I've been collecting a few stoves here and there, as well as making a couple of my own.
Recycled stove...
I got bored and made this stove out of a pair of beer cans, with fibreglass used as wicking material. The pot stand is made out of coat hanger wire, and the windscreen is a recycled aluminum license plate. Here it is in use, and it is surprisingly effective at boiling water.
Alcohol (Spirit) Stoves:
And another video while I field test (in my kitchen? kitchen test?) my MSR Stowaway 775ml pot:
The beer can alcohol stove is very effective for Boil and Burn cooking... ;)
This is a penny can stove variant that I purchased on eBay, the creator used a threaded pop rivet as opposed to the classic penny, but the principle is the same. There is fibreglass rope around the outside, as this stove needs to be preheated by soaking the outside with alcohol then setting it aflame. It is very efficient and burns for about twenty minutes, but there is only one heat output, full "Boil and Burn".
Penny can Stove
Sadly it gets far too hot to cook something more delicate like fried mushrooms and scrambled eggs as seen here.
And I get to put my new camp kitchen cleaning supplies to work to try to get the stuck egg off of the bottom of the pan.
5L collapsing sink
You really are only going to use about a litre of water for this. Preferably warm water with a bit of soap tossed in.
Butane Stoves
The stove below is the D-Power stove, available on eBay and Aliexpress.com that I bought for about $14.00 CDN, and while it is not as compact as some of the other stoves pictured here, it has a nice low center of gravity and would be fantastic for larger, or heavier pots. As I am camping with my girlfriend these days, I'll be using a 1.6l MSR Stowaway pot on top of this one, with a shorter windscreen.
D-Power stove, gas adaptor, windscreen
The real magic here is the Gas Adaptor that I'm using to convert the connection from Butane to Lindal B188 valve, which allows me to use $3.33 butane cartridges as opposed to the more expensive ISO butane cartridges from Canadian Tire that cost $8.97 for an equivalent volume. The downside is that ISO Butane contains a blend of Butane and LPG (liquid propane gas) that will burn better than straight butane when used under 10 degrees Celsius. Think of how hard it is to get a BIC lighter to work in subzero temperatures and you will grasp the concept.
Butane to Lindal gas adaptor
I recently bought a new style of adapter that will hold the butane can in the correct position (notch to the vertical) that is required when the butane canister is laid down on its side to prevent liquid butane being burned in a fireball.
This video shows the standard adapter, but with a full tin being moved away from hoizontal with the notch up:
The solution is to buy an adapter that will hold the can in the correct "Notch up" orientation, which these butane to lindal adapters will do.
The friction lock shown in the "locked" position
The Lindal Valve side
Kimchee and sausage for the win
Most days you don't even need the windscreen.
100% Homemade setup
Trangia Alcohol Stove
I did some research on alcohol stoves, and found that the Trangia name came up time and time again, and wondered why this was, to find that they were a highly efficient burner for alcohol, you could adjust the simmer with the simmer ring supplied, they burned for a decent interval of time, and you could snuff it out and reuse unburnt fuel. I found an inexpensive knock-off online to try out, and I was indeed impressed with the design inspired by Trangia, although you will want to provide a windscreen and a potstand with this particular brand of stove.
One of my favourite stoves is my SVEA123R which crossed the Trans Labrador Highway with me in 2011, and since then has never let me down, but it did need a new set of seals as I damaged the original set which I sourced from the Fettlebox in the UK. I bought this stove in Canada from Stapleton's Great Adventures, who still sells them. This stove stands out as it will run on Coleman Stove fuel an unleaded petrol or gasoline, has only two moving parts, and is essentially bomb proof. Forget about bringing spare parts on a trip as you simply won't need them. It will also nest well inside of other cooking pots such as the Optimus Terra Weekend HE Cook Set or the Coleman Max Solo Cook Kit which I have. More about the SVEA here.
SVEA123R
The SVEA123r can sound a bit loud first thing in the morning:
Butane Stoves (Part 2)
My latest acquisition is a wee "China Stove" that looked very well built with few moving parts, and at about $9 shipped from AliExpress I went ahead and bought one as I really enjoyed the simplicity of cooking over butane gas last year when I toured from to Ontario and back out to Prince Edward Island. (I just bought another so I'll have two of these in a month or two).
I finally broke down and bought a gas cartridge to go along with this...
This gas mix is formulated with butane but liquid propane gas LPG is blended in to give it slightly better cold weather performance.
Woods Butane Propane 227g
Butane Canister Stove Winder Hack for these canisters:
I've also bought a gas adapter so I can refill these cartridges with the cheaper butane gas cans that I can buy three for $9.99, so I'll refill the expensive $7.99 canister with the $3.33 butane gas using something similar to the Lixada butane cartridge refill adapter
I couldn't resist getting one of these stoves from Aliexpress.com as it comes in under $8 CDN and it tested well, so I bought another for my girlfriend. Coupled with a 110gram ISO/butune mini cartridge, this drops down into our 750ml ti mugs, and are dead easy to carry. No windscreen necessary in light or moderate winds, so perfect for a wee brew up.
What they don't tell you is they are full of post manufacture glue or residue that will soot up your pots. Try washing them in alcohol first to remove the residue.
Chinese Trangia Clones - Stainless steel
So I bought another pair of stoves in March... And they suck. Stainless steel bodies and they are really well built, but I have no clue what kind of wicking is used inside and they refuse to bloom into a full flame that a trangia will. It takes 25 minutes to heat two cups of water in a kitchen. :( I've burned it about six times now, on different days and it's not getting any better, sadly.
Comes complete with pot stand for $7 Cdn!
Stainless steel "Trangia" clone with changes
This stove does NOT have a threaded cap with a rubber O-ring nor does it come with a simmer ring, so it is "Boil and Burn" only as you see it here. It's made of stainless steel and included the pot stand, so as the price was so low, $7 each, I bought two of them, one each for Caroline and I. I thought they would fit well into our new titanium 750ml mugs, and be used for brewing up tea or wash water.
Cat Can Alcohol Stove
So I had this empty tin of tuna lying around, so I brought out my hole punch and turned it into a SuperCat alcohol stove. Let me tell you, for a Boil or Burn stove, this thing is awesome!!! I've been playing around with it in the kitchen to brew up for tea, and it's super simple to deploy and use. Just deploy it, fill it with alcohol, then light it and drop your pot or vessel on top of it.
I did cut my holes a bit too low so I can't use as much alcohol in it as I would need on a windy day, so I'll eat some more tuna and make another one that will hold more alcohol. I tell ya, if you are only worried about boiling water for tea and oatmeal, then make yourself one of these stoves and you problems of how to cook dinner are halfway solved.
You must have a windscreen for this type of stove, else strong wind moves the heat and flame out from the bottom of the pot, and you lose all your heating efficiency.
Cat can stove
This says "Cat Can Stove" but in reality it's a tin of tuna, so coated tin as opposed to light weight aluminium.
I went with a "Vienna Sausage" tin which is a taller version of the cat food can, and I like it for it will hold around 3 ounces of alcohol, seems light and sturdy, and should hold more than enough alcohol to boil 750ml of water in windy conditions. I think I'll pack my SVEA for the heavy lifting and make one of these improved cat can stoves for his and hers, so we can boil up tea or wash water while cooking supper.
The taller cocktail weenies can is ideal. One part, and the only way it will fail is if I knock it over or step on it. :)
At the 2019 CSBK motorcycle race weekend I gave it a try, and found I enjoyed how quiet it was, but it certainly is going to want more alcohol in the field than in testing in my kitchen.
Breakfast of Champions
With the exception of the alcohol bottle, it packs away very nicely indeed.
Full flame
It's not spectacular like a white gas stove, but it excels at being quiet and reliable.
Breakfast of Champions! Tea and oatmeal.
She's boiling!
It's quiet, but it also takes about three times longer than a gas or white gas stove to boil 500ml of water. All of it packs into the mug with the exception of the alcohol as I lack an appropriate bottle at the moment.
Update: 2019-05-29
I thought I would ride the motorcycle to work today, and I thought I'd try out my Trangia clone along with my titanium trangia potstand/windscreen combo, similar to the Trangia Triangle, but at half the cost and weight.
Pot stand and windscreen
Lixada 750ml Ti mug
I tried this last year, and while the wind was much reduced I barely got a boil out of 2 ounces of alcohol before the trangia went out. The pot overflowed and that next picture? You are looking at 1/4 ounce of the finest Mr. Noodle Beef fuel that unfortunately doesn't burn nearly as well as methyl hydrate.
Mr. Noodle Beef - it's much harder to light than methyl hydrate!?
This setup really needs a windscreen, but it is very small and light to pack. The bulkiest part was the mug itself.
Tune in later when I test a new piece of gear on the company picnic table. ;)
Update: 2019-06-04
And it's time to try out the new ISO Butane LPG cartridge at lunch time today:
It was windy enough to need the windscreen
I couldn't see the flame, so had to adjust by sound rather than by sight, and 700ml of water seemed to take about ten or fifteen minutes to boil outside in the wind.
When it boiled over it put out the flame, so I was cautious afterwards to prevent it boiling over again
This is NOT a lightweight setup. The stainless steel pot, cartridge and accessories weigh in a bit, and I was surprised how much one litre of water and all the gear weighed. Plus I would have had to use more gas to boil up wash water for all this, and I'd only a cup of water left after making lunch for two people.
I'm going to try my SVEA123R out on the table tomorrow or the next day, with the old aluminum pots that have travelled with me for so long.
Update: 2019-08-12
Over the August long weekend my girlfriend CLine and I traveled around the Gaspe Peninsula, and I reduced my cooking gear for the trip down to the SVEA123r and an alcohol cat can stove, as the cat can stove and windscreen can be stuffed into the mug I use, a 750ml titanium job.
Conclusion:
My favourite stove is the SVEA123R but I'll be packing the DPower butane gas powered stove on our next two week trip this summer, backed up with the wee chinese pocket stoves. Alcohol would be a great third choice for this. Deciding factors:
DPower Butane stove + adapter + butane canister 1.5 hours burn time per butane canister Easy lighting Perfect simmer control Ease of use Cost
Update: 2023-03-23
We've more than tested that system between the two of us. The gas cooker has performed flawlessly with one exception, I wrapped the wind screen around it too closely and we were using it to boil water, so it saw sustained high output use for three pots of water, and I melted the piezo ignition starter as it is largely made of plastic, and the windscreen reflected too much heat back at it. That being said, it has been brilliant for us, and made our trip to Ontario and back quite pleasurable in late 2019. We used it again during COVID and have no plans to replace it in the near future, in fact I bought a back up stove just in case. :)
D-Power stove along with Butane canister and Lindal valve adapter w legs
Two batteries on the same charger for the off-season
And you will be happy to know that are back in their respective motorcycles for the upcoming 2019 season. I can't wait to get out there and get riding!
My riding partner was taking pity on my since I busted my Versys a couple of weeks ago, and while I was able to borrow my nephew Tyler's 2016 Scrambler now and again to get out for day tripping, I managed to convince CLine to throw a leg over my sister's Yamaha TTR125 and hit the hay fields with me for some afternoon fun in the sun.
CLine on the 125cc Kicker
She quickly learned not to stall a kick start bike, and I happily chased her round the field in circles as she gained confidence in the mown hayfield, going through the gears and and finding it hard not to look at the ground while heading into the corners.
Thirty minutes later it was time to teach her how to lock up the rear while in motion, then learn to ride it out and get back up to speed. It would give her a good idea of threshold braking on loose surface, and what you needed to do when the bike starts to slide sideways out from underneath you. She attempted it nervously the first couple of times, then she started laughing out loud as the rear would lock, then slip sideways until she got off the clutch and brake and back onto the throttle. For a time that was all I heard in my helmet, a short pause, then the sound of her maniacal laughter over the Cardo Scala G4 communicator.
CLine having fun on the Yamahahaha
Apprehensive at first, but later on a face split with an ear to ear grin, and she was already talking about next weekend. :D
It was time to get her off of the farm and out onto some of the clay roads in the area for some easy puddle jumping and other antics, perhaps the following Saturday over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend?
Saturday's Trial Trail Ride:
De Sable River PE
Photo Credit: CLine
It took us a while to get into gear, but we finally arrived at the farm, and as my intention was to do some light trail riding, I asked CLine if she would be comfortable on a larger bike, the 2007 Honda CR230L that belongs to my sister Wendy-Sue. It's taller, heavier, and faster on the highway, but also comes with electric start as opposed to Kick start.
We took the bikes around the lower field to get them and us warmed up, then off we went bound for Mill Road where I was happy to roost away taking the lead down the road, and happily splashing through the puddles until I saw CLine doing the same thing behind me. Laughing like a little girl every time the water sprayed out from underneath her tires.
Raring to go again...
This time out she practiced her rear wheel lock-ups for a bit, then asked me how to roost... Lol. I definitely have to hang onto this girl. She'd gotten the hand of it, and laughed once in a while when the rear got away from her, but she was using the throttle to correct the bike, as opposed to the brakes.
"When in danger or in doubt,
a twist of the throttle will get you out."
Brilliant! This was just what I was aiming for! Street riders find it the hardest to break that habit of hitting the front and rear brakes when they get into a bit of trouble, and on the dirt, a handful of front brake usually equals spitting out a mouthful of dirt and picking up your bike, brushing off your ego and getting right back on that horse that just threw you. You then treat it like a skittish colt, afraid to use too much rein, and I find that it becomes three times harder to take in or try new techniques.
CLine playing with all that power
It was a great ride, and easy enough to provide a bit of a challenge, but also enough variety to challenge her control of the bike. I still smile when I think of her hitting all those puddles on Mill road, even that stretch that was about fifteen feet long with a wee rut that forced her to power through it or let the rut decide which way she was going to go. Well done!
Not quite "Hold my beer and watch this!" but give her some time. ;)
Monday's Trail Ride and Hill Climb:
Clay roads in the hood
I wanted to give her the option of a street ride on Monday, or back on the dirt bikes, so I arranged to borrow my nephew Tyler's 2016 Triumph Scrambler, but on Sunday night CLine asked if I would mind doing the day on the dirt bikes instead... Not at all! In fact I was hoping she would choose the dirt over the street, for I was really enjoying how well the XR400R was running this fall, and watching the rust flake off my dirt riding skills. In fact, Clinton posted a trial video that demonstrated how to do a rear wheel skid turn, and he made it look so easy and explained it so well that I really wanted to get some practice in on it while the grass was still damp and slippery before I took my show out into a gravel parking lot or some place that a fall would hurt a whole lot more. ;)
Are you ready yet, Ron?
I had a bit of trouble getting the XR400R to warm up, due to a choke that didn't want to stay where it was. I so need an umbrella girl to work the throttle for me pre-ride. ;)
Don't they make a cute couple?
We crossed over the upper fields and skirted some fields to come out near Mill Road where I wanted to get some pictures of the fall colours before heading off down the trail.
Helmet selfies!
CLine was familiar with it from a couple of days ago, and I asked her to let me get ahead of her to set a short video of her puddle jumping.
Definitely fun to hear her laughing as she blasts through that, and to see her correct the rear end fish tail with a touch of throttle. Brilliant!
Photo Credit: CLine
She poses for me. :D
So while I was trying to frame a new shot, I catch her throwing a leg over my 400 as if to strand me on the 230!
"Stop that! What are you doing! Don't touch that!"
Stop! Thief!
I'm fairly certain that if she could have gotten even her tip toes down on either side, I'd have been riding the 230 for the rest of the afternoon.
Ross Road PE
Later on during the ride, she asked me how she could roost, and I made the mistake of telling and demonstrating just how to do it. For what seemed like hours she was nailing the throttle spinning dirt and clay back my way, so I had to ride visor down if I wanted to keep up with her.
Time to up her game... I stopped and grabbed a four inch diameter spruce and dropped it on the trail and asked her to come back, then showed her how to bump over it from a stand still, which she did, then promptly turned round and rode back over it on the way back. You gotta love that spirit.
Don't worry, I cleaned it up.
I'd asked her earlier if she wanted to learn how to do a wheelie, but the answer was an emphatic "No, thank you." at the time. Now she was ready for them, and after I told her that she could use them to lift the front over logs, puddles, washouts etc., I got to watch her carefully follow my instructions until it happened... Her front tire lofted all of two inches off the ground, accompanied by that maniacal laughter I knew so well. I had to slow down as she was determined to try them again and again until she had first gear clutch ups perfected!
I stopped recording the video a moment too soon, as her last wheelie was the best visible. Sorry, you had to be there.
You can hear her laughter over my helmet speakers!
It was just a beautiful fall day, and I loved the company
Right, here is where I made my mistake...
I'd forgotten that the access road through Brookvale took you up a hill. It sort of stands to reason as it is adjacent to a ski hill... Doh! No sooner did we hit the uphill slope, when I realized that this was a challenge to MY rusty skills! I distinctly recall following Willie up Devil's Elbow back in Ontario, but at the time he was on this bike making it look easy while I tried not to topple off my KLR. I failed, but was very happy to have gotten the bike upright and rolling again before he could get his leg swung off the bike to come help me pick up the big Fugly KLR. With that in mind, I thought for sure that CLine was going to hit three rocks in a row, lose control of the 230 and call me for help, and I was already rehearsing my apologies for bringing her up this crappy section of washed out, rock strewn rutted trail, but everytime I hit a good patch of trail and was able to look back, her head light was still back there in motion behind me until I lost sight of her as I crested the hill! This girl is definitely a keeper! Do you have any wonder why I'm in love with my riding partner? :D
This is the easy bit of the slope.
And a few gratuitous wheelie moments thrown in just because I can. You won't enjoy watching them nearly as much as I did popping them. ;)
I need to figure out how to blow my own horn while I'm doing these
Photo credit: CLine
We put the bikes away and walked down to the house to see Wendy and steal a cuppa tea but they were all away at play, so we drove off to CLine's mothers for a family Thanksgiving supper and an awesome impromptu Cèilidh in the living room. A perfect end to a perfect weekend.
Look for us again this weekend, either gettin' dirty or out on the street... If I don't end up in bed sick as a dog.
I was on my way to Captain Kirk's garage to change my JT chain and Sprockets over for a new DID X-Ring and Sunstar sprockets, and had just left the parking garage and made a quick left, then a right when my chain leapt off the sprocket and left me on the side of the road...
Frack!
It's dead Jim!
Seriously dead. That is a puddle of engine oil under the bike, and one of the chain links snapped.
Snapped link
Bugger me... I may have broken the case or punctured the counter shaft seal. This might be a season ender for me, or put me on my dirt bike for the rest of the season. :'(
