

Then you can pull out the cork-stoppered canteen. Here are all three components of the Kit.

Here's the stove ready to go. The swiveling support is inserted into the notch on the body of the stove. The cutout at the bottom and the ventilation holes create a stove known as a "volcano", "chimney", or "hobo" stove. You can use triox fuel tabs in it, or better yet, you can use sticks lying around to fuel it. The chimney effect makes fire quite well.

The cup fits nicely into the opening at the top of the stove and making water-boiling or soup making a snap.

Rolling up a gallon-sized ziplock bag and sticking it into the canteen makes water gathering in a SHtF situation doable. Gather water in the ziplock bag. Pour an amount of the water into the cup. Boil it, and transfer the purified water to the canteen. Repeat until canteen is filled.

BTW: You can fit all manner of stuff into the canteen to turn this stove into a survival kit, but more on that later.

The Swiss Ranger Volcano Stove Kit is available at Cheaper Than Dirt for less than three bucks! I've seen these for as much as fifteen bucks.

UPDATE (10/19/2008): To the folks who are coming here checking out the stove, especially those coming from the Bushcraft forum. The bad news is, I haven't seen these in the CTD catalogs, or anywhere else for that matter, for some time. I do have a "Pocket Cooker" that are still available and will been featured shortly.