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Stoves for the backcountry.
- Thread starter GerminationStation
- Start date
I got into twig stoves and fire boxes the past few years and now won’t leave home without one. The fire grate goes no matter what and gas stoves are for emergencies, super duper crappy weather or beyond the trees.
Thanks to you tube, I discovered the top down burn on the mini twig stove and it works great for quick get aways in the mornings. Load the thing as full and densely packed as possible (done the night before), starting with middle finger sized material on the bottom and work up to little twigs on the top. Light the top of it, put a full 1 litre pot on and walk away to pack up camp. When it runs out of fuel, the water is boiled and breakfast is served.
When the weathers garbage it’s nice to cuddle up to a fire box under the tarp and bake away with the frybake. I’d love to find a large titanium fire box, the steel ones are a little heavy for solo stuff.
Thanks to you tube, I discovered the top down burn on the mini twig stove and it works great for quick get aways in the mornings. Load the thing as full and densely packed as possible (done the night before), starting with middle finger sized material on the bottom and work up to little twigs on the top. Light the top of it, put a full 1 litre pot on and walk away to pack up camp. When it runs out of fuel, the water is boiled and breakfast is served.
When the weathers garbage it’s nice to cuddle up to a fire box under the tarp and bake away with the frybake. I’d love to find a large titanium fire box, the steel ones are a little heavy for solo stuff.
If memory serves back around 5 months ago Firebox was taking pre-orders for an upcoming titanium Firebox so a quick look there found the 5" one is out....
https://www.fireboxstove.com/titanium?product_id=390
Lance
Pocket Rocket if carries are involved; Peak 1 or Whisperlite if not. Add to that a Uco Flat Pack Grill and a Svante Fredan reflector oven when I am base camping for 5+ days. The last two items aren't essential and add to the gear, but I enjoy using them.
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5” lol, that’s the problem with all these companies, they make stuff that is cute, but unless you only boil water to eat out of a bag or alway tri by yourself, they are pretty useless IMO! Mine is 16”Lx12”Wx8”H, have a bottom and false bottom so your fire is “fully” contained!
but alas the manufacturer, CRCO, has changed the design of the grill part and now it sucks big time but they won’t admit it!!
There's a youtube channel to which I am subscribed - James Carey. He has a stove he made out of a cash box. Video: https://youtu.be/6wHFvgUo_40
There is a huge range of what people want or need depending on their usage. I know that I have often gotten to counting grams and used a home made pop can alcohol burner that weighed about an ounce including burner, pot stand, and wind screen (not counting fuel which was usually a 12 ounce bottle of yellow Heet). I cooked a bit more than just boiling water on it, Nothing elaborate, but fried or poached trout for one or various noodle dishes were common practice on backpacking trips. For real long trips the weight of the fuel makes the weight savings of the stove null and a little canister or white gas stove was my choice.
For multiple people, more elaborate cooking, or longer trips where fuel carried gets heavy the options change (I have managed with the pop can stove for two, but the canister stove makes more sense at that point).
My point is that for some people and some trips that stove as carried (Ti Firebox, Ashpan and Firesticks (2) weight: 17.5 oz.) would be bigger and heavier than I would otherwise carry and in some places and weather you may be carrying more dry fuel and or fire starting stuff.
Many of us here probably don't get too far down the rabbit hole of gram counting unless backpacking or some other non paddling pursuit, but I am sure some do depending on the trip. I know that as I get older I really like to minimize what I have to carry, so if there are portages I will be pretty selective in what I pack. I have become pretty ingrained in that mode and might just grab the ultralight stuff even when I am going with the car if traveling alone.
I confess that I have zero experience with the commercial versions of these wood burning stoves. I tinkered with some home made ones before, but found them fussy, dirty, and generally not as light as my other options for stove/fuel for most trips. Some of that may have been because of my lousy implementation. Some may have been that the distance between fuel resupply for trips I wanted to use them on didn't give enough advantage in fuel weight savings. Also some of the places I wanted to go forbid collecting any fuel. As a result I only tinkered with them at home and never took them on a trip.
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I totally understand, and I was more joking, I know plenty of people that are weight conscientious lol, and when I’m in the mountain looking for sheep I don’t carry the firebox lol and the wall tent also stays home hahaha! But for the purpose of this site, and the type of my trips, mostly rivers w/o portages or large lakes, with real meals made out of real food, cooked slowly enjoying every minutes out in camp and on the water lol! When people take 6 days to do a trip, we take easily 8-10 days for the same trip Hahahah.... we are part of the slowing down movement!!
I've done plenty of camping where weight carried was not monitored closely too. Much of that we were cooking on an open fire though, but we did carry some heavy cook wear. I haven't done that kind of trip in years, but it would still be fun though.
I use an MSR pocket rocket for solo warm weather use on short trips, but off season, larger groups, or long distance trips I use my old Coleman 505 or peak 533.
Most parks don't allow twig stoves during fire season because they don't have a positive shutoff and can emit sparks. they generally can't be used anywhere during a fire ban for the same reason.
I really don't like the imported knockoffs because both customer assistance and parts are impossible to find, and quality can be suspect as well. many of them use a plain rubber o-ring which was never designed for the extreme cold of the butane as it vaporizes and can crack at any time with no warning, turning it into a bomb, I know where there ae a couple at the bottom of a lake because the only way to extinguish it was to deep six the stove.
At least, if it's name brand, you can pretty much guarantee the the parts are machined to a consistently high standard, the O- rings are synthetic and designed to handle the cold from liquid butane. and that parts are readily available.
Mid- trip is not the time to find out your "bargain" really wasn't one
Most parks don't allow twig stoves during fire season because they don't have a positive shutoff and can emit sparks. they generally can't be used anywhere during a fire ban for the same reason.
I really don't like the imported knockoffs because both customer assistance and parts are impossible to find, and quality can be suspect as well. many of them use a plain rubber o-ring which was never designed for the extreme cold of the butane as it vaporizes and can crack at any time with no warning, turning it into a bomb, I know where there ae a couple at the bottom of a lake because the only way to extinguish it was to deep six the stove.
At least, if it's name brand, you can pretty much guarantee the the parts are machined to a consistently high standard, the O- rings are synthetic and designed to handle the cold from liquid butane. and that parts are readily available.
Mid- trip is not the time to find out your "bargain" really wasn't one
For me its the Trangia alcohol stove, and also a Bush Buddy gasifier twig stove, For me it covers all the bases ,Cheers !
I started with a Whisperlite for backpacking, then switched to a Svea 123 a friend gave me as it's simpler and more reliable. But a few years back my son in law sold me on the Trangia style alcohol stoves (he's from NZ and that's all they use over there). I also have two and three burner Coleman stoves but I only use them for rare car camping.
