a stove, in manner of simpleness

Wonderful!
How many grams of alcohol will it hold?

Ke Wu, is that an esbit(solid fuel) tablet underneth? you are brillant…..so this zirconium stuff is strong enough to hold a pot filled with h2o? where do you find it?

Victoria,
If I understand it right, the zirconium fiber is that wad of stuff that is burning. The aforementioned copper wire is what gives it shape and integrity. Zirconium is an excellent insulator, hence is able to hold the alcohol and withstand the flame, repeatedly.

Which prompted my preceding post – how much alcohol can the zirconium fiber hold? Enough to boil two cups of water? About 20 grams? Knowing that, one can decide is this would actually be useful on the trail.

And then, what metal comprises the perforated pot stand?
Ti ? Al?

I have been planning on making one of these

http://hikinghq.net/images/MVC-4003F.JPG

http://hikinghq.net/stoves/esbit.html

I like the Ebsit stove made with a strip of aluminum flashing and a couple tent stakes or aluminum gutter spikes, with a mini cat food can bottom up to hold the fuel. A paper clip holds the flashing in the proper diameter. It's easy to make it fit inside the pot for travel.

Using an outer windscreen/pot stand adds stability, delivers more heat to the pot, and makes for a better windscreen. My guess is that the one shown above would need an additional wind screen to work in any breeze. I do like the perforated pot stand and the fiber wick burner– it is getting right down to the basics.

> what metal comprises the perforated pot stand?
Afaik, you cannot get perforated mess in Ti – I tried! :-)
Perf Al is available, but I doubt it would hold up in the flames.
It looks like perforated SS sheet to me. I have that stuff.

Cheers

Hi~Greg,
One gram zirconium oxide fiber may absorb 8 ml ethyl alcohol approximately. If there is no wind, boiling 200ml cold water is not difficult. Just like you said, the zirconium oxide fiber can withstand high temperature,but retaining its own shape is not easy, hence, some copper wires should be needed in such situation.

Hi~Victoria,
Greg is right.
I do not like esbit solid fuel just due to its burning smell and I would like to find something new as substitution.
Sorry for my silly fault to cause such a confusion here,I should clearly point out that the perforated pot stand is not a part of this simple stove and it is made of iron.

This fiber would seem to be ideal for any wicking alcohol stove, eh? Where to get?

1 gram is amazing. Ke Wu thank you.

Paul,
Zirconium is pretty esoteric stuff.
A quick look at McMaster-Carr showed nada.

Mineral wool will "probably" work just as well.

I think the magic here is that Ke Wu stepped outside of the box and came up will a simple wire-stabilized "wick" that is infinitely customizable regarding shape and size.

Hello Paul,

You are right, but I do not known how to get it in the US and it is quite expensive.I got it from my country(China).

I uploaded a new vedio to show a new alcohol stove in which I use it just as a wick:
http://www.youtube.com/user/aishuidian

Here is the nature of zirconium dioxide fiber:
High content of high melting point ZrO2 polycrystalline fibers. The diameter of 4 ~ 6 μ m, 5.6 ~ 5.9g/cm3 density. Zirconia content 99.6%. 2593 °C melting point. Intensity 350 ~ 700MPa. Modulus 126 ~ 154GPa. High temperature oxidation resistance, and low thermal conductivity, chemical stability.

Hi,

In the US it is possible to buy something called Ceramic Fiber. It is used to build pottery kilns and as an insulation for other types of stoves. Ceramic Fiber will take very high heat and open flame.

I have a lot of Ceramic Fiber from my pottery making days.

I also have something called Nichrome wire. Nichrone wire is used as the element in Electric Kilns. It will take very high heat.

You can buy both these items at most good Pottery Supply stores.

I have posted about using both these items in some of my MYOG threads.

I would call this a 1 gram burner. It is a good idea. I went to my scrap box and found a bit of ceramic fiber and a piece of nichrome wire and made a burner. The first one was about 8.5 grams counting the wire. You can see it in one or more of the following pictures. It is the big one. I then cut a piece of the ceramic fiber to weigh 1 gram. It is 1-3/8" by 3/4" by 1/2" with no wire.

When I tested both "burners" I was able to get them to absorb 1/2 ounce of some old HEET I had. They both burned about 6 minutes. I have not tried to boil water yet.

Someone said something about using Titanium for the pot stand – just punch your own holes in the Titanium. The piece of Titanium in the picture is some 0.016" from Thru-Hiker.

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Hi Bill

> Someone said something about using Titanium for the pot stand – just punch your
> own holes in the Titanium. The piece of Titanium in the picture is some 0.016" from Thru-Hiker.
Likely that was me.
Now, punching holes in 0.016" Ti sheet – that depends on what alloy you have. If it is CP then maybe you can do it, but if it is 6Al-4V then forget it! Unless you have a large and very accurate press and special low-clearance punch&die sets. Unfortunately, what I have is all 6Al-4V alloy and a Roper Whitney punch.

Cheers

Roger,

The Titanium I have may not be the same as what you have.

I have a Whitney Punch – Harbor Freight rip off. I have been punching holes my Thru-Hiker 0.016" Titanium for years. No problem, punches nice and clean and is, in fact, very easy.

I have a big piece of it someplace but would have to move some stuff to find it. It might have a number on it that tells what it is. I looked on Thru-Hiker.com but don't see his titanium listed anymore.

Can one of those be made with ordinary fiberglass insulation?

-Evan

Hi Bill

Can you bend your Ti sheet as well?
If so, definitely different from mine!

Cheers

Hello Bill~
Ceramic fibre is a fuzzy concept, may be composed of other different material. The zirconium oxide is quite high-level kind, may endure 2500 degrees Celsius, but there are also some ceramic fibre mainly made by aluminum oxide or silica component, which endure a relative lower temperature. I would like to know which kind of ceramic fibre you have used for your stove.

Hi Evan~
I do not think the ordinary glass fiber is not a substitutional choice,but not a good choice.
Actually, the ordinary cotton can also be used to build a one gram stove, but it will be burned down itself and it wil give off some burn smell at the end of its burning stage.

ke wu,

This is what I have (Kaowool) in both the blanket and board – see link. I currently have on hand 9 plus – Rolls of the Fiber Blanket and 9 Cartons of the Fiber Board in different thickness. 2400 degrees Fahrenheit (F) is equal to 1316 degrees Celsius (C). Your number of 2500 degree (C) which is equal to 4532 degrees (F) is a bit overkill for a camping stove material.

Description:
Ceramic Fiber Blanket
Produced from high purity Alumina – Silica Spun Fiber.
Contains no organic binders.
Low thermal conductivity and heat storage.
Resistant to thermal shock and chemical attack.
Good acoustical characteristics
Highly flexible; easily cut, fabricated and installed.
Maximum temperature rating of 2400 F.

KAOWOOL BOARD HT 2600 DEGREE (F): 1″ X 2′ X 3′

Kaowool Link

I think we should not only focus on the degrees the materials can bear.Also their structures concerns.

"Also their structures concerns."??????

I don't understand where this is going. Explain please?

Maybe this is referring to durability? Or else airflow…

The perforated stand can wrap the burner for packing protection, nice.

I was struck by the absorbency of the zirconium, 1 gram absorbing approx 8 times that much liquid. Seems a better ratio than the ceramic fiber.

Rockwool cubes are also quite absorbent, but how much so? Been a while since I've seen them. Don't they break off little fibers from handling, like fiberglass?