Crusader Cooker

resnikov

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Back in Oz an ex soldier showed me a trick - a tray with dry sand, pour some petrol in it (not enough to be visible above the sand) then light it. Sometimes a bit of paper on top of the sand is needed to get it going. The petrol burns without a visible flame. He said that was their standard emergency cooker.

That is a benghazi burner, as seen in "Ice Cold in Alex" its one of the things that helped them unmask the german spy. My granddad told me about using them when he was in North Africa in WWII.
 

GordonM

Settler
Nov 11, 2008
866
51
Virginia, USA
Here is a blast from my past when I was an anti-armor platoon leader...

This is one of my section sergeants, SSG Garrett, showing his lowly LT (me) how to make a sand stove. Not exactly like described above, but the same concept.
scan0001-1.jpg


Gordy
 

slasha9

Forager
Nov 28, 2004
183
3
55
Cannock
woodlife.ning.com
That looks like the stuff! I didn't know that you could get it in the UK, I was about to order some, then I saw the price!!!

That's very nearly a pound a packet! (for some reason I keep hearing 'A pint? that's very nearly an armful')

hmmm, I LOVE trioxane, I suspect that this new gel is just as good but it's just not as cheap as meths or hexi

GRRRRRRRR!

Anyway, thanks for the heads up anyway, good to know that I hadn't imagined it all!
 
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Martyn

Bushcrafter through and through
Aug 7, 2003
5,252
33
59
staffordshire
www.britishblades.com
Remember that doesn't even include a water bottle, so if you include that, it's almost twice the size of the whole Crusader system...

Ahhh, mate the crusader cooking system is a big overweight lump. What's the advantage of a heavy, rigid bottle? Water is water and it takes up the space it needs. A litre of it weighs a kilogram and it fills a litre in volume. All you need is a container to hold it, which is why god invented the platy bottle. Wont leak, moulds to whatever you are carrying it in, weighs an ounce and a half and folds down to nothing when it's empty. What more could you ask from a water container?
 

JonathanD

Ophiological Genius
Sep 3, 2004
12,815
1,511
Stourton,UK
But then I've got to fit a stove, meths and mug or billy in there with it, so it still works out bigger. That is what I used to carry in my bag, but the mug is nowhere near big enough for cooking, so the crusader still wins for me size wise.....

DSC09756.jpg
 

JonathanD

Ophiological Genius
Sep 3, 2004
12,815
1,511
Stourton,UK
It's difficult to tell because the new packaging is exactly the same. I was given a batch of the old stuff last week and the burn time is halved at least, but the packaging is the same.
 

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