Gear for Sale

I had knee surgery a couple weeks ago to fix an old injury.  Consequently I’m going stir crazy.  So I decided to sort through my gear room.  I found a few things I don’t really need.  Well, more than a few.  Anyway, here’s some items I’m ready to part with listed on WhiteBlaze.net

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Free Presentation – Intro to Lightweight Backpacking for Boomers and Others

I’ll be giving a free presentation on lightweight backpacking for OLLI in the Campbell Center on the SOU Campus, 655 Frances Lane, Ashland, Oregon on Wednesday Sept 30 from 1-3 PM.

Although boomer backpackers are my people, the concepts of lightweight backpacking can be applied to many things from motorcycle touring to dayhiking.  All ages and experience levels are welcome from day hikers to hardcore backpackers, bicyclists, RVers, etc.  I’ll do a short PowerPoint slide show and bring some gear for you to check out.  Hope to see you there.

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Light My Fire Firesteel Scout Firestarter

This is the funnest way to start a fire ever!  This tool includes the fuel and the spark in one stroke.  It works when it’s wet.  Weighs only 1.13 oz.  I really enjoy using it.  I’ve tried a few fire starting tools and have always gone back to your basic book matches.  This is just as easy, almost as light and way safer since it’s waterproof.

This video shows the ignition of just a single untreated cotton ball.

Developed by the Swedish Army and used by armies around the globe, the Light My Fire Firesteel creates a 5500 degree F spark.  And it’s good for 3000 strikes.  That should last me a couple summers, at least.  Too heavy for you at 1.13?  Try it’s 0.5 oz baby bro.

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Good for Wood, the Caldera Cone Ti-Tri Inferno

Dubbed the Inferno, this add-on for the Ti-Tri is especially made for wood burning.  It takes the cone a step farther, into double walled construction where preheated air re-enters the fire box for secondary combustion.  This means a faster more complete burn.  Other double walled stoves I’ve tried include the Bush Buddy Ultra, Sierra Zip Stove and the Bushcooker Lt II.

My previous review of the Caldera Cone Ti-Tri vs. the Sierra Zip Stove found the Cone, although much lighter, required too much attention to keep going and was slow at best.  Those problems are solved with the Inferno add-on!

Inferno add-on components:

1.  An inverted smaller cone that fits inside the original cone.

2.  A wire grate for the bottom of the fire box.

3.  A small wire stand for the above mentioned grate, to allow airflow.

4.  A circular piece of titanium for use as a fire pan, to protect the ground

Add-on weight is:  1.75 oz.  The original Caldera Cone Ti-Tri (with 2 titanium tent stakes for pot supports) weighs 2.3 oz.,  for a total of 4.05 oz.   Bush Buddy Ultra: 4.9 oz.  (a complete matrix of wood stoves here).

With this add-on unit in place I had absolutely no problem keeping the fire going.  In fact, once I loaded it with wood, I could walk away while it boiled a liter of water unattended.  And it was fast too.  My backyard test, from cold stove to boiling 1 liter of water, gave me a time of 10.5 minutes.

There are a couple of things though.  Like, this is a prototype that’s never been offered for sale from Trail Designs, makers of the Caldera Cone.  The Beta testers didn’t think it was worth the extra weight and fuss factor.  The guys at Trail Designs sent me this unit at my request after I heard of it’s existence.  It had been designed especially for wood, my fuel of choice.  Maybe, if there’s interest, they’ll make it more widely available.

Another thing is the thin foil material is sharp and, after a few fires, dirty.  Could be a problem inside the pack.  They thought of this and designed a carrying case that works great.  But, it adds another 2.25 oz. to the package.  I store mine in my big plastic drinking glass, so no additional weight for me.  The carrying case is pretty trick though.

The CC TT Inferno is the most stable of the wood burners I’ve tried.  It can act as a food and hand warmer at the same time.  Multi-use is always a good thing.

In the end, I still like the Bush Buddy Ultra the best.  It’s simpler, uses less wood and is more compact.  But I found it too small for more than 2 people.  On the other hand, the CC Inferno has no problem with multiple pots of water.  I’ll be carrying it on outings where there’s a crowd.  As in, three’s a crowd.  Or four…  Not as wildernessy for sure, but still fun.

Here’s a couple of my amateur videos showing the process.  The first one is short, showing just the set up.

The second longer one shows starting the fire and the burn. 

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Bushcooker Lt II vs. The Bushbuddy Ultra

Okay, so I liked the Bushbuddy Ultra.  And the Bushcooker Lt II is built on the same principle and even lighter.  I decided to give it a try.

The Bushcooker Lt II multi-fuel stove, on the right, is one solid unit with no moving parts.  It looks like a little rocket ship.  Very cute and very light.  Made of titanium, on my scales it weighs only 3.2 oz.  It can burn Esbit, alcohol, wood or charcoal.  I tested only wood, as it is my fuel of choice.  The Bushbuddy, my favorite stove at 4.9 oz, burns only wood.  See my review of the Bushbuddy here.

The Bushcooker Lt II started right up with cotton ball and spark and I had a nice fire in just seconds.  I placed the pan of water on top and let the fire do it’s work.

Although I was able to keep the fire going no problem by removing the pot and adding small twigs, it did not seem very hot.  It burned better when the pot was off while I was re-filling the chamber than when the pot was over the fire.  When the pot was in place the fire seemed to simmer down as if needing oxygen.  As the coals accumulated this appeared to also limit the air flow, weakening the fire further.  By stirring the coals occasionally I could increase the air flow and get the fire cranking again.   I was able to boil water, but it was slower than the Bushbuddy by a long shot.  I used this stove for 2 people over a 3 day backpacking trip.

The Bushcooker Lt II works much like the Bushbuddy, but delivers less air to the fire.  Looking at the bottom grate on each unit it is clear that the Bushbuddy allows significantly more air into the burn box.  Also the perimeter holes around the bottom of the Bushbuddy are larger.  It may be that the Bushcooker Lt II’s big brother the Bushcooker Lt III at 5.5 oz would be a more even comparison with the Bushbuddy Ultra.  Since it’s larger it should allow more air to circulate.  However, I did not test the larger unit.  I also think the Bushcooker Lt II may be excellent as an alcohol burner, but I did not test that either.

For now I find the Bushbuddy Ultra to be the best wood-burner of the two for two people.  It’s faster and keeps a steady hot fire burning when fed small sticks.  The Bushcooker Lt II is lighter, but I found it’s design did not allow enough airflow to the fire at 6000 ft.

In my back yard at 2500 ft. I had these results:

Time to boil 1 liter of water starting from a cold stove :

Bushbuddy Ultra 4.9 oz: 12 minutes  (BPL claimed time 8-10 minutes)

Bushcooker Lt II 3.2 oz: 23 minutes (Four Dog Stove claimed time 6 minutes)

Clearly, I’m not a champion fire builder, but I’m at least average, probably a little better than average. In any case, my skills were equally brought to bear on both stoves.

The two main differences in these stoves are time and weight.  In this case, time wins over weight for me.  I’ll stick with the Bushbuddy Ultra as my curent favorite wood-burner.

Check out my

Wood Burning Stove Matrix

for an easy side-by-side comparison of several stoves I’ve tested this season.

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Bushbuddy Ultra – A Winner!

The Bushbuddy Ultra, like the Sierra Zip Stove, exclusively uses wood as fuel.  The Zip Stove has been my favorite stove for years.  But the BB Ultra has surpassed the little Zip to become my new favorite.   It performs just as well but is 50% lighter!

Zip Stove Titanium with battery: 10.4 oz.

Bushbuddy Ultra: 5.1 oz.

It is a little slower to boil water than the Zip Stove (8-10 minutes), but not enough to matter to me in the back-country.  Fire starting was just as easy and once it was going it stayed burning without much attention.  If I abandoned it for a few minutes to do other tasks, I would just take the pot off, refill with small pieces of wood and it would rekindle on it’s own.  First it smokes thickly and then bursts into flames; kind of entertaining.  When left alone after a boil, it retains the heat and coals much longer than the Zip Stove.  15 or 20 minutes later you could restart a fire just by adding more wood.  This lingering heat worked well to keep water warm for doing dishes or for coffee warm-ups.

The only problem I encountered was a minor one.  When removing the pot from the stove the upper section would usually stick to the bottom of the pot and become dislodged from the main burner.  

This problem could be avoided if one was careful and twisted the pot just so before lifting.  I did not always succeed in this maneuver however.  I would then have to reposition the upper portion using a couple of sticks as tongs to be back in business.

Another advantage of this stove, and the Zip Stove, is a fully contained fire box.  No fire scars and complete combustion down to ash.  This is an environmentally sound design.

I used a titanium foil windscreen to speed boiling times, but I found it worked fine without it under normal conditions.  The windscreen added 1.5 oz. to the unit, including the 3 titanium tent stakes; still well under the Zip’s weight.

This video was made before we figured out to take the pot off to reload the wood fuel in the burner.  It’s much easier to load when the pot is removed.

Next up we try the Bushcooker LT II!

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