Sterno cook pot and stand

Interesting old gear. Looks like it’s never been used.

HJ
Adventures in Stoving

I've always wondered about how sterno would match with other methods during a hike… Mostly because I know nothing about sterno.

On a side note (Jim, do you have to insert your blog link manually for every post? It'd be cool if BPL could automatically insert tags for us if we wanted)

I've found Sterno to be heavy and slow, but safe since it can't be spilled.

–B.G.–

Hi, Travis,

What Bob said. Sterno is fine if you want to keep things warm, but for cooking? I’d say you’re better off going just about any other route. My advice for how to cook with Sterno? Don’t.

I don’t type my little “signature line” each time. I have it set up so that I just press shift-insert and basically a little macro inserts my “signature.” A lot of forum software will do that for you automatically, but BPL’s software is, er, “somewhat limited” in terms of its functionality when compared to other forum software.

I know there’s been some talk of an upgrade, but I don’t know where that stands. I can’t imagine that an online magazine that caters to a fairly narrow segment (UL’ers) of a fairly narrow segment (backpackers) of a fairly narrow segment (people who like the outdoors) of the general population has wads of cash laying about. It’d be a real trick to upgrade to a new forum software without losing all of the existing forum posts. Losing the existing posts would be a real tragedy. There’s a wealth of information there to be mined.

HJ
Adventures in Stoving

Good to know, that Sterno, is a no-go.

>Losing the existing posts would be a real tragedy. There's a wealth of information there to be mined.

Seriously. I don't know a lot of how online forums and the servers that run them store information, but if it were a matter of backing up to a savable drive of some sort, I would contribute financially (if necessary).

That's a neat rig! I think that's got to be 30 years old or more, and it looks brand new. Neat.

My Dad used to be fan of Sterno and used it for UL backpacking in the 60's, old guy style: minimal gear but the kit included canned beans and a Boy Scout knife to open 'em before he cooked them over Sterno. He did this all over the southwest and dined one night just below the top of Mt. Whitney that way, with a "UL" flannel "sleeping bag" I later used as a summer bag for sleep-overs at kids houses. Loon.

Later, we were on a hunting trip in the Desolation Wilderness and it was so cold (and high) that his Sterno wouldn't burn much more than a low flame. He revealed that his beans were kinda cold on Whitney, too. This provided me the justification to bust out my "complicated" XGK and, over the howl and roar of that beast, the old man converted to white gas right then and there, but he bought a Whisperlite, ha ha.

The stuff is awesome down low when you're going Hobo, though!

Hi, Erik,

Your dad’s experience says it all: With Sterno, you eat a lot of cold meals. Sterno was so bad that even my cheap dad bought a real stove out of sheer frustration with Sterno. I’ve still got our old Sterno stove, but it hasn’t been used in years.

HJ
Adventures in Stoving

I have one of those Sterno stoves like that somewhere, but I never backpacked with it. The real UL way to cook was over a wood fire.

Hi, Joe,

We never used that (steel) Sterno stove for backpacking that I remember. We used it for camping. For a family of four (at that time). I still remember the trip where we waited … and waited … and waited for the Sterno to cook our soup. My notoriously cheap dad went out and bought a two burner white gasoline stove the very next weekend after we got back. I’ve still got that one too. Thermos brand. :)

For backpacking, we used a coffee can with a long wire used as a bail. We’d pick the coffee can off the fire by sticking a branch under the long loop of wire. Good memories although it was a pain in the a$$ to gather wood each night. Maybe that’s why I’m so sold on “chemical” stoves as opposed to wood burners. (Well, that and the fact that wood fires are nearly completely banned in the backcountry of Southern California).

HJ
Adventures in Stoving

HJ wrote, "Thermos brand."

It looks like a Coleman. Or, at least it looks just like my Coleman.

–B.G.–

Coleman stoves of that era generally had the generator on the right hand side. The Thermos ones had the generator on the left, but yes, obviously Thermos didn’t envision this from scratch.

HJ
Adventures in Stoving

I found a YouTube video where a guy was experimenting with an old Sterno can and used perlite and alcohol as a replacement for the Sterno gel. Indoor boil times for 2 cups of 60F water were in the 22 minute range. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9B2ESprJuU

He also has a video on this stove, which was marketed as the Speed Stove. I guess the new cans won't fit the stand. The heat intensifier cuts the boil time by nearly 50%.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAJsfFzRsOA

I remember the coffee can with the bailing wire handle too Jim. We just threw it away after every trip.

Yeah, that Thermos-branded two-burner is like a mirror-image of the same-era Colemans! I use my folks' 55 yr old Coleman two-burner and lantern all the time, although the lantern needs a rebuild–loses pressure. We just had a Scout camp where the fluorescent lanterns wouldn't fire at 22f outside and the bitchen (seriously) LED rigs had frozen batteries in the morning, but the Colemans raged on.

One Scout even acquired the infamous knurled burn pattern on his fingers from touching that nut on top of the lantern. It's like moth to a flame until someone screams. Ha ha! Yes, I'm heartless, but I warned 'em.

One thing about Sterno: if it's kept sealed it's still good. We cooked warm water with an old can I popped open, '80's era. No problem. Now, where's that chafing dish? :)

Yeah, some of the older technology is some pretty rugged stuff. Coleman lanterns really put out a lot of light. But I do feel a lot better having a battery operated lantern inside a tent.

That old vintage Thermos stove does the job. It’s been cooking for my family for a looong time.

HJ
Adventures in Stoving