Author Topic: Woodburning camp stoves (Read 77210 times)

mrcharly-YHT · « **Reply #150 on:** 23 May, 2011, 04:33:46 pm »

A *good* cordless drill is an investment. Get one with two speeds; the lower speed will be low enough. Most of the better cordless have electronic start so you can 'feather' the trigger for lower speeds. I have a ryobi that is a gem and not horrendously expensive. It will handle stainless and steel up to 10mm thick with 12mm bits.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #151 on:** 23 May, 2011, 06:35:35 pm »

Can the charcoal be used for a barbecue after you've used up the gas? Otherwise it seems like half the fuel is wasted.

Wobbly John · « **Reply #152 on:** 23 May, 2011, 08:11:16 pm »

Mine tends to burn it away to grey ash - I empty it on the flower beds.

Quote from: Charlotte on 23 May, 2011, 04:10:24 pm

*cough I have one very similar to this cough*

I pulled an Ajax one of those out of a skip last month...

... only about 3 times the size!

Kim · « **Reply #153 on:** 23 May, 2011, 09:07:34 pm »

Gah! Why do I never get the good skips? Nothing around here but rubble and mouldy fridges.

Charlotte · « **Reply #154 on:** 24 May, 2011, 01:12:23 pm »

Quote from: rogerzilla on 23 May, 2011, 06:35:35 pm

Can the charcoal be used for a barbecue after you've used up the gas? Otherwise it seems like half the fuel is wasted.

If the stove is working properly, in theory yes. But in reality, it's not a lot of poorly-made charcoal for quite a lot of effort.

Kim · « **Reply #155 on:** 24 May, 2011, 01:25:31 pm »

I'd say that in this particular application, burning as much of the wood as efficiently as possible is the optimal outcome.

barakta · « **Reply #156 on:** 24 May, 2011, 05:46:26 pm »

That's a very shiny drill press...

David Martin · « **Reply #157 on:** 27 May, 2011, 09:15:43 am »

Quote from: barakta on 24 May, 2011, 05:46:26 pm

That's a very shiny drill press...

Obviously not used enough then..

I have a big drill mounted in a press but I'm not sure it runs slow enough for drilling stainless. I am tempted (though claims of carbon negativity are plain _WRONG and in the realm of perpetual motion..)

Now to try to find some biscuit tins of an appropriate size...

mrcharly-YHT · « **Reply #158 on:** 23 June, 2011, 06:38:18 pm »

I arrive home with my ~~bright shiny new~~ soot-blackened 2nd hand Kelly Kettle. And it was raining. Perfect for testing it.

Being scientific, I measured the tap water - 4 mugs, 2 pints worth of the finest ~~spring~~ York water.

Out into the yard, set it up on a stone under a holly bush. Rain pouring down. Start timer.

Gather leaves, twigs, whatever I could grab that wasn't absolutely soaked.

Light fire in base of kettle, get it actually burning and put kettle on top.

5minutes.

Fire is going well, some flames shooting out of top, add some bigger twigs, up to 1/2" diameter.

Water seems to be steaming slightly.

Bubbles appear. Check timer. 9 minutes exactly - 4 minutes since I lit the fire. Turn back to kettle and it is boiling over!

So that's 4 minutes from lighting a fire with damp twigs and leaves to having 2 pints of water at a furious boil.

Picture to be added when I find my card reader.

See that white stuff? That's steam, that is, not smoke. 4minutes after lighting. I'm well impressed.

mrcharly-YHT · « **Reply #159 on:** 27 June, 2011, 10:08:55 am »

Well, that was a good test.

The kettle smoked and ran for quite a while, due to grass and damp-twig stuffing by crinklycub. Rather nice to see a 'stove' that was safeish for young kids to mess around.

I carried some split up kindling in a bag inside the kettle. The amount I packed would have easily boiled the kettle twice over - so 2l of water. I could have packed twice as much in there.

Bringing my own wood just saved gathering time. The kettle lights incredibly easily - I didn't use paper, just a match on some splinters of wood.

It also works quite well as a marshmallow toaster

Charlotte · « **Reply #160 on:** 16 July, 2012, 04:16:09 pm »

Thread necromancy time!

The BioLite stove is now shipping and I'm mighty tempted

Also, for anyone that liked my original stove design (the one in the OP is still going strong, by the way) have a look at this:

Pretty good value for fifty quid, I reckon.

Polar Bear · « **Reply #161 on:** 16 July, 2012, 04:31:51 pm »

I still have the tins awaiting use of a drill press and lots of drill bits and time to do this. Maybe buying a mark 2 Wild Woodgas Stove will be easier.

I guess then that I could sell on the Wilko tins...

Efrogwr · « **Reply #162 on:** 18 July, 2012, 01:29:20 pm »

Quote from: Charlotte on 16 July, 2012, 04:16:09 pm

... for anyone that liked my original stove design (the one in the OP is still going strong, by the way) have a look at this:

Pretty good value for fifty quid, I reckon.

So do I. I was impressed enough to order one. I hope that it arrives in time to go to Brittany (next week!).

I will report back.

Charlotte · « **Reply #163 on:** 18 July, 2012, 01:51:37 pm »

Oh marvellous

TimO · « **Reply #164 on:** 18 July, 2012, 04:31:44 pm »

Quote from: Charlotte on 16 July, 2012, 04:16:09 pm

The BioLite stove is now shipping and I'm mighty tempted

I really like the idea of being able to power something electrical using a wood burning stove.

The stove is $129, and shipping to the UK appears to be another $50. On top of that you'll almost certainly get hit for 20% VAT (I've yet to pay duty on anything I've bought overseas, but it's possible this could also occur).

So, that's $214.80, which currently Google reckons is £137.66. Whilst not massively excessive, it's more than I'm currently going to spend on what's essentially a bit of a gadget, regardless of how good it'll be as a stove!

Speshact · « **Reply #165 on:** 18 July, 2012, 06:36:35 pm »

Quote from: Efrogwr on 18 July, 2012, 01:29:20 pm

Quote from: Charlotte on 16 July, 2012, 04:16:09 pm
... for anyone that liked my original stove design (the one in the OP is still going strong, by the way) have a look at this:

Pretty good value for fifty quid, I reckon.

So do I. I was impressed enough to order one. I hope that it arrives in time to go to Brittany (next week!).

I will report back.

Um, I seem to have had a bit of mishap with the PayPal button and appear to have inadvertently ordered one

Efrogwr · « **Reply #166 on:** 18 July, 2012, 09:30:31 pm »

Quote from: Speshact on 18 July, 2012, 06:36:35 pm

Quote from: Efrogwr on 18 July, 2012, 01:29:20 pm
Quote from: Charlotte on 16 July, 2012, 04:16:09 pm
... for anyone that liked my original stove design (the one in the OP is still going strong, by the way) have a look at this:

Pretty good value for fifty quid, I reckon.

So do I. I was impressed enough to order one. I hope that it arrives in time to go to Brittany (next week!).

I will report back.

Um, I seem to have had a bit of mishap with the PayPal button and appear to have inadvertently ordered one

I hope we don't regret it!

Efrogwr · « **Reply #167 on:** 21 July, 2012, 10:15:45 am »

It has just been delivered; it looks good. Small, neat and light when packed, and (apparently) no less stable than a gas stove.

We might have a test burn later. We are going to France tomorrow. Are we brave enough to rely on it as our sole source of heat? I've got 24 hours to decide!

rogerzilla · « **Reply #168 on:** 21 July, 2012, 06:33:29 pm »

The plus with these is that they can't really fail to work. The minus is that your pots turn black and you smell.

TimO · « **Reply #169 on:** 21 July, 2012, 06:45:03 pm »

Ah but the smell of a camp fire isn't the most unpleasant (actually I quite like it). There are far worse things that you can smell of, sweaty cyclist for one.

Kim · « **Reply #170 on:** 21 July, 2012, 08:21:41 pm »

It claims to accept a Trangia burner, which is a pretty neat backup option if finding dry fuel is an issue or you just want a quick(ish) cup of tea.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #171 on:** 21 July, 2012, 09:51:21 pm »

Quote from: Kim on 21 July, 2012, 08:21:41 pm

It claims to accept a Trangia burner, which is a pretty neat backup option if finding dry fuel is an issue or you just want a quick(ish) cup of tea.

Tomorrow sometime

cuddy duck · « **Reply #172 on:** 22 July, 2012, 10:59:20 pm »

Quote from: Kim on 21 July, 2012, 08:21:41 pm

It claims to accept a Trangia burner, which is a pretty neat backup option if finding dry fuel is an issue or you just want a quick(ish) cup of tea.

Or if you're driven into a bothy by foul weather.
I use the simmer ring a lot when Trangia cooking.
An open simmer ring extends beyond the diameter of the burner unit.
Could someone who's bought one of these woodgas stoves feed back whether they're large enough to manouevre a half open simmer ring onto a Trangia meths burner?

Speshact · « **Reply #173 on:** 23 July, 2012, 06:24:57 pm »

Mine arrived today and folds down small and looks pretty but I've only had time to boil water for a cup of tea so far, which it did straightforwardly with a few handfuls of twigs. First thought is that a pair of secateurs may be a useful addition to the camping pack. Will experiment with a trangia burner when I get a chance later this week.

turista · « **Reply #174 on:** 27 July, 2012, 12:04:47 pm »

I have had one of these since early this year and think it is excellent. I have used twigs etc. where possible and where "all wood fires are forbidden" I use meths. I can use the simmer ring, I tend to bring stuff to the boil, remove the top ring of the stove to put the simmer ring in place with judicious use of my (metal) cutlery.
Sure cooking over wood makes your pans sooty - I read somewhere that a smear of liquid soap on the bottom of your pans before cooking makes them very easy to clean, I keep meaning to try that, but haven't yet. I just try to make sure I wrap my pans appropriately before packing them if they are sooty.
Thanks to the OP for getting me interested in wood gasification stoves in the first place!