Alcohol stove photos for Guyz (or anyone else interested of course)

In another thread I mentioned that I had a big alcohol stove that I got from Tinny @ Minibulldesign. Guyz asked me to post some photos of it....so here they are.

One correction though, I thought the big stove was made with Heineken mini keg cans, it is actually made with two Fosters beer cans.

Stove on the left is a 'Bios 4'

Stove on the right is a 'Sketti'

Thanks trout!  Tinney's the man.  When he's not on the trail, he's in his shop makin that lathe turn.  I can spend a lot of rainy days watching his reviews & videos.

Hey, how well does the wick work.  When I make mine, I usually make the outer lip taller for priming or use an insulator cup that doubles as a primer.

Yeah Guyz, I too use a small round metal tin (an old mint container) to get my DIY stove off the cold ground / rock, and to prime with.

I guess the wick is a little more fuel efficient and concentrates the heat on the stove body so the stove blooms quick, but there is certainly more than one way to prime a stove, or even stoves that don't have to be primed.

Tinny does turn out a good product and I buy from him and others in part because I enjoy supporting cottage craftsmen (ladies too of course) which I see as a dying trade / skill in our modern world of cheap consumable goods.

If you get a chance I'd love to see some pics of your stoves.

Mike G.

In terms of alcohol stoves, I've been using the 10-12 stove from Trail Designs.

I like the fact that it's an open jet burner style (like the Trangia).  I pour in the alcohol and light.  No priming.  The thing I don't like about priming is that it's hard to tell how much alcohol I'm using.  With an open jet burner I can pour the fuel in from a small medicine measuring cup and pour straight from the cup into the stove.  I know exactly how much alcohol I'm using.  I had a hard time with my MBD Atomic getting the fuel in the small hole.  The open jet type burner is a whole lot easier (for me anyway) to deal with.

Add to that the fact that the 10-12 stove comes with the Caldera Cone which is a super efficient combination pot stand/windscreen, and you've got yourself a really nice alcohol stove system.

I can get everything -- pot, burner, windscreen, fuel, "bowl" (a Ziploc container), cozy, fuel measuring cup, lighter, and spoon -- to fit into this relatively small package:

The "cone" rolls up inside the Ziploc container.  The cozy goes over the outside of the Ziploc.  The whole thing fits inside my MSR Titan Kettle, like so:

Here are some of the components removed from the Ziploc container. Not shown are the lighter and spoon I usually have inside.

The Ziploc is just one like you'd get at Ralphs, Vons, etc.

The "cozy" is made out of Reflectix type material

Here, I'm boiling water on my Caldera Cone set up.  My lunch is ready to be re-hydrated in the Ziploc next to the Cone.

Water boiling on the Caldera Cone

It's a really nice system.  It's very wind resistant and efficient.  I can usually boil two cups of water with just over 1/2 ounce of denatured alcohol.

I've tried the MBD Atomic, the White Box stove, the Skurka Cat Can, and several home-made open jet and closed jet alcohol stoves.  I've also tried the Trangia burner although I don't consider that in the same class (ultralight alcohol stoves).  After much experimentation and frustration, I've settled on the Trail Designs 10-12 stove with a Caldera Cone.  It's a really nice system.

HJ

Trouthunter said:

If you get a chance I'd love to see some pics of your stoves.

Mike G.

Here's some of the stoves I've made & used!

One of my 1st, a pop can penny stove.

24oz for larger pots, it was ok.

This was a favorite for a long time.  V-8 can.  It did well under my 700 Snow Peak.

V-8 stove under my MSR Tea Kettle.

Boils in about 6 min. fair weather.

My current favorite.  KISS, Tom Woods Super Cat copy.

Super Cat is semi-pressured stove, but works good.

Made from a 3oz potted meat can: about .40 cents.

Nice.  Can we see more pics of the first one?  Is that a simmer ring on it?

HJ

Got scouts tonight so I probably can't turn around the pics real quick, but that is one of the simmer rings (one I haven't used much) & an insulator/priming cup from a 24oz under it.

Ah.  Makes sense. 

Yeah, if you get a chance, post some pics.  No rush.

HJ

Last year I switched to alcohol stoves, and so far I'm very happy.  Here they are: A trangia and a cat stove.

I too love alcohol stoves in the spring and into fall. I made many pop can stoves before I put out some cash. The system I use is the Trangia stove, a homemade stove stand, and a BSR 8 panel folding windscreen.

I had played with many combinations of stands and windscreens. Altough I have done no time testing, my field use has proven the this is the best
system that I have used. The stand I got off of Ebay. The guy makes these just for the stove, and it is a perfect fit. The stove is held up 3/8 of an inch off the ground allowing great airflow around and under the stove. And an inch and 1/4 from the pot. The screen fits neatly around any and all pots that I have. Being a folded screen, it has gaps between the panels alowing just the right amount of ventilation, but holding in the heat and keeping out the wind. The system weighs 9.2 oz.

In the field I'm getting 2X the burn time that I use to get. Boiling time is down. Useing the simmer ring I can cook for 20 minutes after boil.

I have been using and playing with Alcohol stoves for years. This is my system for years to come. It takes time to find the perfect combo. But I think this is it. I would like to see more systems. Heck someone might have even found one better than mine. :)

Arson said:

Last year I switched to alcohol stoves, and so far I'm very happy.  Here they are: A trangia and a cat stove.

 Arson,

Nice vids.  Thanks for taking the time to make and post them.

HJ

mikemorrow said:

I had played with many combinations of stands and windscreens. Altough I have done no time testing, my field use has proven the this is the best system that I have used. The stand I got off of Ebay. The guy makes these just for the stove, and it is a perfect fit. The stove is held up 3/8 of an inch off the ground allowing great airflow around and under the stove. And an inch and 1/4 from the pot. The screen fits neatly around any and all pots that I have. Being a folded screen, it has gaps between the panels alowing just the right amount of ventilation, but holding in the heat and keeping out the wind. The system weighs 9.2 oz.

In the field I'm getting 2X the burn time that I use to get. Boiling time is down. Useing the simmer ring I can cook for 20 minutes after boil.

I have been using and playing with Alcohol stoves for years. This is my system for years to come. It takes time to find the perfect combo. But I think this is it. I would like to see more systems. Heck someone might have even found one better than mine. :)

Mike:

Looks like you've found yourself a good working system.  I know a lot of guys have built their systems around the Trangia burner.  The Trangia burner is a nice balance between speed and efficiency.  I tend to benchmark all other alcohol stoves against the Trangia.  If a stove burns out before the Trangia (when using the same exact amount of alcohol), I generally regard that stove as inefficient.  If a stove burns longer than a Trangia, that's one efficient stove (which is why I like the Caldera Cone with 10-12 stove so much).

The only thing I note about your set up is that it's a little heavy, but not horribly so, and it works.  I can't argue much with things that work well.  I too have upon occasion used folding panel windscreens.  They're very effective and tend to be stable in wind (where home made aluminum foil windscreens are NOT!), but there is generally a weight penalty.  Again, though, a "weight penalty" is not the end of the world, and there are a lot of good reasons why a person might choose to carry a heavier system (performance, reliability, ease-of-use, etc.).   Weight is for me always a consideration, but not necessarily an overriding one.

HJ

As you can see my Trangia has been my work horse. Yes the system is a hair heavy. But I like to cook meals too. When I just cook (no boil) I use the simmer ring. I can get better than 35 minutes with this system. Note that I'm talking of a system not just the stove. Every bit down to the pots and pans counts. BTW pots and pans are Brunton.

Definitely a nice set to cook with -- something that many alcohol stoves have real trouble doing.

HJ

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