New models of ultralight Bushcooker wood stoves
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I got a UPS package from Don Kivilus at Four Dog Stoves at 6 PM last night, just as I was ready to go out. The box had two brand new ultralight backpacking titanium wood stoves that were sent for me to test.
I checked out the Bushcooker Lt I.
The stove is tiny, only 3.5 inches wide and 4 inches high. It weighs 2.5 OZ. I was so worked up about the stove that I was out there last night at 9PM and actually burned up just 1.2 ounces of wood to successfully boil up 2 cups of water in my MSR titanium pot. The stove can also burn alcohol, solid fuel tablets, charcoal.
I was so worked up about the stoves that after I came home, I went outside and started a fire in the tiny cooker. I actually did not think the stove was capable of carrying out the task, as the firebox appeared to be too small to even hold enough wood to boil 2 cups of water. Wrong, hit a rolling boil. Weighing the stove indicated that I consumed only 1.2 OZ. of wood I can't wait to work with the stoves on my canoe trip this upcoming week. Full review later.For those of you who need to know more about this stove, I'm posting the new page to Don's catalogue, which does not even appear to be on his website yet, but should be up around the 4th of July.
The page was sent to me as a scan, so it is fuzzy, but here is a better picture of the new lineup.
New Light series of the all-titanium Bushbookers
The stove is double wall, has fins on bottom, which are supposed to greatly improve turbulance, thus combustion.
Pricing is $80, $90, and $105 for the three sizes " Solo,2 people +,and 3 people +."Well, it is already done.
Here is photo of a titanium windscreen/cozy in use. The windscreen option is obvious. The cozy function allows one to fold the stove handles in, then " close" the windscreen and slip it over the base of the stove, allowing you to hold the hot meal, or insulate it for any reason. I sent back the cozy to get an exact fit on my newer model of the MSR itianium pot.Baking with this stove is best accomplished using charcoal. In this experiment, I used three commercial charcoal briquettes. I felt it would be easier and more standardized to use them here. In the Northeast, there is ample charcoal left in the numerous fire rings that are omnipresent on backpacking trails. Those lumps of fuel are real charcoal, and can serve as an excellent alternative fuel source if they are primed with alcohol, as noted below. It is difficult to control a burn with alcohol, which is either 100 % full on or nothing. Several items are needed to allow for convection baking:
I feel that my MSR .8 liter pot is not wide enough to be an effective baker, but I plan to try it out in later tests. I used a Walmart grease pan that I found in my camping bin. I shaped an aluminum foil container ( muffin tin) to fit into the grease pan. Taking a tip from Tinny, of Minibull Designs, I put a few rocks on the bottom of the pan, which raised the bottom of the "muffin tin" from direct heat, setting up the convection situation. I lined the tin with parchment paper, which makes cleanup nonexistent, spooned in the add-water-only muffin mix, and put the lid on.
The next step requires wrapping a "cozy" around the pot. I was out at my camp for the baking, where material options were limited. I found an old “cozy” made out of double faced bubble wrap that wasn't a perfect fit, but it passed for adequate with the addition of a short piece of electrical wire to tie it shut and a block of firewood wood lid on top to seal it down.
Next, I fired up the small titanium Bushcooker Lt1, filling a shoe polish tin cover with 1 oz. of alcohol , igniting it, and then placing the BK1 (with 3 charcoal briquettes inside) on top of the tin. This step is necessary to preheat , ignite and glow the charcoal briquettes.Why waste the heat? I put a pot of water on the stove to boil up a cup of tea, while I was waiting the 10 minutes for the charcoal to ignite.
When the flame died down and the charcoal was starting to glow, I put the assembled baker on top of the stove,
and after I waited a half hour or so, my giant muffin was cooked to perfection.
I have been playing with the stoves even more, and have been baking with two different set ups. Here is the photo of them both.
I have had the best results from the can setup rather than the pan set up, and have cooked biscuits to perfection with just three charcoal briquettes in the smallest Bushcooker.I've just completed a full review of the Bushcooker LT 1 , posted on my blog at http://tjamrog.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/backpacking-stove-review-bushcooker-titanium-lt-1/ .
Here it is with the SnowPeak 700 ti mug on top with custom titanium windacreen.
and after I waited a half hour or so, my giant muffin was cooked to perfection.
I have had the best results from the can setup rather than the pan set up, and have cooked biscuits to perfection with just three charcoal briquettes in the smallest Bushcooker.
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