Frustrated with MYOG stoves, finally took the easy way out

Cesar,

Great post. There is a lot of satisfaction to building, modifying, or repairing things. Most of the cottage manufacturers started out with building their own gear.

What I think is sad is that our modern society has become so specialized that many people cannot build or repair stuff. I like working with my hands. My garage has a master mechanic's set of tools (I was one once) and many other tools. I can rebuild a car or a motorcycle from the ground up. Actually I have been restoring my old 77 Honda motorcycle over the past few years. There are few things I cannot fix, and I do all my home repairs/remodeling projects.

But we get to a point of what is our time worth. For example, a few years ago I was discussing stoves with a friend of mine who thru-hiked the PCT. He said the one thing he would change was to bring a cat-can stove, which at the time I did not know what it was. I researched it and decided that for the amount of time it would take to do it right, it was far cheaper and convenient for me to just buy a whole Caldera Cone set-up. I did not doubt I could do it, but the few hours involved testing and assembling the right pot and stand was just not worth the $35 a Caldera Cone would cost. And I would never consider making clothes, as the time and investment would be huge compared to just buying what I need. Time spent learning to sew a great jacket, the tools and materials needed to do it would just not be worth it to me, because there are other things I would like to do with my spare time such as spending it with my wife, camping or hiking.

Over the years I have built and restored a lot of things. But these days free time trumps and if the time it takes exceeds the dollar value to me I will buy it. But some things I do myself. I need to replace my roof soon, and will do it myself because it will save thousands of dollars. Most maintenance on our cars I no longer do, because the cost is not worth giving up my time to do it. Some things take a lot of time do do, but if I enjoy it and if I can take my time, I will. I recently "restored" my old Svea 123… mostly polishing it up back to new. No cost savings here, for the time spent I could have purchased a restored stove, but I enjoyed the process.

Nick,

Always a pleasure to read your replies, thanks man. It's cool that you are good with your hands. I am clueless when it comes to cars, they were never my thing, but I am not bad with other stuff. My wife and I bought a fix-r-upper house, which is the only reason we could afford to buy a house at all really. With help from friends and family, we were able to rebuild our kitchen after having to gut it completely, for example.

My thing is food. I actually went to chef school for a year and worked as a cook at a few fancy restaurants for over a year. I cook 80% of my family's meals or so, and it is just as good or better than a lot of nice restaurants out there, plus it saves us a lot by not eating out much.

But yeah, sometimes, you have to take time into consideration. It got to the point that my wife was getting annoyed with me for building and testing so many stoves, and then the end results were decent, but lacking. Really looking forward to my new stove. I am not one of those gear junkies/hoarders, so I didn't feel guilty pulling the trigger on this one, even if it was a pretty penny (I opted for the Denali combo, which is about 150 bucks, which is a lot of dough for me). I use nearly all my gear, and most of the gear that I replace (like old traditional/heavy gear) I either have given to friends or donated to my university's camping club.

Not sure if you noticed a while back when I posted about my first MYOG backpack, which cost me less than 10 bucks. I still use that pack and love it! It's 450g of coolness, it's just a bit on the fragile side so I don't take it when I go off trail.

Thanks for your insights and feedback. I think both you and I dig on the whole minimalist vibe. There are times my jaw drops at some of the pricey gear people brag about buying, even after admitting that they don't even need it. More power to them if it makes them happy, but I try my best to keep simple. Sometimes simple means spending a little extra dough for extra time and comfort ;)

I think that insight is huge. Time has increasing value as I get older. I buy my clothes for the exact reason mentioned. I can't make them as simple and solid as I can buy them.

I for one bury lots of hours fiddling with stoves or sewing, but not because it is simpler or better.

It gives me something to do when I might otherwise be sitting around reading or watching TV. My 8 year old son has shown interest in messing about with them too, so with any luck it will become an expanding way to spend time with him.

I think most of the real stovies out there do it for the same reasons, it is a challenge, is pretty harmless fun, and is relatively inexpensive (unless you make everything from Ti.)

I for one think the clikstand is dead sexy. You should let us know how it works for you when you get it.

I don't make a lot of stuff, because available time is limited.
But when I do decide to make something, I certainly don't do it to save money.
By the time you but all the materials and extra tools you need, it usually ends up costing way more than a comparable commercial product.

So why make anything at all?
Simply for the satisfaction – I end up with something that is unique, designed exactly for my own purposes, and if it works as well as I intended, it stands as visible proof that I understand exactly how it works.