Friday, August 12, 2011

Swedish M/40 Mess Kit -Stove Modification for Espresso Pot M40/44

After our trip to La Connor earlier his week, I realized that it might be nice to use our new Swedish M/40 Mess Kit and Stove set up to steam up a pot of Italian espresso while out in the field.  The problem with the M/40 kits, is that they will support the mess kit pots, but not anything that is narrower....... like an Italian espresso pot!

You can see in this photo, how the size of the cook pot is limited by the open area after the pot stands are folded open inside the stove.

     
A quick bit of rummaging through the scrap pile in the back of the shop and I came up with a couple of pieces of very heavy duty, mild steel plate that was drilled out with penny-size holes.  Perfect for my adapter plate for the inside of the M/40 stove.   I traced out the bottom profile of the mess kit pot and cut the shape out with a hack saw.  I smoothed it up with a file, burned the paint off with a torch, cleaned it up with coarse sandpaper and then painted it with a couple of coats of green, hi-temp, barbeque paint.  I preheated the finished paint with the torch to let it get through the initial smoking (If you don't do this, the paint will smoke when you first heat it on the stove to cook on it).


Here are a few shots of the plate and how it fits in the stove and with the espresso pot.  The plate sits on the fold-up pot supports inside the stove.  I highly recommend this addition to any Swedish M/40 stove set up.


The grill stores nicely in the bottom of the stove base.  I wrap mine to keep it padded and quiet while transporting the bundled up kit.


3 comments:

Mktwain said...

This looks like an excellent modification. My brother and I are both users of Swedish Cook Kits as well as unstinting fans of espresso, so I want to make up a few of these.

Have you any idea of the original use of the pierced steel sheet metal; just looking for a place to start looking for some?

Also, who made your espresso pot? It looks like it is of stainless steel, but I don't recognize the pattern.

Sharky said...

The metal I used for the "espresso plate" is from the scrap pile at work...... originally it was from a piece of mild steel that was used as a screen. You might check thrift stores for a stainless cooking strainer or possible check out a metal supplier or fabricator to see if they can supply a piece. I'll check around and see if I can find a source........ I use two stainless steel espresso pots, both at home on our kitchen range and with my field stoves: ILSA made in Italy, and a Primula brand pot. Any quality cooking store should carry them, or just do a Google search online and you'll find quite a number of sources.

Gone Bush Expeditions said...

Great Idea!
THX M8