I'm a water boiler. I have 2 BRS 3000s (one for backup) that weigh less than an ounce each and get the job in done in less than 3 minutes. I used to bring my Svea 123r, but it was heavy and lighting it could get exciting.
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Cooking fuel
- Thread starter Johnny 5
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I use a twig stove nowadays, even for frying fish or pancakes/hash browns. I eat a lot of easy meals like Knorr's Pasta sides and Idahoan mashed potatoes, never bother with freeze-dried or veggies. Too much jerky or gorp upsets my stomach.
Cooking over a twig stove takes some practice.
The ease of collecting twigs vs. real firewood is the main reason I use the twig stove. I'm usually in bed long before sunset so not many campfires these days.
I also bring a Feather 400 Peak 1 stove in case there's a fire ban. It usually gets left at the put-in though as I have never experienced a fire ban iirc..
Cooking over a twig stove takes some practice.
The ease of collecting twigs vs. real firewood is the main reason I use the twig stove. I'm usually in bed long before sunset so not many campfires these days.
I also bring a Feather 400 Peak 1 stove in case there's a fire ban. It usually gets left at the put-in though as I have never experienced a fire ban iirc..
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Cooking over my alcohol stove takes practice also. I can not store alcohol in my stove so I practiced with it to learn the ideal amount of alcohol I need to heat the required amount of water. I also practiced timing how long the fuel will burn before it is expended because burning alcohol is quiet and difficult to see so I am never sure of the moment when it has stopped burning and I want to remove the pot when the water is at peak temperature.
For me this is the charm of using alcohol and why I still sometimes use it. My BSR 3000 canister stove is as comparatively light and compact as my alcohol stove and it is more efficient and quicker and easier to use. Still, sometimes charm trumps practicality.
John
Alcohol I have used Trangia stoves/kits for many years and recently converted an old Optimus to alcohol for more robust heat and ability to simmer more easily. I like not having the smell of white gas in camp. The trade off is a little slower cooking time. I also use a twig (solo) stove when feasible.
#1 by a huge margin Solids in a fire box or twig stove with the fry bake rocking in front
#2 white gas in some sort of MSR stove or a peak 1 and only as a last resort
#3 the jet boil, not a real fan of the canister waste so only use it for day trips to make a quick soup or coffee
#2 white gas in some sort of MSR stove or a peak 1 and only as a last resort
#3 the jet boil, not a real fan of the canister waste so only use it for day trips to make a quick soup or coffee
Hooked on white gas. 2 Dragonfly's with Dragon Tamers, a Whisperlight, a 2 burner and a 3 burner Coleman suitcase, and a restored Coleman 2 mantle lantern.
We use white gas for cooking and wood for baking with a reflector oven.
I should have added JMO for baking - perfectly paired with a Dragonfly.
I absolutely prefer a wood fire in front of a properly sited Plowpoint tarp shelter or Whelen lean-to, but have backups.
Pretty much any trip will warrant a tiny, almost weightless alcohol stove and at least a 6 oz bottle of fuel, just in case, for the rainy days, or if I get soaked and need a fire quickly. 3-4 day trips where I'm moving camps every day justify my MSR Pocket Rocket (butane), and if more in the 4-6 day range, my MSR SimmerLite (gas).
I still prefer a wood fire for a base camp, with day trips out fishing or exploring. One easy afternoon's work with saw and hatchet, along with a sheet of birchbark from a fallen tree and a spruce branch for tinder, will last me 3-4 days, and often more, which I then leave for the next guy. I also usually leave either a gnome or chicken carving in the pit (so if you've ever found one, maybe it was me.)
Pretty much any trip will warrant a tiny, almost weightless alcohol stove and at least a 6 oz bottle of fuel, just in case, for the rainy days, or if I get soaked and need a fire quickly. 3-4 day trips where I'm moving camps every day justify my MSR Pocket Rocket (butane), and if more in the 4-6 day range, my MSR SimmerLite (gas).
I still prefer a wood fire for a base camp, with day trips out fishing or exploring. One easy afternoon's work with saw and hatchet, along with a sheet of birchbark from a fallen tree and a spruce branch for tinder, will last me 3-4 days, and often more, which I then leave for the next guy. I also usually leave either a gnome or chicken carving in the pit (so if you've ever found one, maybe it was me.)
I think I have now used just about everything. At first it was white gas stoves. For base camping I use primarily a Coleman two burner propane canister stove. I do have a twig stove and an alcohol burner that goes into it. I would use this for overnight trips or those lasting a couple of days. Alcohol and twig stoves are quiet and don't require carrying any empty canisters out, but they are slow. Slow is not necessarily bad but not great if you are trying to get going in the morning. They are also not very efficient. You can burn up 8 ounces of alcohol cooking for one person in a couple of days. Twig stoves solve the problem of carrying fuel, but require you to find and round up reasonably dry twigs. They also create a lot of soot on your pot(s) which then usually gets on your hands. For a multi-day river trip lasting more than a couple of days I will take an isobutane canister stove (Jetboil or Pocket Rocket) as one full canister will just about always last me the trip so long as it is less than a week.
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I find fire to be one more barrier between me and the world around me. I almost never use it for anything unless needed to dry out clothes.
I really like my trangia, but am having problems regulating the flame lately. Pretty much I only boil water. Keeping meals as simple as can be.
I really like my trangia, but am having problems regulating the flame lately. Pretty much I only boil water. Keeping meals as simple as can be.
WOOD.
All I carry is a stick stove
All I carry is a stick stove
over the decades I've used just about everything and owned dozens of stoves.- in the 60's and 70's it was all about naptha 2 burners or wood fires because they were the only easily found sources, even Trangias were hard to find back then in a lot of places. In the mid 70's Coleman came out with the 502/ 505 stoves (yeah the 502 came out in the 40's but try and find one). Msr introduced the whisperlite in '84 and coleman came out with the 440 series"ultralight" stoves. Around that same time the Bluet "mountain" canister stoves hit the N American market too followed by Brunton, Primus and the venerable pocket rocket, and in the 2000's we saw the surge in little, tiny alcohol stoves, followed by stick stoves and kelly kettles (another import).
I still use most of them depending on the trip- My little White Box stove lives in my daypack and has saved a few peoples' bacon over the years, I remember a may trip where a canoe with 2 adults and 2 kids yard sailed in icy water, I boiled up copious amounts of soup, hot chocolate, and coffee while others stripped them down and dressed them in spare dry clothes, It didn't take long for the tears to turn to laughter from a petite 10 yr old girl wearing pants sized for a fully grown 200lb adult...
my 505/442 are my go to stoves for winter hiking or quick overnights in cooler weather, the whisperlite still goes on occasional solo trips too, as does the pocket rocket in the summer, sadly the Bluet will be retiring shortly because Coleman bought Camping Gaz and stopped N American cartridge production- I still consider the 174 one of the best cartridge stoves ever made, with it's large flame pattern and ability to go from blowtorch to candle flame with one twist.
I still use most of them depending on the trip- My little White Box stove lives in my daypack and has saved a few peoples' bacon over the years, I remember a may trip where a canoe with 2 adults and 2 kids yard sailed in icy water, I boiled up copious amounts of soup, hot chocolate, and coffee while others stripped them down and dressed them in spare dry clothes, It didn't take long for the tears to turn to laughter from a petite 10 yr old girl wearing pants sized for a fully grown 200lb adult...
my 505/442 are my go to stoves for winter hiking or quick overnights in cooler weather, the whisperlite still goes on occasional solo trips too, as does the pocket rocket in the summer, sadly the Bluet will be retiring shortly because Coleman bought Camping Gaz and stopped N American cartridge production- I still consider the 174 one of the best cartridge stoves ever made, with it's large flame pattern and ability to go from blowtorch to candle flame with one twist.
Stumbled across a video of someone heating a shop with a rocket stove, which I'd never heard of so I looked for more info. Pretty neat concept. The vid I stumbled across was a self feeding pellet stove with a crazy Z shaped flue to throw heat. But it turns out there are very simple twig burning models out there as well, that might be a great alternative to the standard twig stove due to their efficiency. Anyone familiar with these? Here's vid of the simple twig burning one that shows the concept pretty clearly, and also a link to Wikipedia about these things, which are used in developing countries to conserve fuel. And if you google pellet rocket stove you'll see some with the Z flue for heating interiors.
en.wikipedia.org
