I made a super cat Vienna, 1" taller then the cat food can version holds 3x the fuel. Made a second simmer version. So if I need additional cook time. I transfer what I am cooking to the second stove.
I made a super cat Vienna, 1" taller then the cat food can version holds 3x the fuel. Made a second simmer version. So if I need additional cook time. I transfer what I am cooking to the second stove.
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I'm coming out with a nice one piece titanium combination wood burning, alcohol and esbit comination stove. Should be done with a dozen early next week. It will curl nicely around a Foster flat bottom pot for storage. A nice tyvek stuff sack to carry them in. whooobuddy!!! Will it be light weight???? oh yes for sure. Notice I used the magic word titaaaaaanium
Firefly arrived today-took it outside and a Heiny can with one cup loaded the stove with scavanged 1/2 inch wood, stripped the bark and collection took five minutes, burn took 15 to get to 185 degrees not bad for a "first try" got some ideas but will try a few more burns first... FYI I needed two knives. one leatherman squirt for handling the pot while hot and a reasonable blade that's pictured in my gallery for removing the bark to get started.
Yea that was in wind and 20 degrees!
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
Thats not nice, using the T word like that....makes it hard to resisit.Notice I used the magic word titaaaaaanium
Now I can just find a full size Ti backbacking chair to carry with me.
Hammock Hanger by choice
Warbonnet BlackBird 1.7 dbl
www.neusioktrail.org
Bears love people, they say we taste just like chicken.
I like my solo stove a lot. I used it all weekend winter camping. The cotton balls do wonders with vicks vapor rub plus you always have the vicks if needed. there were times it burned so dang fast that i didn't notice it was out of wood and i had to re-stoke it. I am curious about the vasaline on the cotton swabs. I wouldn't use this for thru hiking or if i needed to cover major ground but then i like to take time and take things in, getting somewhere is less of a goal and secondary to drinking in the beauty and the feeling i get in the outdoors.
This was my second outing with it in a real camp scenario and i will say this if fiddling wit ha fire seems like a hassle or you aren't the guy who is usually tending to the fire it may not be for you. I agree the sound of a little wood stove and the flame are just so much nicer than jetted stoves to me. It is possible the Backcountry Boiler is better than most. I appreciate the simplicity, the science, and the multiple uses or burn styles it offers so it may have been my choice had i not bought the solostove first but after using it the solostove is fun to watch and wouldnt be as enjoyable with the Backcountry Boiler.
Tip: Put a carbon felt piece around the top of the solostove instead of a whole windscreen, works wonders and keeps the heat and flame under your pot. Dimensions are 2" by 12". Perfect wrap around
I tried a wood stove and got tired of it, snow, rain, soot
Try this one...
http://andrewskurka.com/2012/myog-hybrid-alcohol-twig-wood-stove/
It's going to be around $84.95 I keep changing things. add a little here and there. It's going to be in kit form, not just the windscreen. The windscreen lends itself nicely to be used with the three fuels, alcohol, wood and esbit. The Esbitmizer can simmer.
Today I made some changes. I now have a 1 piece grate for the wood burning mode and added a storage container to the base of the pot.
How do you like the changes?
What if the wood is wet
JAKDead Spruce sticks vs Dead Pine sticks. Good question. I'm not sure the answer. I think both trees are self-pruning in the sense that they let the lower branches die when they are not getting enough light, but for some reason the spruce sticks, call them branchlets, snap right off and are a nice combination of dry and sappy, whereas the pine seem to be too bendy and seem to retain a higher moisture content when dead. Maybe the pine strategy is for them to rot away once they are choked off from the tree, whereas the spruce strategy is to let them dry up so they will more easily get snapped off by passing deer or moose or bears, or hikers. Maybe it has to do with wet areas of the forest vs dry areas. I know in some areas that don't get much light and are by a stream everything is very wet and has moss and old mans beard growing on it even while it is still living. Very hard to get good kindling in those areas without a large fixed blade knife or hatchet or saw. Even spruce sticks don't work because they get covered in wet moss so they may as well be on the ground in such environments. Most places like that aren't great camp spots anyway, but there is one on the Fundy Footpath that is very nice, at Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum Falls, because it has a very nice swimming hole. There is a firepit, but not much use without a hatchet or saw even with deadfall. Anyhow, just theories. I think every ecosystem has its own patterns, and what holds in one place doesn't neccessarily hold in the next. Some trees are better than others, but it may have as much to do with where the tree likes to grow as what species the tree happens to be. Of course the two are related. Our Eastern White Cedar is an interesting one because it is the very best kindling once dry, but likes to grow in wet conditions. It can still work but you have to find it recently fallen, and get the stuff off the ground. If it snaps, it should be good, but it has to be thicker than spruce to still be snappy, and if too thick it can be too hard to snap. Other times you can get sheets of it near where it has broken at it delaminates very easily and the thin veneers tend to be dry and rot resistant and make even better kindling than spruce, but this is rare. Spruce is more reliable, and you can see the dead branchlets all around. I am sure different rules apply further south and further North and at different altitudes and sides of mountains but this is what works well along the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine in what we call Acadian Forest.02-03-2013, 14:29
JAK
Another interesting thing about conifers is the way the ground underneath them tends to be dry, and often snow free in winter.02-03-2013, 14:45
jeffmeh
When learning (and later teaching) wet weather fire skills in the New Hampshire forest, we referred to those spruce branches as "squaw wood." It was indeed a key ingredient to improve one's success in building the wet weather fire. And for those unfamiliar with the bark from white birch, it is amazing fire starter material, once peeled off into thin strips.
We used birch bark strips, a "bunch" of squaw wood for tiny kindling, then the larger diameter pieces of spruce, then larger diameter in white pine, with enough fuel to build up sufficient coals to dry out the surface moisture and ignite larger pieces of hard wood.
Incidentally, I never really thought about it, but later learned that the label "squaw wood" was likely derived because the women could gather it without cutting tools required.
Bushbuddy or Emberlite Ti is my choice. If the weather looks bad, afternoon thunderstorms etc, simply fill 1-2 gallon zip locks with small twigs. This doesn't add too much weight and can last for a few days if you get some real rain. Backup is a few esbit tabs, and a good stash of firestarters.
I didn't read through this whole thread, and it may just be my opinion...but I'm taking an alcohol stove with intentions of using a campfire when possible. Why take a wood burning stove when I can sit my pot in coals? I'll use alcohol when I can't have a fire and a have a sealed 4 pack of Pyropac gel just in case...it's not that much weight for my setup with 3 options to boil water, and 2 that don't depend on dealing with wet wood.