Bushbuddy

In Wisconsin when they say "burn ban" they mean "no fires"… period. I had to use a chemical heating kit once and on another occasion had to dump my entire meal plan (left in car) for one bought at a gas station when I found out the rules.

I noticed that a search of Imusa mugs brings up a #10, #12, and #14. I think this represents 10, 12 and 14 CM, just not sure if that is height or dia. Any idea which of these houses the BBuddy?

Mike, Posted above are pictures of the IMUSA mug with the BB Ultra. Way back in the thread are pictures of a new BB w/ a new mug which may give you hint at what size it is. As you can see it fits perfectly and the more recent post shows it in actual use in late April. Try this link for a movie:
http://homepage.mac.com/johnkaysrx6/iMovieTheater4.html

As rapidly as the soot builds up, I can't see the advantage of spending super big bucks on the titanium pot in as much as the wts are almost identical and the soot build-up adds much grams to the pot which wipes out any wt savings, if any there be to begin with.

I see that John could relax in his Sling Light chair after preparing a meal on his Bushbuddy stove.

Looks like a win-win situation to me.

Dennis, with only a slight corner of it showing, you must have a critical eye for comfort and an owner of one yourself. Ahhhh mannnnn…., what a relief to sit down, have a hot brewed beverage, the most magnificent scenery in the world combined with some Mozart from the Shuffle, accented with the sound of a gurgling stream in the background and a good lightweight book to read.

John,
You've a way with words. I just walked into my boss' office and told him that, as of June 30, I,m retiring. After48 years in the saddle, I'm going backpacking full time.

A few years ago, I backpacked into the Top of The World Provincial Park in British Columbia. The burn ban at the time included no fires in the hut woodstove, as well as no stoves using an open flame, which just about covers all stoves. Best to call ahead for local rulings. An unfortunate group from Edmonton arrived with no food, intending to catch, cook and eat fish. One of them even did not have a fishing license. Needless to say, it was a long drive for them after having spent one hungry night.

I got a pot cozy for the FireLite 1100 from AGG. Tin Man sent me cozy for free because of a delay in getting my order and shipping it out. He did NOT have to do this and I was not the least bit annoyed but I wanted to point out that AGG did this. Anyway, it fits the pot perfectly and I am thinking it will be a great partner to the cooking system. Even though I don't have to conserve fuel with the Bushbuddy the convenience of being able to stop stirring the pot and tending the fire to simmer foods/cook and cook in the cozy will be great. I actually cook (rather than just boil water) so a cozy is part of the process and isn't just a way to save fuel. I think it will also work VERY well to contain the soot from the pot. I'll try to post a picture but I want to emphasize that I have NOT tested this setup yet.

Hey all,

I just had a long chat with the rangers in Bishop CA about using the BB in the Sierra. According to them, the BB falls under the rules of an open fire. That regulation says you can have a fire below 9600 feet in a place that already has an existing fire ring. They clarified that the intent of the regulation is to limit wood gathering, no so much to manage the risk of a fire spreading. Therefore, wood gathering in any area under 9600' for the intended use of a BB or Zip stove is acceptable because a BB would not leave a ground scar, and would therefore not be originating a fire ring. Bottom line is that so long as there are no other restrictions, BBuddy's can be used in the Sierra. I asked her about gathering sticks below 9600' for use above it, and she said that the intent of the regulation would be intact, so it is permissible.

I'm going backcountry fly fishing in the Golden Trout Wilderness on 6/15 for a week and will take my shiny new Bush Buddy, and a few Esbit tabs in case of emerency, or operator error!!

Hope this helps.

Mike Maurer

Mike,

Thanks for the clarification. I've been of the opinion that the risk of the stove spreading a fire is about as good as any campstove spreading fire. By that rationale use of a Bushbuddy with fuel from legitimate sources would be okay. Granted if you were to encounter a ranger while using your stove in a fire-restricted area you might have some explaining to do.

– sam_h

I wanted to share a lower cost pot option for the Bushbuddy than the Firelites available on this site and somewhat nicer than the IMUSA that may or may not be available at your local Walmart. It's the GSI anodized aluminum, non stick double boiler(http://www.rei.com/product/750387 )
The larger pot is a perfect fit for the Bushbuddy. I don't have it at hand, but I believe the larger pot alone weighs about 5-6 ozs. I've used it once on a paddling trip with no carries, so I took both pots, and the double boiler setup was absolutely great to keep soup warm while I was boiling more water for the rest of dinner. The no stick feature lends itself to some additional cooking options, such as cooking eggs, as well.

One additional advantage I've noticed so far of the B/B over typical canister and liquid gas stoves is that because it's putting out a less focused and not as hot flame, it's much better for frying and cooking stuff like eggs.

My initial experience is that it's better to keep feeding the burn chamber with relatively thin, smallish sticks (pencil thick or less) rather than thicker "logs"(thumb thick) and to keep the chamber about half full rather than completely filled with wood. I thought once I got a good fire going, I'd be able to keep it going longer with a bit less attention by loading it up with more and somewhat thicker wood. However, at least based on first impressions, that seems to smother and somewhat overwhelm the fire instead of resulting in a larger fire.

So far, just experimenting in the back yard, when it's wet, I've found it noticeably more difficult to get a good fire going and more work to keep it going at a reasonable level. I need to work at that a bit, and maybe keep a better supply of dry kindling. When it's dry, it burns very nicely and is a lot of fun to use.

I'm really enjoying it. Would love to hear more of others' experiences actually using the Bushbuddy.

Gerry Magnes
Schenectady, NY

Gerry,

I am just starting to use it.

I tried burning three charcoal briquettes with an ESBIT starter. Not enough BTUs.

I cut a round hardware cloth screen that fits on top. It has two functions. One is that an ESBIT on the screen then the normal pot supports make a great ESBIT stove. The other is that when the wood burns down to coals you can get the pot closer than with the normal pot supports.

I have only used it on the patio and a couple of day hikes but find that a pair of pruning shears makes it easy to get the wood the correct length, especially when wet. If you are careful the shears can split the sticks.

It is probably not an convenient as other stoves, but it is much more fun.

The fire starting is good safety training.

Mike does that include the National Parks: Kings Canyon, Sequoia, and Yosemite?

Do they have different regulations?

Sorry for my ignorance if this is obvious. I sold my bushbuddy thinking I couldn't use it this summer on my JMT hike, but this gives me new hope.

I just got a bushbuddy and a FireLite starting kit this week. I live in northern California next to a town called Suisun (pronounced Sue-Soon) a Patwin Indian word for west wind. I think it really means stove testing hell. I actually burned up an aluminum wind screen once on a beer can stove when a 30 mph gust turned my stove into a blowtorch. 10-20 mph winds are the norm around here. It's said the bushbuddy doesn't like windy conditions so I was curious how it would perform here. I gathered some twigs and sticks from the tree in my front yard and went to a sheltered spot in my backyard, wind about 5-10 mph with gusts. I grabbed a Vargo titanium mug (750 ml) I'd bought on this site and filled it with water.

I'd read about problems with getting the spark to the tinder and thought I had a great solution. I placed a pile of small twigs on the grate and then placed a twig on the top of the burner near the edge and place a Tinder-Quik tab on the edge of the stove and the twig. My plan was to ignite the tab where it was accessible and push it onto the kindling when it ignited. It was soon obvious the wind made this a practical impossibility. Finally I picked up the tab, held it against the bottom of the striker with my fore finger, struck the steel and voila, flame. I was trying a half piece of starter tab since I was using very dry wood. I had fluffed it up quite a bit. I dropped it onto the grate of the bushbuddy where, in strict accordance with Murphy's Law, it landed as far away from the kindling as such a small space allowed. As I frantically tried to get twigs on top of it the flame extinguished itself. Lesson one, there's a chemical coating on the starter tabs, some sort of nitrate I suppose, that the sparks start. Don't fluff it up too much or you'll have less time to build a fire. On my second try I used a whole tab, unfluffed, and kept my kindling to the side of the stove. The tab ignited on the third strike. There's a crackling sound it makes just before it bursts into flame. I dropped it onto the grate and placed the kindling where it actually landed, not where I thought it would land. It took about 4 minutes to build up a fire to finger sized sticks and get flames out of the holes on top. At that point I put the water on.

It took 14 minutes to bring the mug to a boil. It required a lot of attention and feeding. I gradually moved to thumb sized pieces of wood which seemed to speed up the process. The wind prevented about a third of the top holes from ever igniting, even when I was directly in front of it acting as a secondary shield. I haven't tried the stove under windless conditions, I'm guessing more fuel was required as a result of the "bellows" effect of the wind. If you know the bushbuddy will be used under windy conditions I'd plan on a third more fuel and 40% more cooking time. YMMV. What was most impressive about the stove was that it didn't blow out in the wind like my alcohol stoves. I agree with others, the geek factor, fire, flint and steel,form and function, I love this stove.

Richard

Oh yeah, I'm cross posting this under Firestarting with Firesteel since I don't see Gerald Magnes on this forum and it seems to relate to his question. I read the forum policies and didn't see where this is forbidden. If I missed the rule my apologies for the cross post.

I’ve now used my Bushbuddy on a couple of 3 day trips and wanted to provide some impressions to the many other Bushbuddy aficionados on this site. Weather conditions on both trips were fair and mild and pretty dry, so these impressions are based on fairly optimal conditions.

It was easy to quickly find a sufficient supply of twigs around camp and it only takes a few minutes to break up enough kindling and light up tinder with a match to get a good fire started. I used cotton balls dipped in baby oil, a little birch bark that I picked up along the trail, and kindling to get the fire to ignite and this worked well. I made a relatively brief, abortive try to get the flame going with my firesteel, but didn’t have the patience to work with it when I didn’t have initial success. I’ll have to practice some more at home. The fact that it’s relatively early in the season may also have contributed to the plentiful supply of suitable wood near camp on the ground.

Twigs of about pencil thickness or a bit thinner seem to work best for me, which I think is consistent with what others have said. I was able to boil 2-3 cups of water quickly, although clearly not as rapidly as my canister or a liquid gas stove would do it. An advantage however of the somewhat less powerful flame is that I was able to fry eggs and bacon for breakfast without scorching the pot. The flame’s strength seemed just about right for this sort of job. Overall, it’s fun and very satisfying to build a small fire and cook over an open wood flame. .

One problem of sorts that I had was that it seemed to require almost constant attention and feeding of the flames with small twigs to keep the fire hot and get the water boiled in a reasonable time. If I walked away for a few minutes to attend to another chore the fire seemed to die down pretty quickly. I tried feeding somewhat thicker twigs, hoping that just like with a fireplace fire, bigger fuel would sustain the fire longer, but they just seemed to slow things down and burn more slowly. Perhaps I need to calibrate size and amount of wood added a little better to make this work more effectively. I wonder what others’ experience has been? The result for me is that I’m unable to deal with other chores while I’m getting a meal ready, so I’m really slowed down, which is difficult in the morning when you’re with a group and need to be ready to break camp or leave for the day’s activities without holding everyone else up. I’m always a little on the slow side anyway, so this just puts me a little further behind the group. I haven’t yet had to deal with wet conditions or strong winds, which I assume will make everything more difficult.

Because I haven’t really proven to myself that I can get things going quickly and well in the rain and with wet conditions, I’m still bringing a small alcohol stove and a little fuel as a backup. I’m going on a 3 day paddling trip in a week and a half and will probably do so again. Would enjoy hearing of others’ experiences in the field with this neat piece of gear.

Gerry Magnes
Schenectady, NY

Gerry,

I,m recently back from a long weekend hike. It rained moderately the first day out, winds 5-10 mph. As an example of general wetness, my dry hiking pants became saturated in about one minute of trail blazing through waist-high ferns.

I used a half fire tab (brand unknown – round white "crystal" disk) to start the fire, and needed it! Later, a 1/4 disk wasn't enough. There was plenty of dead hanging wood, various pine, poplar, mixed hardwoods.

Using the driest woods available, once the fire was going the fire was decent though less robust than nice dry stuff … until I tried the poplar which is a poor-man's hardwood. Avoid this junk if possible. When slightly damp it is virtually useless. We were in an old clearcut so poplar was everywhere.

Dried dead pine seemed to work best for starting the fires. Better quality hardwoods burned well enough once a good flame was established.

When I'm cooking with the BB UL I do plan on hunkering down and staying to task. Best to organize first so everything is at the ready. It seems to need feeding every 30 seconds to one minute using thumb- to pencil-sized twigs. Since I resign myself to tending only to the stove and cooking I actually enjoy this task. Doubt I would if I were trying to get other things done.

Boiling two cups water took about 7:30 minutes, compared to 5 in dry conditions. Next morning, I was able to get a fire going with dead pine needles and pine twigs only.

The wood burns fast! I think I'll try a bigger diameter wood. If it provides a longer burn great, then will have to try burning it with some hanging out the slot. I'm not really into lugging a hatchet or even a wire saw.

Aside: I did have good luck with a cozy that I roughly fashioned from 1/4 pad for my SP900. Even without a lid, it kept our Fantastic Foods refried beans piping hot while cooking up rice.

Paul
Michigan

Thanks for the response and sharing your experience Paul. One note on the saw issue. I've been carrying a Swiss Army knife (I forget the model now) that has a small saw as one of its features and it works fine helping to cut the thicker fuel for the bushbuddy when it's a little too thick for me to just snap it with my hands. I find that just a notch on the twig made by a couple of passes with the saw is usually enough to then break it with my hands. Your time to boil a couple of cups of water with dry wood is about my experience. So far I agree that I need to insert regular refills (30" sounds about right) of fuel and try to get set up before I start the fire so that I can just continuously replenish. An example of when even this approach was a bit complicated was when my cooking happens in two stages–for example fry the eggs and bacon, then boil a couple of cups of water for tea and cleaning up. Continually nurturing the fire made it difficult to eat leisurely, although I guess the answer is to boil the water first.

Gerry Magnes

i just got back from running a bbu this summer up north and yo-yo'ing the canol. it works pretty good for what it weighs. is it a pain in the ass? sure. but is it easier than making fire on the ground? .. oh ya.
looking at it from my view, there isn;t really a vialble alternative for longer hikes in the north. i zip-stoved for a decade. they're fine, but kinda techy to be hanging your act on over time. so a bbu looks to me the best of the bunch. i like the "real fire" aspect too. keeps the bugs at bay. warms the hands. it's just cooler.
i lifted this out of the text for my "under construction" web site ….
"Recent aquisition of the BushBuddy stove, gorgeously made by Mr. Fritz Handle of British Columbia will probably bump the Titanium Zip Stove off the list for longer trips. All the wood supple issues still apply, if not more so. The BushBuddy is slower, and harder to light, but it’s lighter … If using liquid fuel to light off, one will find Coleman fuel to be rather explosive and quick to burn, which will cause excessive numbers of false starts. These can be eliminated by the simple expedient of using powebar wrappers under the wood for tinder, and substituting kerosene for Coleman fuel.
All Bushbuddy stoves want their grates to be removable. Cut them loose if Mr. Handle isn't already doing so. The removed grate frees up inner volume during transport, and allows the advanced move of putting a ziplock bag under it before lighting the stove. They go like hell for awhile if you stash a bag in there first. Two bags is excessive and delivers no bonus effect."
cheers
peter v.

I contacted Fritz (Bushbuddy maker) to ask him about Bushbuddies with removable grates. Here is his reply, posted with permission:

"I have not made any stoves with a removable grate. Although this would make it possible to store more in the firebox, it would also mean that the grate could accidentally be lost, so I have no plans to make the grate removable.
"Of course, if you want to make the grate removable and this risk is okay with you, you could use a pair of side cutters to snip off the grate wires, and completely remove their ends from the ring that supports the grate. A piece of mesh cut into a circle 3 1/2" in diameter could act as a grate, and could be laid down on this ring before lighting a fire; in transit, it would fit within, and on top of, the nested pot support section of the stove, giving you about 1 1/4" more depth within the firebox for storage space."

He also said "It's not somethng that I recommend, but I'm a great believer in modifying equipment to suit my own needs, so more power to those who want to do this."

I have the regular Bushbuddy. I opted for rugged over lighter it was only an ounce & 1/2 more. This thing is great. I just put a pine cone in it, turn it on it's side, light it turn it upright and pile on the wood. Full heat / simmer it did everything. I plan on using my Triangia burner sitting on it's cap (without the O-ring) inside. This will be my backup in non-burn areas or when everything is soaked. This works very well.

I'm planning to get a Bushbuddy Ultra stove as well.

The issue of tinder eventually falling thru the grate seems small but could easily be fixed with a 1" diameter disc of thin stainless steel or copper riveted in the center of the mesh (with a 1/2" piece beneath to hold the rivet). Tinder on this disc would remain until totally consumed but there would still be plenty of space for updraft.

Eric

I almost bought a used Bushbuddy for 1/2 price until I took a class where I made my own double walled secondary combustion backpacking wood stove out of quart and (inner) pint paint cans. It works fine, and is much cheaper. I have been using it for over a year. I plan to make a couple more for gifts these next two weeks.
Also, I see that a new BPL pot that is supposedly a match for the BUshbuddy but it has no handles. I have no problem accessing my stove with the folding handles on my MSR titanium pot. My home made stove fits inside as well.

This is my final answer: The following is the text from that post. For photos and a Youtube video of the stove in action go to the website entry –> http://tjamrog.wordpress.com/2008/12/22/the-evolving-backpacking-wood-stove/

The Evolving Backpacking Wood Stove

I think I have finally come close to my version of the perfect backpacking wood stove.
In 2007, I started my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail with a wood stove. For that trip, I disassembled an older version of the Sierra Zip Stove , replacing the inner chamber with a modified titanium Sierra cup from REI , and ditching the old heavy base plate in favor of a Lexan replacement, with the addition of three Coleman folding legs. It weighed in around 9 ounces. The stove worked fine, but the Lexan base did not hold up ( cracked). I replaced it in Hot Springs, N.C. where I bought a simple Etowah alcohol stove that held up well for the remainder of the 2,175 mile walk.

But my preference for using a wood backpacking stove led me to sign up for a stove building workshop at Snow Walkers’ Rendezvous in November of 2007. The workshop was put on by Don Kivelus, of Four Dog Stoves. You can view all of Don’s products here: Catalogue. Don sells a titanium wood backpacking stove, the Bushcooker. I viewed the stove at his vendor table and when I inquired about purchasing one ( for $120) , he told me that I could buy his used demonstration model for $60, but then Don encouraged me to take his Sunday morning workshop for $10 and make my own low cost version. I had a blast with the workshop.

We each made our stoves out of one 1-quart paint can, one 1-pint paint can, 6 sheet metal screws and and six 1/4” bolts. No special tools were needed. We used only a can opener, knife, and screwdrivers. I have a video of that stove in use on YouTube , that has over 12,000 hits to date.
I used the stove throughout the 2008 backpacking season, and felt it could be improved.

For the last week I have been making and testing stoves.
The finished stove, including windscreen, weighs a mere 5.7 ounces. I filled the inner can with 2.9 ounces of air dried wood, scraps really, from around my wood pile. On 12/21/08, the air temp was a crisp 17 degrees. I was able to rolling boil a pint of cold tap water in 8 minutes and 45 seconds from touching off the birch bark tinder with a match. I removed the boiled water, made a pot of tea and then checked the stove at the 20 minute mark and could still see a small bed of coals glowing inside. NOTE: I did not add any additional wood after the stove was tindered. There were occasional gusts of wind as well. I plan to take along a sheet of aluminum foil to use as an emergency windbreak.

The most interesting finding about this new version is that it did not have to be tended. The first stove required me to frequently remove the cook pot in order to add additional wood. This one has been redesigned to allow adding wood without removing the cook pot, for example if you wanted to simmer for 10 minutes or so. But I never needed to add any additional wood.

I also revisited an older fire building technique. This stove burns from the top down. I packed the stove with 2.9 ounces of wood, lit it from the top, and forgot about it. Flames exit the top inner holes in this stove after the burn is halfway done.

At our summer camp, we have a older commercial wood stove that operates under the same procedure, brand name Tempwood . It was marketed in the 1970’s as a downdraft model. You load it with wood and kindle the top, just like this little stove. The Tempwood works just as advertised. There are disbelievers out there that are adamant that any backpacking wood stove can’t be a true downdraft unit, but doubters can check out the data/diagrams on the Tempwood, play around with this stove and decide for themselves.

Construction Details:
Outer Can- 1 quart paint can, bottom removed and 1/2 “ holes drilled along base. I bought my can for $1.70 at Lowe’s. You can use old paint cans as well, just clean them out, or throw them in a fire. I didn’t drill all the way around, but left untouched a 4” side of the can. You could do just half the can, in case you wanted to block wind, and add more holes later if you wanted to. A #1 Irwin Unibit cuts through these cans quickly , but a regular drill bit is also OK. It is easier to drill out the side holes on the paint can if you remove the bottom after you drill out the holes.

Inner can – best choice is a Progresso soup can, 1/4” holes drilled through bottom. Any 20 oz. can works as well, such as DelMonte or Dole crushed pineapple. Drill out a ring of 1/2” holes on the top of this can, about 1” apart and centered about 1” below the top of the can.

Friction fit the inner can into the paint can. Keep pushing, and you will feel it lock. I suspect you could use high temperature JB Weld to cement it in, but functions with the press fit. For long term use, I secured the fitment by screwing through the top sides of both with three 1/2 sheet metal screws. No drilling required.

The pot stand I made was constructed from a large can of canned chicken with 3/8” holes drilled and the use of tin snips. I fit it into the groove of the paint can for stability.

HI

I'm awaiting the arrival of my BushBuddy Ultra, and was looking at making a lid for the SnowPeak 900 pot. I noticed that the plastic lid of my old GSI Soloist pot fits the 900 perfectly, but I'm wondering if the heat/flames from the BB would melt it.

Can anyone comment?

I too have all 3; bushbuddy, 900 pot, soloist.

The soloist lid will assuredly MELT. Plus, it's too darn heavy. I have been looking for a very light metal lid to replace both and will shout out if I find one.