I have the Littlebug junior and I like it very much, it works great. I am happy that I don't need to carry a bottle of fuel, especially for longer trips.
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Hi, thanks for the reference to the splitting baton. Actually I use my old Estwing hatchet just about like that! For quite a while I carried my axe camping but in the interest of weight savings and pure utility I've switched over to the hatchet. Pondering the whole chopping thing it seems that you are opening (pardon the pun) yourself up to the possibility of an serious accident when there is a technique that will reduce the wood down without chopping.  My hatchet has a one piece head/handle with a blue plastic grip. The only modification I've found useful is to wrap a bulb of friction tape near to the head to permit the user to "choke up" closer to the head for more control. That steel shaft is just too slim for me to grip comfortably. I use this setup primarily when I'm making something.
Another option is the Ontario knife company's RAT knives. I bought the RAT-7 and it's a great knife and works well to split the wood when hit with a club. Deciding between the rat and the hatchet was hard, in the end I picked the hatchet mainly because I can hammer in wedges when splitting and also tent pegs. Actually that's one of my favorite rainy-day-under-the-tarp activities; splitting that horribly twisted-grain block of wood down into fire sized bits.
Best Wishes, Rob

Oldie Moldy wrote on Jul 7^th, 2012 at 5:01pm:



Been giving some more thought to your problem.
If my silicone pad idea doesn't do the trick alone, I have another thought that may be of some use?

What if you cut a series of holes around the sides of your upside down pan, say 3/4-1" with a hole saw maybe 1" apart. This would allow heat to disperse and hopefully combined with silicone pad, solve the ground scorching problem?
Side benefit is you'll lighten your kit a little bit.

Quote:


What would happen if you put a layer of dirt/sand in the aluminum pie plate before you build your fire?
Or would it melt the sides anyway?

How about the brush buddy? Anyone have any experience with these? Thinking about getting one for a little hiking.

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