View Full Version : Ultralight thoughts
I realised that I don't use most of the tools in a swiss army knife, so for a knife, I put a single edge razor in a 35 mm film container. Also,although it is kind of controversial, and won't work in some locations, for a stove and fuel I just carry some matches (also in a film container) and cook over small wood fires. I know this is frowned upon in some circles, but I never take wood from standing or live trees, plus, a cooking fire can be quite small and in fact can be made from what I call 'shelter sticks,' just little sticks lying around the shelter. I have to believe that the environmental impact from pumping, transporting, and burning fuel, plus manufacturing and shipping a stove, is equal or greater to the impact of a small fire. Plus, there is an ambiance to a campfire that is irreplaceable.
EarlyRiser
09-23-2002, 07:04
yeah i agree that a small cooking fire is probably much more friendly than the processes involved in most other stoves. there are fires naturaly in the woods all the time, and if your making a fire at a shelter (which almost always has a fire pit anyway) its fine. as long as you dispose of the ashes properly, either put them in a fire pit or if your not near one disperse them over an area, just so that htey dont sit in a mound or anything. that shouldnt do much harm to anything. oh but make sure the ashes arnt still hot cause you wouldnt want to start a fire. im not really sure if alcohol stoves in the long run are cleaner or not, they might be but it depends on when you take manufacturing into account. sticks dont exactly produce much polution when they are manufactured, and ashes are natural firtilizers. maybe its best not to use cooking fires i dont know but if it works for you and its not breaking any laws im sure your probably saving weight so thats great.
hikerltwt
01-18-2003, 22:31
A properly used cook fire is about as close to zero impact as it gets. Small sticks the size of a pencil combust almost comepletely and there is very little impact to the ground. Just be careful about the duff! I have been contemplating trying out some aluminum foil or roof flashing to lay on the ground and building the fire on it. When finished just extinguish the flame disperse the materials and fold the aluminum up. Heck maybe I'll play with fire tonight!
RagingHampster
01-19-2003, 03:58
Now it's been 2 years since my chemistry class in college, but I believe that burning ethanol & methanol produces only water (vapor) and carbon di-oxide. Isopropanol produces elemental carbon as well. When you burn wood, your actually burning the gasses trapped in wood (from my understanding), and leaving behind alot of elemental carbon (ie. soot). So therefore, burning methanol would actually be the cleanest form of heat in the woods. The most natural of course would be using wood for fuel. When dispersed over the ground, this promotes plant-life anyways, with bajillions of nutrients.
Redbeard
01-19-2003, 04:03
I met some hikers who carried small hobo cans to fill with twigs, some even had little battery powered fans to keep the flames up. A lot of the forest, if you walk a little ways, has too much "forest litter" this is what causes huge forest fires to get out of control, as long as you leave the overpicked areas you are probably doing the woods a favor.
I use my black bill cap as a pot grabber/hot pan holder. The black soot from the pot hardly shows up at all on a black cap.
On my latest CDT section hike (the Helena section in Montana), my "knife" consisted of a single edge razor blade that I cut in half with a pair of sheet metal shears. The ultralight knife gets even lighter...
On my latest CDT section hike (the Helena section in Montana), my "knife" consisted of a single edge razor blade that I cut in half with a pair of sheet metal shears. The ultralight knife gets even lighter...
What do you cut with it? I don't use a knife at all now. Initially it was because of the carrry-on regulations in this new age of hysteria, but I've since found that I just don't need one. Anything spreadable can just as easily be spread with the back of a spoon, and you don't have to worry about cutting your tongue when you suck it 'clean'. I carry a tiny (blade length 22mm or 7/8", wt ~10 gram or 1/3 oz) pair of blunt-ended nail scissors and it's far more convenient than a knife and doesn't need any kind of container.
When you cut things with scissors you don't need a cutting surface - you just hold it over the cup and the bits fall in. I can't be bothered waiting for stuff to rehydrate, so I tend to take preserved meats like cabanossi (thumb thickness salamis), salami sticks (pencil thickness salamis), smoked chicken breasts, etc.(~50 grams or ~2 ounces per meal). All can easily be cut straight into the cup with nail scissors.
They're also handy for cutting up clothes to make bandages, trimming nails and unsightly nasal hair, and for any repair work to equipment. Cutting lines takes a while, but can be done. It even works for gutting fish. I guess I'll be out of luck if I need to perform an amputation though :)