Swiss Brass Alcohol Stove

I regularly burn my fingers (and my wrist) touching the trays of my oven. Works every time.
Seriously , I was trying the Caldera /Jetboil in the sun and you cannot see the flame. After I did the fingers over the stove test the second time I remembered that if I put the cone in place that would cast a shadow enabling me to see the flame. Of course I will forget that bit again.
(relax, I had enough sense not to procreate)
Franco

Hi,

Repeated my test with the 12-10 stove, a little priming alcohol in the 'moat', and a small wad of cotton wool smeared with vaseline. Again the, alcohol and stove, and also the vaseline/cotton wool blob had been in the freezer immediately beforehand to simulate the cold.

I didn't move the cotton wad after it was lit – I just placed it before lighting in the moat of the stove to aid the priming alcohol to light. It's good and sticky with the vaseline, so should resist blowing away in strong wind.

A good coating of vaseline also seemed to stop the wad from absorbing the priming alcohol. It lit first time with the mini firesteel, and needed a suprisingly small amount of the wad to kick the whole thing into action.

I also have some Hama firestarting paper (more like waxy white cardboard really), which you can tear and feather to spark into, but frankly, the cotton wool and vaseline caught from the firesteel much more easily.

Thanks for the tip: I'll stop complaining about cold alcohol stoves now!! ;o)

Cheers, Simon