Originally Posted by
Odd Man Out
This was one of my threads from five years ago. How time flies.
My experimentation with Ti foil was short lived. The foil I got was very flimsy and not sturdy enough to substitute for the robust Al flashing that I had been using. I played with it for a while, but it never made it to field use. I don't recall where I was in my alcohol stove evolution at that time, but now I am using a cylinder of Al flashing that doubles as both the pot stand and wind screen. As such, the Ti foil would not be sturdy enough to support the pot. It is possible there is thicker grade Ti that might work, but I never pursued it as any weight savings would be negligible since my stand/screen is only a few inches tall and a few inches in diameter. Also since it directs heat through the heat exchanger of my Olicamp XTS pot, it doesn't get very hot and thus doesn't suffer from heat fatigue. The situation may be different with a design such as a Caldera Cone where the pot support/wind screen directs heat flow up the side of the pot. I considered that type of system but never made one. While it would allow me to use a lighter pot, it would be at the expense of a much larger and complicated support/screen. Having design that is easy to use (stores inside the pot, requires no assembly/disassembly) was an important goal of mine when developing my system.
Ti foil would work for blocking the wind when it is not supporting the pot, however I have come to the conclusion that the role of the wind screen is under-appreciated by many alcohol stove users, probably because it is called a "wind screen". I feel it serves a much more critical role of controlling oxygen intake and directing heat output, both of which are important design parameters if your goal is to optimize the efficiency and power of your alcohol stove system. I've seen lots of videos of people using flimsy Ti wind screens to block to the wind, but when placed rather haphazardly around the pot, I don't expect it is plays much role in controlling air and heat flow and giving optimal and predictable performance. But if that is not a design parameter that is of concern to you, then it doesn't really matter.