I know there has been several threads about stoves lately, especially alternative stoves, and I have been very interested. I'm looking to cut weight. Typically I have been drawn to isobutane for ease and efficiency of use but for lengthy trips the weight and bulk are not very attractive.

I think I might be impressed with this set up. Probably will still take a pocket rocket and a canister or two until I get some confidence with it. Probably would opt out during the shoulder months due to precip but even then a decent knife could be used to split some fuel. Opinions? Suggestions? Hot stock tips?

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This guys review is not particularly flattering......
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But what I noticed is what he is trying to heat........this stove does not seem practical for a pot of coffee (ahem....."solo stove"). I would bet that a small titanium pot would boil water in a heartbeat. Add some oats or dehydrated grub, slap it in a cozie for 5 minutes and all would be well. Not sure I would want to actually cook on it (fry fish etc.) but who knows.......I will give it a shot.

As for speed some sort of "cheat" seems helpful......Tinder quik looks to offer a cheap and lightweight solution (???).......wetfire is nice but way to expensive.

so many options Al
Time to start a list
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(nice list of wood comparisons at bottom of this one)
i have no real experience with any of these but did get a littlbug and will be trying it out this year....

Check out a Slat Grill too.    (You need to Login or Register

A lot of twig stoves really need tiny pieces of wood constantly fed into them. The slat grill can be lowered with its light chains onto a small bed of coals. Packs away pretty flat too. I have only had been around twig stoves a few times but can see the slat grill being easier to use and keep a constant fire in.

Pricey, but might be worth it IF it performs as advertised.
Sooner or later some outdoor magazine or website will do a side by side comparison of the these type stoves.
Seems like we went from a very few offerings to more than enough to make you wonder how may times you can re-invent the "wheel". :-/

MT, Jet Boil is just too easy.
Great for coffee, using it's coffee press.
Jet Boil fry pan works great for frying fish. Just the right temp.

IMO, Not such a great simmer stove. But you were already thinking of using cozies with the small wood burner, that would work equally well with a JB.

Personally I don't bring a the larger pots with my JB, just the fry pan for fish.

Not sure what the attraction is with the small wood burners. Guess it's like the wooden paddles and canvas packs thing.

Jim J Solo wrote on Mar 26^th, 2013 at 2:11pm:

Not sure what the attraction is with the small wood burners. Guess it's like the wooden paddles and canvas packs thing.

I'm getting old Jim (or at least folk keep trying to convince me  ;) ). I'm no longer the pack horse I once was. I'm reevaluating every single piece of gear I have. If I could leave most of my fuel at home (bulky, heavy) and just worry about heating some water in a relatively quick manner for my simple needs (coffee and oatmeal) that would be a good thing.

I even emailed Cooke Custom Sewing to see about getting an 8x8 tarp instead of my 10x10.......Less and less folks can go for 2 or 3 weeks so why do I need a big tarp?

And by George I like my spare wood paddle.........It doesn't blow away when I set it down to make a cast  ;D

I am looking at a Kelly Kettle. Here is a link to there US web site. They have a nice video showing it.   (You need to Login or Register

MT, I went with the JB because it reduced bulk. Go with the larger fuel canister. It won't nest, but you'll probably only need one. One of the smaller nesting ones would probably do one person for one week if just boiling water for FD food, coffee, oatmeal. Add a fish fry though and probably not enough. So just bring 1 large fuel canister. Add a nesting small one for insurance if you want.

Get a small kitchen scale and start weighing everything to see were it's adding up. You might find your trouble spot is your tackle. Next trip log every lure that you get wet and see how many don't ever come out. Weight the extra stuff. ~5#???

Jim......1 fuel canister for 2 or 3 weeks? Is the JB canister larger than a MSR iso? Or is the JB just that efficient? Seems I go through one large every 4/5 days. That's Oatmeal and 2 large cups of coffee every morning plus some sort of dinner and a fair amount of fish. By my math that would be at least 3 large canisters. I'm not crazy about making fires to cook on unless I'm doing a whole fish.........Sooooo, time for something different......at least for a lengthy trip.

The solo stove showed up and I am very impressed with the construction. No welds to crack.......It may just be a very slick little piece of gear. I think the key, as in any fire, is to make sure your fuel is ready, sorted and available. That little pocket silky saw should come in handy. Before I take it on a rigorous lengthy trip I will give it a week trial run on a base camp trip and give an honest review. If I've been had I'll certainly fess up. Don't want to see any one else spend good money on something useless. I am optimistic however and will try more than just boiling a stainless steel cup of water.   

Jim J Solo wrote on Mar 27^th, 2013 at 1:06pm:

You might find your trouble spot is your tackle. Next trip log every lure that you get wet and see how many don't ever come out. Weight the extra stuff. ~5#???

Heresy!!!  ;D

S_D, It's the only reason some of us need the larger packs. We hate to leave any of our little friends behind.

Seems like I can pack everything else in the same amount of time it takes me to pick out what tackle I'm going to take.

M_T, I know I can get a week out of a small canister when I just boil ~1 liter of water in the morning for coffee and oatmeal, and 2 cups of water in the evening for a FD meal. That's no simmering, just bringing to boil, and that's about the max one small canister will do in my experience.
Of course you'll take more fuel than you'll need (a small canister will nest inside the mug for insurance). Plus wood is always available.

Jetboil is a very efficient stove. like Jim, I get about 6 days of use out of a 100 gram cannister.  The 100 gram costs $5 - the 230 gram is something like $6, maybe 7, and they have a new larger size that's 300 grams or so for $9  cheaper to buy the bigger cannisters, especially if you were to do more "cooking" than I do.   but I'd still bring at least a single 100 gram as spare.  I recylcle all those cannisters - just punch a hole in it first - you could do that on the trail, and squash the can with a rock I suppose, if you wanted to save a bit of space.

last year's trip - 12 days, less 1st breakfast and final dinner is more like 11 days stove use - used a single 230 gram cannister - near empty at the end, but still had enough fuel left for more boiling water.

year before, two of us - used two 230 gram canisters up, and ran out on the 13th morning so went to the backup/extra 100 gr can to finish breakfast.

I always do a fz dr meal for dinner, along with a cup of hot cider; breakfast is always 2 cups of coffee, and oatmeal 3 out of 4 days or so, doing instant breakfast the alternate days.  Always do a wash up/shave day in there also, so that's a liter or two more water to boil up.

I do think the Jetboil SOL is a bit more efficient than the standard model - a bit smaller and lighter also - I have both now and take the SOL on backpacking and Quetico trips both.  If you are only going to buy one, the SOL will work better in cold temps, down to 20 deg.

personally, I don't see the big todo about wood stoves - I've cooked over a twig fire using a dingle stick many a time - the can twig stoves would be more efficient, but by how much ?  a few minutes? another handful of twigs?

someone ought to do a comparison that includes just using 2 or 3 rocks in a mini horseshoe vs store bought stove and see if its worth it.  myself, If I'm going to bother starting a fire in a can to cook over, I'd just as soon start a real fire and enjoy it as a campfire after I was done cooking. 

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someone ought to do a comparison that includes just using 2 or 3 rocks in a mini horseshoe vs store bought stove and see if its worth it.    [/quote]

I have done that when I can see that my fuel is going to run short before trips end. Even with a small fire the water will be boiling very quickly. By having the rock tripod to the side of the main fire coals can transferred to keep the heat you need for whatever you are cooking. Advantages: no space, no weight and no need to pack extra fuel in case you figured wrong. I like to keep on top of the fuel situation and have these fires when the wood is dry and conditions are safe.

Mad_Mat wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2013 at 6:31pm:

personally, I don't see the big todo about wood stoves - I've cooked over a twig fire using a dingle stick many a time - the can twig stoves would be more efficient, but by how much ?  a few minutes? another handful of twigs? someone ought to do a comparison that includes just using 2 or 3 rocks in a mini horseshoe vs store bought stove and see if its worth it.  myself, If I'm going to bother starting a fire in a can to cook over, I'd just as soon start a real fire and enjoy it as a campfire after I was done cooking.

Jim and Mat.......Thanks for weighing in on the jetboil. I had looked at them often but I have several good stoves already so I couldn't really justify taking the plunge. It appears they are very efficient.

Mat......I value your opinion when you speak from experience. I so appreciate the attention to detail and the extra time you spend in relating your views. Typically I see clarity of thought.

But your views concerning the wood stove in question is purely conjecture with no basis to anchor your perspectives. I for one will withhold my judgement until I see it in action. However, my suspicions are polar opposite of yours (having seen the unit and handled it). It seems to me it would blow away a pile of rocks and some sticks as far as efficiency and ease is concerned.......but time will tell.

My interest in the unit extends to trips of some duration. I also have a long hike on the back burner (pun intended  ::) ) where this unit could excel if it performs as advertised.

 

Nice Thread! Planning my 1st solo I am really interested as I am only going to be boiling water and although I have 2 MSR stoves you all are getting me thinking about buying another stove. The twig stove concept is super intriguing but I would really like to see a demonstration.
Jon

Jon,  Harlon does one on Utube with the little bug.  ...saw it here on QJ with someone's link,   this Fall/wnter ,   I remeber his" malimute' stealing the show. ;D

Jon wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2013 at 11:25pm:

Nice Thread! Planning my 1st solo I am really interested as I am only going to be boiling water Jon

Jon......check Mat's SOL jetboil. Apparently that is what the stove excels in. Very lightweight, very efficient........

SOL......seems like they could of picked a different acronym  ;D. But wait a minute........evidently the SOL jetboil does one thing and one thing only......boil water (according to the reviews and info I read) so if your trying to fry some fish maybe you would indeed be SOL  ;D

Not so impressed with most of what I see in twig stoves......the solo stove was different. For trips less than two weeks I would probably pack fuel but after that a point starts being reached where food and fuel start to add considerable weight and bulk.

1st solo for Jon. Way to go dude. Be sure and bring paper and pen and a decent seat so you can do some writing.......surprising what good company can be had that way. Plan something hard, be ambitious, go to bed tired........no layover days! Just go baby!You won't have time to get lonely.......I love solo, no one to have to make happy, no constant meaningless background chatter drowning out the sound of the wind in the trees.......

"evidently the SOL jetboil does one thing and one thing only......boil water (according to the reviews and info I read) so if your trying to fry some fish maybe you would indeed be SOL"

sorta true, but not quite.  as Jim has pointed out, he fries fish in the JetBoil frying pan.

a very useful accessory for the Jetboil is the pot support and stabilizer kit - with the pot support, you can use any pot or pan on top of the jetboil (losing some of the fuel efficiency gained from the heat flux ring, or whatever its called) - i use a two quart pot on top of my stove for  non-solo trips when I want to boil up more than a liter at a time.  - and the little fold up 3-leg stabilizer makes a fair bit of difference, esp on uneven ground or  a not so flat rock - they would work with any size/brand cannister.  The SOL has the stabilizer included as part of the package - regular JetBoil does not.

  The main reason "cooking" isn't too easy on any cannister stove is the relatively small burner, which concentrates the heat in a small area - i.e hot spots.  The Jetboil pans, with thier heat exchanger rings tend to diffuse that hot spot, ergo, less of an issue using one of thier pans.  You can also buy or make a heat diffuser plate that helps to do the same thing.

I did try to find if anyone had done a real comparison between using a twig fire and a twig stove, but haven't found one yet - did find reviews for the Solo stove - one comment of note did concern stability, you have the same issue as with any narrow base round bottom item, such as a cannister, or even a Peak-1 stove - maybe some type of stabilizer would be good on those as well.  Another comment was about the black residue on bottom of pots, same as you'd get from any wood fire - when I use my little esbit stove, I just wrap a small piece of aluminum foil around the bottom of the pot, which "collects" the residue - if it gets too gunky, I can just change out that piece of foil.

Quote:

Plan something hard, be ambitious, go to bed tired........no layover days! Just go baby!You won't have time to get lonely.......I love solo, no one to have to make happy, no constant meaningless background chatter

I guess that mentality all depends on what your trying to achieve. :-/
IF your trying to challenge yourself and just want to cover as much ground as you can, then that's the way to go. Fast and Light.

But if your trying to learn to stop and smell the roses and to flow with Nature, rather than compete against it, I highly recommend you plan in a few layover days to re-charge/reflect and get out of that "workplace" mentality we operate under most of the rest of the year.

No-one is keeping score, you shouldn't either. Go hard when you feel like it, sit and lounge/read/write, look at the clouds and feel what it's like to be a kid again.

You can always find ways to fill in planned layover days if you can't learn to relax in the moment, but having a hard charging agenda with no margin for error isn't my idea of a vacation, it's just another day at work with a different view. :(

You read enough trip reports about areas you've been thru but not really "seen" and you soon realize that you've missed the very thing's your trying to find. ;)

Certainly can't argue with anything ST has put forth.......

That being said.......and in no way intentionally trying to be argumentative allow me to flesh out my perspective.

If you don't have a "mission", a "purpose" or a "goal" to achieve while going solo I have found (again just my experience) that a trip can quickly devolve into a melancholy and somber affair.

Smell the roses? Absolutely! I often make it a point while solo to stop after finishing a portage for 5 minutes or so and just observe. That is usually about how long it takes before the local residents go back to doing what they typically do. But then it is back on task! And of course writing is a big part of any outdoor endeavor for me. Not unusual to be writing after breakfast or on a slab of rock in the evening while watching my rod.

What I have noticed is if you stay busy.......put in long hard days you are apt to be less (if at all!) lonely. Plus there is a supremely satisfying feeling of accomplishment when all is said and done. As in........Wow, what a trip!

On the other hand........one must not confuse long hard days with hurrying and being in a rush. Therein lies the trap. There is much that can go wrong when speed becomes the taskmaster.

Perhaps I am sorry to have deviated from the discussion about the stove as what Mat has said has much merit and is worthy of thought.........particularly the solo stove being "tippy" (burns from cooking are the #1 injury) and his tip concerning keeping soot from cross contaminating your entire kit.

Quote:

What I have noticed is if you stay busy.......put in long hard days you are apt to be less (if at all!) lonely. Plus there is a supremely satisfying feeling of accomplishment when all is said and done. As in........Wow, what a trip!

I agree, a "goal" whatever that my be is always worthwhile. I think anyone embarking on their first solo after tripping with others will find out rather quickly how fast time flies and how tired you can get when your carrying the whole load.
I think being 'Lonely" is something you'll find out the first few nights alone. Good to have a bailout plan just incase you really can't stand those little voices in your head. ;D

It is all about how dry and sound your wood is.

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Ouch Marten! Black fly bite?

On the stick stoves in general, they seem more applicable to LNT hiking where there may or may not be rocks and standing fireplaces but hey, whatever turns your crank.

On the goal sidebar. Goals and expectations are good for group trips so everyone gets about what they expect but for a solo? A solo vacation? Tomorrow is another day to burn daylight. Enjoy what's offered and make the best of it.

Goals, benchmarks and their ilk are left at home on my trips. Timing is everything. I have only myself to please and very few days to do it in.

db wrote on Apr 4^th, 2013 at 7:10am:

Goals, benchmarks and their ilk are left at home on my trips. Timing is everything. I have only myself to please and very few days to do it in.

Careful, statements like this eventually get used as quotes at the bottom of PJ's posts.  I couldn't have said it better db.

sir -  it might be interesting to take a peak at a white box stove.....it is an all too light alcohol stove and i've carried one for several years to heat the water for my dehydrated meals that (like you) i tuck into a cosy.....well..just a thought.

cheers

I really like this wood burner    (You need to Login or Register; feeds from the front.

the fact that this one packs flat is really nice. i'm gonna look to converting the littlbug into a front feed.