Thought on stove to save weight (Firebox Nano)

Oh, also I often cook for two, which obviously means more fuel.

While I’ve never use a “biofuel” stove, I switched from a canister stove to a homemade “super cat” alcohol stove in the spring of this year and used it on 5 trips now and honestly haven’t looked back. It’s incredibly lightweight and I can take along exactly how much alcohol I need (I use denatured from the hardware store). Boil time is very similar too, did some tests in my kitchen and the times were within seconds of each other.

I say it’s definitely worth a shot, although I’d look into just a simple alcohol stove as well. Cat food can costs about 60cents, my windscreen is also homemade out of one of those 1 time use aluminum food trays (about 75cents). Denatured alcohol is inexpensive. The major benefit is that you don’t have to worry about wood being wet. Wind can be a bit of a pain with these though. Maybe try one of these before buying a $70 wood stove since it will be a similar-ish (haha) experience?? but i do like the idea of using wood and not having to worry about bringing much alcohol.

Cheerio, I actually already have an alcohol stove, though admittedly Esbit’s, Trangia knock off, so I do love alcohol for solo. I started bouncing between alcohol and canister though because I often end up cooking for two and between the longer boil time and amount of HEET I was carrying on those trips it got a bit annoying since its 2 meals a day, and coffee/tea for 2 people. So what happened was I ended up with more pack weight at the start of a trip because of the amount of HEET but a lighter pack at the end because my empty bottle(s) weighed less than empty canisters.

In my friends’ tests he was getting faster boil times with bio vs alcohol so I became intriqued, especially since I could use the alcohol stove I already have in it if I can’t find serviceable wood due to conditions.

As for the cost of the stove, the 6 ounce weight is for the stainless nano and you can get a kit with accessories right now for less than $40.00. You don’t hit the $70.00 range until you are looking at titanium which weighs in at 4 ounces.

John,

i have a stainless 1st generation Nano. It definitely burns well and it’s fun to use. I’ve enjoyed it when camping with scouts where we spend lots of time around camp and I get bored. It was absolutely wonderful on a very rainy trip where I brought my hammock and Superfly tarp. At one point I had 8+ people huddled under my tarp enjoying the rain while I boiled water for tea for on the Nano.

There are negatives:

1. Slow and requires constant tending (this can be fun if you have time)
2. Sooty
3. Splitting sticks to get to the dry inner
4. Carrying waxy lint or Vaseline cotton balls as firestarter
5. Carrying a backup alcohol stove

I decided pretty quickly that it made more sense to just use #5 as my primary. I’ve since moved on to Esbit and now I often don’t cook.

Also, I have to throw a shout out to Trail Designs for their wonderful Caldera Cone. A Sidewinder works wonderfully as an alcohol or Esbit stove and then you can burn pine cones and sticks if the mood strikes you.

Get the Nano easy peasy. TD Inferno too much fiddle factor.

I carry a canister stove and a Bushbox Ultralight. The Bushbox is my backup in case I have a stove failure or wish to heat water for showers etc beyond my fuel budget or cook two things at once(like Raspberry crumble desert)

At 2.5oz and being a 4″ square that packs flat it fits in my cooking gear bag at the bottom the Ultralight takes up no space like the Nano. It works perfectly with any alcohol stove because it has a height adjustable bottom, same with Esbit and the only caveat, you need a remote canister style stove if you want to use the Bushbox as a wind screen.

I mention this as an alternative to the Nano because its 1/4lb lighter and if your not concerned about using it as windscreen for your stove you wont need a remote style stove with is of course heavier than a direct fit stove.

Matthew,

Regarding your concerns…

Slow and requires constant tending (this can be fun if you have time).
—-The Gen 2 deals with the slow in an interesting way. They have two offset feed slots so that you essentially have a tipi inside. This creates a chimney effect that makes for more heat but you do indeed “feed the beast”.

Sooty
—-no argument lol

Splitting sticks to get to the dry inner
—- one of my “luxury” items is a Kabar neck knife, the BK11. It has a 3.5 inch 1095 blade. I have used it to baton more than a bit very effectively.

Carrying waxy lint or Vaseline cotton balls as firestarter.
—-I always carry some cotton pads that I soak in wax as well a length of just twine that I can shred into a bird’s nest. I am a Bushcraft hobbiest so practice fire building. Also a perfect example why is yesterday. The call was for 1-2 inches of snow and maybe .25 of ice. We ended up with like 8 inches. If I am on the trail when that happens I want fire and fast.

Carrying a backup alcohol stove.
—- when I crunched the numbers, based on the amount of fuel I would have to carry, if cooking for two, the amount of fuel I would carry to exclusively use the alcohol stove was much heavier. My current plan in 5 fluid oz of HEET as back up, vs the MUCH larger amount I would need to dedicatedly cook.

As I said this will be an experiment, I was just open to people with more experience might say “been there, done that, it sucks.” :)

Steven,

I will definitely check out the Bushbox in more detail. The Nano has the same issue btw regarding canister stove use. I think what attracted me to the Nano was the Gen2’s off set feed slots that allow for hotter fires/faster cooking and the fact it folds and doesn’t need to be assembled. Especially with how thin the UL is I was concerned of warping that could make assembly problematic with the fact it would be my primary stove. From what I see though it is a great idea for a backup or to go in a bugout bag.

PS. Not a prepper. I just have bugout bags for the family because we are in the evacuation radius of a Nuclear Powerplant.

“Gen 2 deals with the slow in an interesting way. They have two offset feed slots so that you essentially have a tipi inside.”

Yep. That is how mine is set up as well. It’s quite effective.

I use one of those connectors that allow you to transfer fuel between canisters so I always take just what I need.  Just like alcohol or esbit or white gas.

I use firestarters from egg carton.  Melted paraffin in the egg carton.  Less messy than vaseline.  You could use this as fuel – wax has the energy density of butane or white gas, the weight savings of esbit or alcohol, but it’s sooty (about the same as esbit or alcohol)

Matthew,

Oh, you are right. The bigger stoves became “gen 2” with the off set. Seems the Nano did when they made it multifuel. The things you learn :)

Jerry,

I am really anal retentive when it comes to the amount of gas I bring on the trips so I rarely have much of a surplus. If I was just going to solo it wouldn’t even be an issue but my fiance has ankle and lower back issues so I carry the fuel, and food, for 2. That gets a bit weighty will anything over the course of a 5 day plus trip, hence my desire to experiment with biofuel.

Also I love the cotton pads waxed based fire starters I make. I have even used them alone to boil water in a make shift experiment. I used one of those folding vegetable steamer pot inserts as a make shift stove. I am looking at boiling as much as 4 cups of water for a single meal for 2, plus tea and/or coffee etc. so that would be a lot of parafin.

If I wasn’t thinking about the “for 2” issue this would likely be a simple intellectual exercise for me.

Two words:  Burn ban

I have a Bushbuddy Ultra, several Caldera Cones for different pots, some tiny Esbit pans, and a homemade Altoids alcohol stove.  Not counting the Dragonfly for big groups.  But in Texas/Colorado/New Mexico these days I am almost always forced to take the Soto Windmaster, which I purchased solely because of the increasing burn bans in this region.  Maybe the Northeast is different.

In wet weather you can pick up sticks as you go along from under places that keep them dry longer.  I keep an eye out.  It adds a little weight during that particular day but not as much as accidentally carrying more water than you need.

There is the tiny EDC stove also: https://www.bushcraft-essentials.com/english/outdoor-stoves/outdoor-pocket-micro-stove-edcbox.html

John,

I’m in PA and do most of my backpacking around here so twigs are plentiful.  I used a Woodlore Woodgas stove (sadly no longer available, but similar to a Bushbuddy Ultra) that weighs 6.75 ounces for a couple of trips.  It was fun and worked well, but by the time I added a pot it ended up a lot heavier than my CC alcohol setup.

Massdrop then had the Emberlit Ti Fireant wood stove – advertised at 79 grams (2.8 ounces) and I bought a 750 ml mug (4.1 ounces) to use with it.  When it arrived the stove weighed 4.5 ounces and I’ve never used it.  I bought a Sterno Inferno setup from Zelph that weighs 7.7 ounces in total (pot, lid, stove, windscreen, fuel bottle, and case) and that’s been my go-to stove since.  I usually need only one pint of hot water a day (just dinner – I’m not a coffee drinker) so fuel is minimal, but the appeal of using twigs as fuel remains.

Keep us posted on what you decide…

Kevin,

I am in SE PA actually and indeed, twigs be a plenty.  I put one at the top of my Xmas list so we shall see.  I will post once I have bith some bench testing and mileage under the belt.

Get the Gen 2 easy peasy. TD Inferno too much fiddle factor.

John,

I’m in the Lancaster area (Lititz).  If you’d like to try the Emberit Fire Ant I’d be happy to loan it to you.  PM me your address and I’ll ship it to you the week after Thanksgiving.  You’d only be out return shipping…