I figure my ultralight wood burning sytem weighs less than that - it's three rocks. I carry nothing. I find three rocks and build a twig fire and put my pot on top
if I'm dual fueling it, it's the above system plus my penny stove, potstand, and windscreen.
Fact is, anywhere I can (legally) use a tri-ti woodburner I can also build a little fire (at least up here) and then I don't need to carry a stove at all for burning wood.. that's the ultimate ultralight option
Registered: 12/16/11
Posts: 230
Loc: Orange County, CA, USA
Originally Posted By phat
I figure my ultralight wood burning sytem weighs less than that - it's three rocks. I carry nothing. I find three rocks and build a twig fire and put my pot on top
Yes, and I grew up doing something like that (we used a coffee can). But you leave a lot of fire scars behind. With something like a Caldera Cone, there's no fire scar. There's nothing left but some very white ash, which can be easily buried.
Also, with a stove: The pot is generally a whole lot more stable Less wood is used (higher efficiency) The wood is easier to get burning because of the enhanced air flow Low heat cooking is a whole lot easier and more consistent
Just some thoughts.
HJ
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Registered: 02/23/07
Posts: 1735
Loc: California (southern)
With fine white ash, why bother to bury it? Just broadcast it, or let the wind do the job. If you bury it, archaeologists of the future will thank you, because your fire residue will preserve indefinitely, like 10,000 years, easily.
Registered: 12/16/11
Posts: 230
Loc: Orange County, CA, USA
Originally Posted By oldranger
With fine white ash, why bother to bury it? Just broadcast it, or let the wind do the job. If you bury it, archaeologists of the future will thank you, because your fire residue will preserve indefinitely, like 10,000 years, easily.
It's late, and I am really picking at nits.....
lol. Got to give you archaeologists something to do.
No real reason to bury the ash unless you're in a hurry and the ash is still hot. I wouldn't recommend burying hot ash though because there could be enough organic material in the soil depending on where you are that a smoldering fire could start, even days later. NOT good.
I've actually done the "dust in the wind" method. The fine white ash disperses quite well. I'm not sure that will pass muster with the LNT die hards, but it seems pretty reasonable to me.
HJ
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[quote=oldranger] I'm not sure that will pass muster with the LNT die hards
IMNSHO, a lot of times the LNT "die hards" are every bit as illogical as the green "die hards" who want to drive a chevy volt charged by electricity from coal transmitted over hundreds of kilometers of lossy lines. I.E. it's more about appearances than educated fact. LNT (and green) are great things, but to work right in any one given area need to be done with some thought and thinking. IMO, most of the time they suggest "burying" anything it may be a bad idea. (It's not always, depends on where and what)
and I guess that's why I don't look harder at one of these. I really want to.. woodburners are *COOL*... and the thought of no fuel is very attractive.. trouble for me is, anywhere I wouldn't want to use a three rock fire, tends to be the more sensitive or highly trodden areas here. and in those cases, the scrounging of wood would also be a problem if everyone did it. The places where there's plentiful fuel and it's not sensitive (or there's established sites with fire areas already) I can simply three rock it.
Registered: 12/16/11
Posts: 230
Loc: Orange County, CA, USA
Originally Posted By phat
[quote=Hikin Jim]IMNSHO, a lot of times the LNT "die hards" are every bit as illogical as the green "die hards" who want to drive a chevy volt charged by electricity from coal transmitted over hundreds of kilometers of lossy lines. I.E. it's more about appearances than educated fact. LNT (and green) are great things, but to work right in any one given area need to be done with some thought and thinking. IMO, most of the time they suggest "burying" anything it may be a bad idea. (It's not always, depends on where and what)
and I guess that's why I don't look harder at one of these. I really want to.. woodburners are *COOL*... and the thought of no fuel is very attractive.. trouble for me is, anywhere I wouldn't want to use a three rock fire, tends to be the more sensitive or highly trodden areas here. and in those cases, the scrounging of wood would also be a problem if everyone did it. The places where there's plentiful fuel and it's not sensitive (or there's established sites with fire areas already) I can simply three rock it.
Yeah, it's the stuff I usually hear. People go from saying its the ultimate ultralight option, then talk about gathering less wood, more efficient, easier to start a fire, and a faster boil.
The lightest thing to carry is nothing (and burn wood, none of which I carry) The second is esbit. The third is alky
None of them are the fastest boiling, most fuel efficient, easiest to start, etc. etc. if those properties were what I most cared about, I'd carry something bigger and heavier that started easily and boiled water faster than the fukushima reactor. As it is I can wait for my dinner, light a fire, and if I can gather one handful of dry twigs I can gather three. I care about something that will do the job, with the least weight possible on my back. Anything else is secondary, at least for me.
Registered: 02/23/03
Posts: 2124
Loc: Meadow Valley, CA
phat, is the modern thinking up to using three rocks? Why back in the old days, I used two rocks to cook over, pancakes and all. I did this until wood fires were banned where I bped, which forced me to get a stove. Duane
phat, is the modern thinking up to using three rocks? Why back in the old days, I used two rocks to cook over, pancakes and all. I did this until wood fires were banned where I bped, which forced me to get a stove. Duane
Heck, use 6, as long as you're not carrying them
Unless wood fires are banned, (or just a bad idea, which is the case a lot of places I go) which for me would include a tri-ti burning wood - so then it's back to the penny stove or the GP-100
Yeah, it's the stuff I usually hear. People go from saying its the ultimate ultralight option, then talk about gathering less wood, more efficient, easier to start a fire, and a faster boil.
The lightest thing to carry is nothing (and burn wood, none of which I carry) The second is esbit. The third is alky
None of them are the fastest boiling, most fuel efficient, easiest to start, etc. etc. if those properties were what I most cared about, I'd carry something bigger and heavier that started easily and boiled water faster than the fukushima reactor. As it is I can wait for my dinner, light a fire, and if I can gather one handful of dry twigs I can gather three. I care about something that will do the job, with the least weight possible on my back. Anything else is secondary, at least for me.
Yeah, I guess that makes sense.
Of course is a cup worth the weight? I mean I could just drink straight out of the creek (perfectly safe in a lot of areas; giardia danger being WAY overblown). Or a spoon? I could just use my hands, right? Bringing nothing is always lighter, but some things are worth the weight.
Having cooked on open fires before, I think that the Ti-Tri is worth the weight, but that's me. A Ti-Tri set up for wood burning though heavier than nothing is still lighter than hexamine (e.g. ESBIT) on a longer trip.
HJ
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Registered: 02/23/03
Posts: 2124
Loc: Meadow Valley, CA
It sure was a pain to make pancakes this way. Twigs at the ready, get the pan hot, pour batter, flip, remove, add twigs, blow to get them to catch, repeat. Cuss when fingers got too close. I was at a lake one time and the water was tannin colored, which to me at the time meant it was bad. Per the Forest Circus I believe, boil the water for 10 minutes. Man, I'll never do that again, I like smoke flavoring in my meat, not my drinking water as I only had a open frying pan or aluminum sauce pan without a lid. Oh, how we learn. Duane
Registered: 02/03/06
Posts: 6800
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
I don't bother with rocks when cooking with wood. When there are some coals, I put my pot directly on them and build sticks up around the outside of the pot.
Pots on rocks tend to be wobbly, sometimes very wobbly, and if the rocks are wet, they have been known to explode, making cooking a bit too exciting. Plus you're left with blackened rocks.
Admittedly, I don't cook on wood any more, but I did for many, many years. I may start doing it again to conserve fuel. However, most of my backpacking is near timberline where no fires are allowed, and in August and September when campfires are generally banned in the Pacific NW, sometimes even in campground fireplaces. Often when fires are banned, wood-burning stoves and sometimes even alcohol stoves are banned, too. This seems to vary by jurisdiction and even by USFS ranger district.
Edited by OregonMouse (01/31/1204:06 PM)
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Registered: 12/16/11
Posts: 230
Loc: Orange County, CA, USA
Originally Posted By OregonMouse
...most of my backpacking is near timberline where no fires are allowed, and in August and September when campfires are generally banned in the Pacific NW
Those are the two reasons that a Ti-Tri is the only wood stove I can think of that makes sense for me.
First, if I'm at "mixed" elevations (above and below the "line" where fires are permitted), then what better stove to have? A Caldera Cone is a first class hexamine (e.g. ESBIT) or alcohol stove. I could easily carry a Caldera Cone and just run it on alcohol the whole time. But, at those elevations where I can have a wood fire, I can burn wood for very little additional weight penalty.
Fire bans are even more frequent here in So. Cal. than in the Pac NW. Here again though I'm buying a first class hexamine or alcohol stove that will fully stand on its own as such. And when and where wood fires are permitted that first class hexamine/alcohol stove will burn wood just as well.
Don't look at it as a wood stove that will burn alcohol/hexamine. Look at it as a top alcohol/hexamine set up that can burn wood.
HJ
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Registered: 11/24/11
Posts: 6
Loc: kent island, md
I've been curious on this one; what is the dirt/carbon factor? And, does the stove corrode after being used awhile (like my charcoal chimney starter at home gets from being red-hot)?
Registered: 03/17/03
Posts: 501
Loc: Puget Sound, Washington
Last Boy Scout trip to Lake Ozette my son (large kid) carried not one but two cases of soda all the way out to the ocean in order to avoid drinking the yellow/brown water. You gotta love it. These kids are too lazy to filter water but willing to carry huge weights of soda. As leaders, we just shook our heads, laughed, and made sure the smaller boys weren't equally loaded up.
I've been curious on this one; what is the dirt/carbon factor? And, does the stove corrode after being used awhile (like my charcoal chimney starter at home gets from being red-hot)?
Titanium never corrodes. It's, as far as I know, non-reactive.
Registered: 12/16/11
Posts: 230
Loc: Orange County, CA, USA
Originally Posted By sir limpsalot
I've been curious on this one; what is the dirt/carbon factor? And, does the stove corrode after being used awhile (like my charcoal chimney starter at home gets from being red-hot)?
Titanium is pretty darned tough stuff. No sign of corrosion on either pot or cone. None.
HJ
_________________________ Backpacking stove reviews and information: Adventures In Stoving
Registered: 12/16/11
Posts: 230
Loc: Orange County, CA, USA
Originally Posted By frenchie
... your pot a nice black bottom, next to permanent.
Pretty much. You can do things like coat it with dish soap beforehand, but I'd rather just have a designated "wood fire" pot. I keep it wrapped in a plastic bag inside a stuff sack.
HJ
_________________________ Backpacking stove reviews and information: Adventures In Stoving
Registered: 11/24/11
Posts: 6
Loc: kent island, md
Thank you. Next question: snow peak 900ml pot....is ULC with inferno option practical for woodburning? Or will it be too short to be truely usable (kinda negate the whole chimney effect?)?
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