Austrian Army Trangia Stove

[Mike8472]

Does anybody on the forum know anything about these:-

http://www.militarymart.co.uk/austr...ve-as-new-with-austrian-pan-set/prod_593.html

I thought they looked cool so I've bought one.
But I would like to know more about them; when were they used and if they are still in use etc? If not still in use what superceded them?

They look very similar to the sewdish version but a slightly different shape.
I phoned the company to ask them but they just said they are the Austrian version of the Swedish one and thats all they knew.

thanks

mike

 

[Melonfish]

reminds me of the Russian one actually, i rather like that. the inner pot looks good too, wish my current trang had one.

 

[Shambling Shaman]

It looks like a comprehensive kit,

I still enjoying using my honey stove.

but I would look in to getting one as it look like is has the edge on the Swiss one (which I have and like)

Thanks for the link

 

[BushTucker]

I love my swiss army trangia, but the weight puts me off for long distance, the australian one looks bigger so I guess, more weight..

 

[hiho]

looks a nice stove, dont recon much to the p&p though...

 

[Kerne]

What about the meths burner - do you reckon it can be used in a bushbuddy or suchlike when it is impossible to use wood? Seems to me like a good price to pay for the flexibility.

 

[Oblio13]

Can't go wrong for the price. I have several of the Swedish kits, one in each vehicle for emergencies and a couple extra laying around. Use them quite a bit when weight isn't a factor. The cup and pot are just the right size for me.

 

[Shambling Shaman]

What about the meths burner - do you reckon it can be used in a bushbuddy or suchlike when it is impossible to use wood?

The Swiss burner is bigger than the standard trangia, will try to get dimensions after work.

 

[Shambling Shaman]

The Swiss burner is a little over 8cm diameter on the main body.
I have unfortunately left my trangia over the loch so may be some one has one to hand to give a measurement?

 

[Mike8472]

thanks for your replies.

My stove arrived yesterday. I must say I was very supprised. In the pictures on the website it looks like the Austrian version is bigger than the Sewdish but its not. In the flesh it is actually much more compact.

first off there is the windshield which is exactly the same as the swedish one.

Then there is the main body of the stove which is kidney shaped ( like German army mess tin WW2 and post war version). Also like the German mess kit it has a inner pan which has slots for the lid of the stove to hook onto to carry/use it. its capacity is less than the Swedish version but that also means it is much lighter.
The hanging/carry wire handle of the stove is very clever; it has two protruding metal chunks that mean when you want to pour the contents out of your pan the wire handle locks in position so you can pour without touching the body of the stove and burn your hands.

The lid is exactly the same as Swedish version exept for its kidney shape.

all the parts are marked with the three crown marks (meaning it was manufactured in Sweden for the Austrian army) and a date stamp. Mine has the date stamps of 82 and 84.
I find this unusual as I have never seen a Swedish trangia with date stamps after the early 70's. Any one else seen any?

the burner and meths bottle are the same as Swedish one.

I must admit I preffer this to the Swedish one as it will take up less room in my rucksack and weigh less. I am going to replace the burner with a modern trangia burner. My opinion of the Army ones is that they are pants; they are bulky and don't work as well.

 

[Shambling Shaman]

Sound like a good find, Will you be doing a field test review?

 

[Kerne]

The Swiss burner is a little over 8cm diameter on the main body.
I have unfortunately left my trangia over the loch so may be some one has one to hand to give a measurement?

Thanks for this. I'm very tempted at this price!

 

[Melonfish]

ditto, very very tempted.
might have to grab me one. they're cheap after all.

 

[Mike8472]

Hopefully will be out and about to do a field test next weekend; have familiy obligations this weekend unfortunately.

I am pretty sure it will perform very well; I will compare it to the Swedish version.
I think that it will prob be slightly less efficient due to its kidney shape and the oval shape of the windshield meaning more hot air will rise and escape through the space than would on a swedish army trangia, due to its oval shape and closer fit to the windshield.

To be honest though for the money £7 it is much cheaper than a swedish army version (close to half the price), with the same quality you would expect of a swedish army version as they are made by the same manufacturers. Meaning you won't be scared to use and abuse it.

 

[streetcleaner]

Hi all.
just to clarify with regards to this thread..... The austrian army did not issue the trangia and all that was being sold here was austrian pan sets and swedish burner and windshield. Personally I prefer the Austrian (euro) pan sets.

I know this as the company you bought the items off is mine, and approx 6 months ago I came about 1000s of windsheilds and burners with no pan sets. Thus sourcing an alternative. Ive since found many other businesses following suit and selling the trangia with austrian/german or danish pan sets.

Hope this was helpful

How did the stove do? and any ideas for products please let me know

 

[dp0001]

As a bit of background, I used to have a few SA Trangias but had to give up the last one in India as I went over baggage (the excess charge would cost more than another Trangia). I've been meaning to replace it and noticed this thread. the Military Mart (no connection) mixing together of Euro pot set with a Swedish grate seemed a clever idea. Coincidentally I had picked up a W. German mess kit in Germany so bought a grate off MM (£1.50!) with the idea of making them fit together by bending the grate into shape.

First thing was to cut out the base so that the grate is more of a tube and easier to bend.

As standard, quite battered so I have no qualms cutting.

I used tin snips but a hacksaw blade would work too. The metal is very thin and easy to cut. If you do this, file the cuts down after because they'll be very sharp.

The next thing that needs to be cut is the side slits as they are too narrow for the pot bail. In retrospect, the former E. German equivalent has a simpler, thinner bail attachment so may be a better match. 3rd pot of the E. German set also has its own handle.

Before

During

I finished the enlarged slit with a small round file on the sharp corners so there were no stress raisers

Now for the bespoke bit. I fit the large pot and pushed the grate into the concave of the kidney. Then removed the pot and pushed a bit more to create the kidney shape. Then with the pot back in and a screwdriver to lever, I pulled the parts of the grate that scraped the pot outwards

This took quite a bit of to-ing and fro-ing to get the shap close.

More or less there.

Then to lock everything together I drilled out some holes at the bottom and filed together into a slot so that the pot handle would go through the grate and hold everything together

Up to now it was straightforward. Unfortunately two things started to become a problem. Firstly because the grate is now mishapen the pot supports inside when moved, grind away at their retaining holes. Secondly, they also interfere with the pot handle preventing it from fitting properly. My first solution to this has been to remove one pot support. The big and medium pot can be supported with one support. the third and smallest pot is just too wonky. But then a SA Trangia would only have two pots anyway so the third could be a free cup.

In hindsight I would (and probably will) remove the second support and instead drill four holes and use two cut-down removable tent pegs to support any of the pots. The pot might then drop low enough so that the pot handle could go under the grate to lock without the need for the slot.

1.25 litres (to the top ridge of the big pot) boiled in about 9 minutes from lighting the (civvy) Trangia burner the small pot which I guess holds 500ml boiled in 3 minutes with no cover. One other observation, when using the small pot with handle, the pre-existing front gap in the grate directs a lot of heat to the handle making it way too hot to touch without a cloth. I did think of rivetting another piece of aluminium over this but the rivets might catch the pot on the inside or fingers on the outside.

 

[Andy BB]

I've got this set-up. You can actually force the Austrian pan set down into the SA windshield, so there's actually no need to do any cutting on the windshield if you don't want to.

However, after using it for a few times, my overall opinion is that the SA set works better - not really surprising as it was made to work as an integrated package. True, the additional pot in the Austrian set is nice to have, but hardly a deal-breaker.

Just an additional point on the SA Trangias - I know some people like the version with the stainless steel pots, but I have to ask why? I find the aluminium ones pretty bullet-proof as they are (these are by no means lightweight, flimsy aluminium!), and they also conduct heat more evenly than the s/s ones.

Does anyone make an oval aluminium piece with a cut-out to take the burner? I've seen one, and the beauty about that was that it could be inserted into the windshield (with the internal support legs raised) and then the windshield could be used as a pot-stand to place a frying pan, for example, on. I suppose I could always have a go at hacking one out myself, but with my level of skill it would probably result in the loss of a couple of fingers!

 

[dp0001]

Agree the SA is the better thing as it all was made to fit together. The euro pot set up can be made pretty good, it depends how much time you want to spend getting the shape right. Of course it's no longer as robust with the bottom cut out. And, unless you get the shape right you get that horrible scraping of aluminium on aluminium.

I did think of using a sheet of thin aluminium rolled into a tube, rivitted then deformed but the SA grate at £1.50 is 95% of the way there.

I think I might cut the bottom off so it's just a pure tube with no remnants of a bottom and add some cut down tent pegs. Actually, thinking about it, one tent peg going through the long axis would do. and make things simpler. (Wonders off to garage...)

As for an oval burner stand, if your internal support legs are still fairly stiff you could probably balance the burner on those. A normal frying pan on the trangia grate would be quite top heavy, I'd be inclined to peg it into the ground first.

As for stainless steel, I find it much harder to get clean than alu. The duossal pots on my civvy trangia are stained and no amount of brillo-padding will get them looking clean. The aluminium always can be got looking like new but i might end up scotchbriting a hole in them one day

 

[dp0001]

Further to previous post, I've now cut a bit of aluminium to fill in the surplus gap, drilled holes for tent pegs to act as pot supports, cut off the bottom completely and it works much better. When the grate is not over the pots it's a bit flimsy but when stored outside the pots it can't really be deformed as there's nowhere for it to move. I stripped the paint off to de-militarise too.

In summary its not as well built as the SA Trangia but it'll do the same job. If you can do a bit of basic metal-working and like tinkering you could save money by spending time.

adding an extra bit of aluminium to prevent flames heating the handle

It was just a bit in this shape

Tent pegs now hold the pots up

Handle now goes under grate which is now just a simple tube

Total weight, three pots, grate, 2 pegs uncut = 650g
I'll leave the pegs uncut so they can double up as ... erm ...pegs
two pots, grate, no pegs = 510g
Grate came from Military Mart for £1.50
Pots I picked up in Germany for about £4 Military mart are doing them for £3 (not connected with them in any way but they're cheap and the mix and matching works whether you use as is or cut about.)

I'll make some more coke can stoves for burners.