Bushbuddy vs. Bushbuddy Ultra

[Claudia Garren]

I'm interested in advantages (other than the one ounce in weight) of the Ultra over the regular. Also, any other feedback on either of these stoves by actual users? Thanks!

[Brandon Sanchez]

My advice is to wait until the Bushbuddy Titanium version comes out. The gearswap will be flooded with 'em. I think its in development already.

[Claudia Garren]

Have you used either of them?

[John Brown]

I'm curious too. They seem pretty nifty, then was thinking that when I most want a stove to work is when it's wet and windy out, seems like the same time it'd be most challenging to use the BB…

[Nick Truax]

I use the Bushbuddy (regular model) and find it to be suitable in most all 3-season conditions. I opted for the non-ultra BB due to lower price and stronger materials of the OG BB. Basically because I wanted to save a few bucks and the difference in weight between the two is negligible IMO.

I live in SW MT but have used the BB all over the US. Thumbs up!

[Hendrik Morkel]

I spoke with Fritz and the Ti BB is still far away and needs more time to develop – Fritz is very busy.

I use the BBU in all seasons, winter till autumn. If you plan to use a BB your fire skills should be up to par, otherwise it won't much fun and you might not be able to boil a cup of water.

[Claudia Garren]

What's the trick to finding dry wood when it's been raining?

[Keith Selbo]

Claudia,

It's every where. I use a 4 oz. titanium stove I made myself (photos). Fuel is sticks about the diameter of a pencil. The wood is only superficially wet. If it's raining, I strip the wet bark off the first handful with my knife to start the fire. Once it's going just I throw on the wet wood. It burns just fine. Don't use any part of a twig that has been in direct contact with the ground. It gets damp throughout. I put 15 drops of charcoal lighter on a wad of fiberglass in the bottom of my stove (it has a baffled air intake at the bottom), light it and throw on the first handful. Then I set on the pot.

People in this forum have told me that in the Pacific Northwest the wood is soaked through. I've never hiked there, but I've hiked in other temperate rain forest and never failed to get a good fire going in my stove using the above method. I think the higher temperatures inside the stove as opposed to those in an open campfire may account for that.

oops! Not sure why, but the first picture is the steel prototype (10 oz), not the titanium version. Packed stove & pot in second photo is titanium.

[Frank Steele]

Where did you get the Ti for the pot, and what weldiing method did you use?

[Hendrik Morkel]

>>What's the trick to finding dry wood when it's been raining?<<

At the bottom of the trees you usually will find death twigs which will be dry even if it has been raining. You also can collect some moist twigs while on the trail, put them in a stuff sack and carry them close to your body to dry them out a bit. You also can, with a strong knife like a puukko, split thicker twigs/ logs to get to the dry wood inside. Finally, I carry some 50 g of dry birch bark with me, which is a superb natural fire starter. That, together with a jelly soaked cotton ball get the BBU going in now time.

[Bob Gross]

Just last weekend I was preparing to use a titanium woodburner stove in snow country. The snow was about five feet deep. As I scanned around the surface, there were stunted trees ("Krummholz") that grew next to exposed boulders. On the boulder tops, the dead branches were dried out from the extra warmth off the boulders. Whereas, just a couple of feet away the other branches were still damp from snow.

In some areas, we would not use live wood except in an emergency. Dead twigs aren't bad fuel if they are dry enough.

–B.G.–

[Rakesh Malik]

" Finally, I carry some 50 g of dry birch bark with me, which is a superb natural fire starter."

That's one of the best tips I know of. Learn to recognize white birch bark, because it has some oils in it that burn nicely even when it's wet. The same oils also slow the rate at which it decomposes, so the bark frequently outlasts the log, making it easy to acquire enough birch bark to get a fire going.

[Bob Gross]

For that matter, it would be smart to learn most of the tree species in the area where you operate.

I'm going to be in an area where (I am told) there are only two species, spruce and cottonwood. I did some checking, and I don't think it is cottonwood, but rather balsam poplar.

As far as I can figure out, the spruce is going to be a much better fuel wood. The cottonwood/poplar tends to burn with a very smoky flame, or so I am told.

–B.G.–

[Keith Selbo]

I bought 0.004 in. titanium sheet from titaniumgoat.com
Click HERE to go there. The metal is so thin it can be cut with a scissors.

As I said in my first post, the assembled stove pictured is a steel prototype which is welded (MIG welding).

I made the titanium version of the stove with no welds. It's all tab and slot. See below. I made drawings of patterns and glued them to the titanium and cut them out with scissors. I should add that I had to re-make some of the parts out of thicker metal (some of the rings) because the thin metal flexed too much under the weight of a full pot. I didn't have thick titanium so I used some 0.01 stainless steel. I still came out under 5 oz.

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