Why I use a multi burning/wood stove in my hikes.

[Kookork]

The debate about weight saving potential of wood burning stoves by not carrying fuel has been around for a while and will be around for a long time. The weight is not the reason I have been using wood stove.

In my case I have been using a dollar store wood burning stove(military style but cheap) and a pot to boil water and cook my food for couple of years now and recently I have switched to ( purchased ) a bushcooker Lt I and snowpeak 700 pot and I have recently started to cook with the new stove.

The reason I chose the stove is not definitely convenience since it may take forever if ever to reach to a point that operating wood burning stoves be as easy as Alcohol and Butane gas stoves.

I opted the wood burning stove since I love the ritual of fire making and I am good at it.I carry 7 Oz of alcohol and a lightweight cat stove like alcohol stove to use it inside my Bushcooker Lt . With a wind screen and optimum situation it takes 6 minutes to boil 2 cups of water with two third of an Oz of alcohol . Colder the weather longer the time and more fuel necessary .

But when the weather is cooperating I can use twigs to boil water or cook dinner. I yet have to find a place with no twigs around in Canada( and possibly AT). Two times boiling water/cooking after setting up my tent is a routine for me and since it is after the daily hike I am in no rush to use alcohol. My fire starter and tinder is 4 cc of alcohol to jump-start the fire.

The weight of my kitchen including Titanium 700 pot, bushcooker Lt, handmade Neoprene Pot cozy, ground protection disk, alcohol stove and a handmade Aluminium foil windscreen is 9.4 Oz not including the fuel.( 7 Oz)

The learning curve of using any type of wood stove is slow steep and long but rewarding. You can never graduate from the art of fire making but after a while you find your tone and style and start to connect deeper to the land by using a wood stove. Now it is part of the ritual of hiking not a burden.

The convenience of using wood burning stove normally comes after years of experience not a short time flirting with one particular wood stove or the other.

After mastering the art of fire making you may even be able to boil water in your wood stove when it is raining outside but it needs patience and skills.

For me the moments of give and take with fire is why I use wood burning stove. If I can save weight with wood stove it is a double bonus and if not it is a joy to use wood fire and smell the smoke.

What about you?

[1azarus]

I agree... I absolutely love my stove.long learning curve but great pleasure.

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[Tri-Pod Bob]

Solo wood burning with alcohol back-up......great stove!

[Another Kevin]

Hi, 1azarus! Do I recall that I got a cup of hot chocolate from the first boil on that stove? Glad it's working out so well for you.

I might try a hobo stove again one of these years. I used a can stove or an open fire for a long time - and it is a connection with a more primitive time, I suppose. But I don't like getting my pot all sooty (I know, soap the bottom...), and I like even less getting the rest of my gear all sooty because I got my pot up against stuff.

But balance that against the fact that I like real rice or real quinoa. You can simmer for a long time over twigs, with much less hassle than trying to throttle an alcohol stove.

So I'm of two minds about it. And so am I.

[McPick]

What do you guys do about the soot?

I've been primarily heating my home with wood since the 70s and love it. I've often thought about taking a wood stove hiking. However, in 2006 I got a bad batch or alcohol somewhere along the AT in NY. Smoked the bottom of my pot and whatever it was, was a pain to remove. Luckily I had a plastic bag that I could put the pot in. Meaning I was able to keep the soot from transferring to other gear in my pack. I finally got fed up and bought a Pocket Rocket.

[Wise Old Owl]

You use a small amount of liquid soap and soap the bottom of the pot and sides but not the lip. After heating it washes right off.. TI stoves don't hold the soot, I just wipe it off.


FYI there are parts of the trail where it is difficult to run, finding fuel isn't the issue. Each chunk of land has a lot of challenging restrictions.

[QiWiz]

What do you guys do about the soot?

I've been primarily heating my home with wood since the 70s and love it. I've often thought about taking a wood stove hiking. However, in 2006 I got a bad batch or alcohol somewhere along the AT in NY. Smoked the bottom of my pot and whatever it was, was a pain to remove. Luckily I had a plastic bag that I could put the pot in. Meaning I was able to keep the soot from transferring to other gear in my pack. I finally got fed up and bought a Pocket Rocket.

Since I usually cook with wood as a primary fuel, I find that the easiest for me is to dedicate a pot to wood burning and just let it get sooty. I use a Reflectix cozy to keep my food warm whille I eat it out of my cook pot (and also to keep the pot inside when packing it). The outside of the pot gets sooty, and the inside of the cozy gets sooty, but not my hands or the contents of my pack. Once in awhile, if the soot on the pot really builds up, I just put the pot, empty, over the fire and burn the soot off. Titanium can take this with no harm, but be cautious with aluminum because it can melt or deform if the fire gets it too hot.

[Edro]

I recently bought a Solo Stove Wood Alcohol stove.. Ive only used it a couple of times bit so far I love it.