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  1. #1
    Registered User Wise Old Owl's Avatar
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    Default Cooking Fuels -all cleared up by the MYTHBUSTERS.....

    Ahh Backpacking, want to know what the best solid or alcohol fuel is? Here is a little test

    Triox, Hexamethalene, Alcohol, and yea C4 Military explosives........ Sorry no canister fuels here....

    Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.

    Woo

  2. #2

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    Got to love those Mythbusters. So, hexamethalene was the winner which is what Esbit stoves use. It's a shame these tablets are not more readily available on the AT since they do a good job of boiling water, they are simple to use, they have a long shelf life and they only weigh 1/2 ounce each. Certainly works better with a wind screen but that can probably said about almost any fuel used in backpacking stoves. I use these Esbit tablets with a Varga Triad Titanium stove (flipped upside down)which weighs about an ounce. System has worked well for me.

  3. #3
    Hike smarter, not harder.
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    I'm glad the C4 didn't do that good of a job; it's gotten so hard to find.
    Con men understand that their job is not to use facts to convince skeptics but to use words to help the gullible to believe what they want to believe - Thomas Sowell

  4. #4
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    Esbit stinks like fish, great for bringing bears in for close up pictures!
    "Chainsaw" GA-ME 2011

  5. #5
    Registered User Kookork's Avatar
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    Thank you for sharing.

  6. #6

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    What about "Whill P" you know the great stuff that Uncle Sam made back in Vietnam. Guaranteed to cook your meals and then some. When I was a scout, we used something called Girl Scout Water (high octane automotive grade fuel or anything else our devilish little hands could get a hold of. I wonder how these alternative fuels could compare to some of the stuff Mythbusters tested out.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mother Natures Son View Post
    What about "Whill P" you know the great stuff that Uncle Sam made back in Vietnam. Guaranteed to cook your meals and then some. When I was a scout, we used something called Girl Scout Water (high octane automotive grade fuel or anything else our devilish little hands could get a hold of. I wonder how these alternative fuels could compare to some of the stuff Mythbusters tested out.
    JP8 would burn in an alcohol burner with a preheat, but the smell of burning jet fuel would probably make you really unpopular in a shelter, would definately give your cookwear that stealth black soot coating all the trained killers love

  8. #8
    Registered User Wise Old Owl's Avatar
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    I new this would start a good thread.
    Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.

    Woo

  9. #9
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    It seems to me that C4 would be the winner in multi-use - cooking fuel plus so much more with a bit of imagination.

  10. #10
    Registered User gunner76's Avatar
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    but the det cord gets a little bulky
    Hammock Hanger by choice

    Warbonnet BlackBird 1.7 dbl


    www.neusioktrail.org

    Bears love people, they say we taste just like chicken.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by gunner76 View Post
    but the det cord gets a little bulky
    Is Det cord strong enough to pitch my fly??? Multi use makes it more valuable

  12. #12

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    I think they might have put some c-4 in there bowl'in ball cannon

  13. #13

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    Esbit stove overload : http://images.search.yahoo.com/searc...um+esbit+stove

    I used one of the Esbit titanium stoves on my Georgia section hike in '06 with a titanium foil windscreen that rolled up to the size of a pencil stub. I got both from www.backpackinglight.com , but they no longer have the ti. windscreen. You'll have to get that from www.titaniumgoat.com . It boiled all the water for each meal I ate (Knorr-Lipton dinners, mostly) and coffee and oatmeal for breakfast. As the cubes burn down they get cooler, so they actually simmer for a couple of minutes before they go out.
    As I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn back from his way and live. Ezekiel 33:11

  14. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Wise Old Owl View Post
    Ahh Backpacking, want to know what the best solid or alcohol fuel is? Here is a little test

    Triox, Hexamethalene, Alcohol, and yea C4 Military explosives........ Sorry no canister fuels here....
    Interesting that Hexamine (ESBIT type fuel) did the best. They didn't exactly optimize pot heights or use windscreens, did they? Still, hexamine did the best despite the lack of an attempt to really set things up properly for cooking.

    HJ
    Backpacking stove reviews and information: Adventures In Stoving

  15. #15
    Registered User 4Bears's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by skinewmexico View Post
    I'm glad the C4 didn't do that good of a job; it's gotten so hard to find.

    No not really, it is easy enough to make.
    "You have brains in your head/You have feet in your shoes/You can steer yourself in any direction you choose." - Dr. Seuss

  16. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by 4Bears View Post
    No not really, it is easy enough to make.
    Uh, and just how does one make C4?

    HJ
    Backpacking stove reviews and information: Adventures In Stoving

  17. #17

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    One part C1 and three parts C3 .
    As I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn back from his way and live. Ezekiel 33:11

  18. #18

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    How old is that video? I don't think the military has issued trioxane in a long time. Something to think about with hexamine (aka Esbit, Methenamine; Urotropine; 1,3,5,7- tetraazaadamantane, Formin, Aminoform) is density. Some tablet are compressed more than others which can affect the burn rate. Like many experiments, this one create more questions than it answers.

  19. #19
    Registered User Wise Old Owl's Avatar
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    Don't really know - its not that old. And I still can get Triox at Surplus stores locally.
    Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.

    Woo

  20. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mother Natures Son View Post
    When I was a scout, we used something called Girl Scout Water (high octane automotive grade fuel or anything else our devilish little hands could get a hold of.
    Ronson Lighter Fluid...aka: Boy Scout Water...Troop 2, Valley Falls, RI.

    "To make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from." - T.S. Eliot

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