Optimus No. 00

Still an excellent winter stove. Burns hot, reliable, bomb proof. Recommended for week or more winter backpacking trips where two people share the stove.

I’ve had my stove since I was a teenager. That was 50 years ago and the stove still works. Dad bought the 00 for my brothers and I when we started backpacking. He had a bad experience with a white gas stove and considered kerosene the only safe stove fuel. We already had the bigger model (nicknamed The Roarer) for car camping so the 00 was a natural. 

The 00 still has a place in the 21st century for winter two or more person backpacking. The canister stoves beat it for late spring, summer, and early fall but the 00 creams them on cranking out heat when it’s below freezing. And it should because it was designed for mountaineering and polar expeditions. 

There are cons. The 00 is heavy. Even in my day when a 35 pound pack for a week trip was considered ultralight, it was heavy. However, if two people share the stove, the weight is more reasonable. My brother and I could get a week of boils from one tank in moderate spring weather so no extra fuel needed. The 00 must be assembled and disassembled. That dang stove taught me more patience than just about anything else. Patience is something starving teenagers just don’t have. The 00 needs to be preheated. We used Sterno. You could pump up some kerosene in the fuel cup and light that but it was smoky and smelly. Alcohol of some sort is always better. And again with the patience. In later years, I considered assembly and preheat meditative acts. Part of the backpacking Gestalt.

Overall, if you find one, get it. Any model. They‘re repairable and they’re part of our outdoor legacy and they’re good to look at and they’re good to handle. Mine is the only thing left from the dawn of my life and it pulls out so many good memories I can hardly stand it. 

Background

Extensive use both backpacking and car camping in spring, summer, fall, and winter. Calm conditions, windy conditions, the coldest I remember was 10° Fahrenheit. The stove did fine. The rest of us, not so much. Highest altitude around 6,000 feet.

An heirloom product, not a disposable gadget.

In the 1980s, I was working as an Outdoor Pursuits instructor, introducing English kids to camping, caving, canoeing and climbing...the four Cs. In our somewhat untidy depot, I found a cupboard full of broken Optimus stoves, most of which were 30-40 year-old 00s.  I scavenged through this wreckage and built myself a dented but serviceable stove and found a tin, with a lid still attached.

This stove has been used extensively in the intervening decades in all seasons and all over the UK. It takes a few minutes to put together and a certain basic knack must be acquired to light it. Once this has been achieved, you have a partner to provide refreshment and sustenance before and after your outdoor exertions.

It will boil water quickly, but also cook your eggs without burning. You need to protect it from the wind, with a screen or sheltered setup spot. A simple tinfoil contraption will work as well as anything you might buy.

An 00 is probably a bit bulky and heavy for solo camping, but is ideal for group activities or base camp/ car-based excursions. Mine had a long life before I put it together and has given me a load more memories—all of them positive.  It has never failed to operate, in alpine cold or on a sunny beach. There is little to go wrong and washers/gaskets are cheap.

A wonderful, heritage design and build, which will probably have another hundred years of stories to tell with the barest of maintenance. Highly recommended. 

Background

Owned the model for 39 years. Also own and use an 8R and a Svea and have a half-pint Optimus on my work bench. First started cooking in the wild in 1968, with my local Scout troop. Never stopped.

Built like a tank...indestructible, one burner camp stove yet simple to use.
Kerosine ONLY.......Do not use gasoline.
Tippy if heavy items on cooktop, due to smaller tripod base.
As with most stoves, use on a firm, flat surface.

Purchased this little gem while in the Peace Corps (British Honduras '76-'78) and used it daily for my entire two-year tour. Today, while preparing for our retirement backpack trip, I added fresh kero and primed it with isopropyl alcohol to preheat the burner.....FIRED RIGHT UP after sitting unused after 40 years!!!!! This incredible little one burner brass stove out-cooks most modern stoves. Once fully warmed up and pressurized, it will boil 1 quart of water in 3-4 minutes.

Beware: slightly top heavy if using heavy cookware as tripod base is "smallish"! If you can find one on eBay buy it! Rebuild kits are available but unnecessary. 

I look forward to many more years of trail camping/cooking using this great little workhorse.