View Full Version : Proper etiquette for wood burning stoves
making the switch to a wood burning stove and wondered how others use their wood burners when cooking near others at shelters or campgrounds. not as big an issue as a campfire, but still a bit of smoke. also wouldn't mind reading a rainy/snowy day wood burner story or two.
Hikes in Rain
05-31-2012, 12:09
Downwind of shelters, tents and other folks should pretty much sum it up. (Bet you already knew that, though!)
You mentioned rainy days - wet wood will be a problem. If you can find birch bark, it will light when wet and burn. Otherwise, instead of looking for dead fall on the wet ground look for dead wood higher up or wherever you can find it. Also, instead of looking for twigs and chunks, look for more solid pieces of wood that you can split, as you can make smaller, slightly drier pieces. Feather sticks (e.g., shaved down sticks with the shaved wood curls still attached) will light well when wet. While it's true you don't need to carry a knife, I think it's a little short-sighted not to. If depending on a wood fire, I'd always carry a knife capable of batoning wood to split it into smaller bits and something sharp enough to make feather sticks. Why not go outside into the woods one day when it's raining and practice starting a fire before you depend on it for dinner / clean water?
You mentioned rainy days - wet wood will be a problem. If you can find birch bark, it will light when wet and burn. Otherwise, instead of looking for dead fall on the wet ground look for dead wood higher up or wherever you can find it. Also, instead of looking for twigs and chunks, look for more solid pieces of wood that you can split, as you can make smaller, slightly drier pieces. Feather sticks (e.g., shaved down sticks with the shaved wood curls still attached) will light well when wet. While it's true you don't need to carry a knife, I think it's a little short-sighted not to. If depending on a wood fire, I'd always carry a knife capable of batoning wood to split it into smaller bits and something sharp enough to make feather sticks. Why not go outside into the woods one day when it's raining and practice starting a fire before you depend on it for dinner / clean water?
where's the adventure in that? ;<)
Slo-go'en
05-31-2012, 18:30
Wet wood isn't the problem when it's raining - it's easy enough to find dry enough wood to burn. The problem is you can't use a wood stove in the shelter or in your tent, so your going to be trying to cook out in the rain. Therefore, when I've carried a wood stove, I either also have an alcohol stove with a little fuel for back up, or some no cook dinner food for the times it's either raining or not practical to use the wood stove.
Wet wood isn't the problem when it's raining - it's easy enough to find dry enough wood to burn. The problem is you can't use a wood stove in the shelter or in your tent, so your going to be trying to cook out in the rain. Therefore, when I've carried a wood stove, I either also have an alcohol stove with a little fuel for back up, or some no cook dinner food for the times it's either raining or not practical to use the wood stove.
I use a hammock with a rain fly. Anybody use a wood stove under the edge of a high pitched fly?
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2
Saprogenic
05-31-2012, 22:04
I just bought the Vargo titanium hexagon wood burner, and it got me thinking as well that a backup would be nice. I saw a video on youtube that gave me the idea. So I bought Vargo's Decagon titanium alcohol stove. It's about $25, and fits beautifully inside the hexagon stove as the wind screen. Here's that video I mentioned... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7yBedWcetc
http://www.vargooutdoors.com/Backpacking-Stoves-167
Cooking under a hammock rain fly is no problem at all.
I've done it many times.
It's one of the many reasons to use a hammock!
I always have my wood burner with a backup alcohol. I haven't found a situation where I needed anything else. I also cook under my hammock tarp.
One thing that made my wood stove a million times easier-- I carry some cotton balls soaked in vaseline for a firestarter. I use the vaseline also for a lip balm (Hi, I'm glaux, and I have a lip balm addiction) so it's multi-purpose. It burns well. I make two little fire torches with twigs and cotton and set them on both sides of my mini-kindling to get it going. If you can get a little fire burning, it will dry out the larger damp twigs so they can burn. Once you have a little inferno, damp twigs will burn no problem (but I have to keep feeding it the entire time I'm using it).
I haven't used it in the snow, though.
I use a hammock with a rain fly. Anybody use a wood stove under the edge of a high pitched fly?
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2
I used a metal screen as a spark arrestor but it didn't last very long. I thought the Emberlit guy was trying to perfect one but have not looked into it since I emailed him a few months ago. Once your pot is on the stove there really isn't much of a spark issue anyway. Besides...that's why you've been toting that duct tape, I'd love to see someone come up with a good spark arrestor.
Cat in the Hat
I used a metal screen as a spark arrestor but it didn't last very long. I thought the Emberlit guy was trying to perfect one but have not looked into it since I emailed him a few months ago. Once your pot is on the stove there really isn't much of a spark issue anyway. Besides...that's why you've been toting that duct tape, I'd love to see someone come up with a good spark arrestor.
Cat in the Hat
I have had a lot of luck with Inconel wire cloth (scraps from work). However if you try to buy it yourself you will not have a lot of luck, you need to buy it in large sheets and it is expensive.
Someone needs to buy a sheet and cut it up for small quantity sales to backpackers.
jakedatc
06-01-2012, 12:13
why not just carry an alcohol stove in the first place if you're going to carry it as a back up.. 2 stoves seems silly and the weight savings on fuel can't be much more once you add the weight of the non-used stove.
why not just carry an alcohol stove in the first place if you're going to carry it as a back up.. 2 stoves seems silly and the weight savings on fuel can't be much more once you add the weight of the non-used stove.
It was my first attempt at using it for a long distance hike so I wanted a backup just in case it wasn't happening for me. For me it's not so much about the weight as it is being able to cook as often as I like and as long as I need. With the Emberlit I can also have a mini campfire which is really sweet at the end of a long day. Carrying a couple ounces of fuel and an alky stove that barely registers on my scale is not a biggy to me. I saw people on the trail carrying a full 16 ounces of alcohol even though resupply point were only three to four days away. I was still way lighter than them.
I do see your point and could have gotten away without the alcohol but in the long run I have no regrets at carrying both.
Cat in the Hat
jakedatc
06-01-2012, 13:48
just cuz some one is doing it more wrong doesn't make it right ;)
I was implying leave the wood stove home and just go alcohol instead.
my choices are alcohol or canister.. i like light and cook. messing with a real fire isn't worth the effort. being able to have hot water in <10min is nicer than burning some twigs for fun haha. and if you are at a place where fires are allowed there is probably already a pit for it.
just cuz some one is doing it more wrong doesn't make it right ;)
I was implying leave the wood stove home and just go alcohol instead.
my choices are alcohol or canister.. i like light and cook. messing with a real fire isn't worth the effort. being able to have hot water in <10min is nicer than burning some twigs for fun haha. and if you are at a place where fires are allowed there is probably already a pit for it.
I have always agreed with your approach and have used an alcohol stove for years... But you AND I may both have been wrong. If using a wood burning stove is as easy as it appears to be then the advantages are obvious. Quite a while ago zelph, arguably the best cottage industry alcohol stove maker, wrote of his strong interest in wood burners. Now I'm experimenting...
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2
Tom Murphy
06-01-2012, 15:18
Try to set-up down wind.
<thread drift 1>
alky vs wood vs canister, I have all of these plus my old, reliable, heavy, SVEA; if you are truly concerned about weight, go stoveless.
i have been using a wood stove on my relatively short 3 day trips because it is a lot of fun burning twigs & I am in no hurry
</thread drift 1>
<thread drift 2>
On the few rainy trips that I have had my wood stove on, I have set up the tarp fairly high and if the wind direction is constant, I have used a baker's hut arrgt with my hiking poles. I leave the hammock in the pack til after dinner is finished. So far no issues with sparklers melting the silnylon.
There is a learning curve to find relatively dry sticks for the stove when its raining, but a wood stove is so so much easier than trying to start a cooking fire.
I haven't needed to batton larger diameter branches nor make feather sticks YET. I always bring a fire starter with me [been playing with char cloth but still really like "dryer lint and wax in a carboboard egg carton holder"] . Pine needles and birch bark help too.
</thread drift 2>
last week I carried my Emberlit-UL with us for the 1st time. I also carried Zelph's companion burner stove. I had played with the wood stove at home and didn't have any problems. Unfortunately I never had a chance to play with it in the rain. Needless to say it had rained the last few days in the area we were going. The day we started it poured down..typical I wasn't lucky in finding any dry wood so I used the alky stove that night and in the morning. The rest of the trip I used the wood stove. As we hiked along I found some dry sticks and put them in a ziploc bag for a just in case situtation.
The companion burner stove had 3 ozs in it when we took off and I carried 3 more ounces. I came home with about 2 ounces of fuel.
I will play with the wood stove in the rain and try different methods of getting the wet wood to burn and keep burning
Try to set-up down wind.
aven't needed to batton larger diameter branches nor make feather sticks YET. I always bring a fire starter with me [been playing with char cloth but still really like "dryer lint and wax in a carboboard egg carton holder"] . Pine needles and birch bark help too.
I mostly do it because it's fun, and it's good practice for getting through a 2-week deluge when everything is wet. Batoning large sticks is useful to get at the dry interior. I don't often carry char cloth hiking, great stuff for catching a spark and starting a real fire, but better saved for camping trips when you're bored and want to build something that burns. The vaseline + cotton balls thing is a great multi-purpose way to go. I practice bushcrafting skills when I do shorter hikes or campouts with the hope that the knowledge gained could come in handy some day on a longer hike when I need it and my other easy options have failed.
jakedatc
06-02-2012, 08:47
i think for short trips OH or canister wins out.. for long extended runs between supply points then twig stoves start winning out. that is just practical.. leaving out the fun factor. everyone like to burn stuff but it's not always necessary, allowed or advisable. especially in dry parts of summer.
Original thread response:
Just make sure you are downwind of others so that smoke doesn't get in their eyes, etc.
Thread drift response:
If I'm planning to cook with a twig fire in a wood burner, I pack my 2.5 oz FireFly and bring a couple Esbit cubes and an Esbit burner as backup. The backup is 1.1 oz total. So that's 3.6 oz for a wood stove and a bad weather backup contingency plan.
If I'm planning to cook with alcohol or Esbit as my primary fuel (above timberline or in fire ban areas), I pack a Caldera Cone Ti-Tri, which can use wood as a backup fuel. With either Esbit or alcohol as fuel, this is a heavier option than the wood burning one if I am on trail for more than a couple of days.
I don't use canister stoves, but if I did, this would be an even heavier option.
So cook how you like, and carry what you like, just saying' . . .
jakedatc
06-02-2012, 10:02
I didn't think about esbit.. that would be a better backup plan than a separate alcohol stove.
Pedaling Fool
06-02-2012, 11:40
making the switch to a wood burning stove and wondered how others use their wood burners when cooking near others at shelters or campgrounds. not as big an issue as a campfire, but still a bit of smoke. also wouldn't mind reading a rainy/snowy day wood burner story or two.Don't worry about etiquette; I'm always starting a fire and pissing people off with the smoke, so your little stove won't be a problem. I got them "broken in" :D
topshelf
06-02-2012, 11:42
I used to cook under my tarp, but I found the fumes and resulting odor too pungent and gave me a headache.
joncro55
06-04-2012, 11:33
I have had a lot of luck with Inconel wire cloth (scraps from work). However if you try to buy it yourself you will not have a lot of luck, you need to buy it in large sheets and it is expensive.
Someone needs to buy a sheet and cut it up for small quantity sales to backpackers.
They sell a lot of that stuff here and I think its only like a $50.00 minimum ---
http://www.bwire.com/
This is also the best luck I have had with any product. Inconel is obviously a very highly priced item, but I used and bought a very very small quantity, and it has worked out great.
Don't worry about etiquette; I'm always starting a fire and pissing people off with the smoke, so your little stove won't be a problem. I got them "broken in" :D
Your efforts are truly appreciated. :)
Cat in the Hat