kelly kettle

[cyclist]

after all those fancy stoves (used in all those years) that burn all sorts of fluids I´m now happy with the 1 pt Kelly Kettle.
Schwert´s fantastic review was a great value - I simply couldn´t resist to get one.
I even managed (after some minor modifications) to get it going with a Trangia burner.

And yes it´s possible to make a complete meal, not just hot water for tea or coffee

 

[leon-1]

Schwert will be happy that some of his writings have been usefull to you. Kelly kettles, not a lot to be said about them, "don't try and fix what ain't broke" really comes to mind.

Welcome to BCUK cyclist

 

[Schwert]

I am indeed pleased you found the review somewhat helpful. The Kelly really is a unique device. I now have both the one-pint and 2.5 pint versions. The larger one is in my car kit.

I am a member of my local emergency communications group and the lead for my local Emergency Operations Center. I am fortunate that my current deployment site is in a modern building with all sorts of earthquake design, emergency power and a host of other things found only in the newer EOC's. My old deployment site was a much older building and I imagined myself "brewing up" in the parking lot while awaiting radio messages. This is not as likely now in the new site, but on non-EOC deployments a good hot cup of coffee or tea can go a long long way after a day of filling sand bags. To me the Kelly fits this sort of role perfectly in its "off times"...that is when it is not sitting on the banks of some nice stream tended by my Ghullie.

 

[cyclist]

no, it wasn´t just "somewhat helpfull" ...

I´d known that those stoves exist for about 20 years and actually not seen one in action. We even had our heating system in the house working very similar: a double wall kettle with water around the fire.
With the IN as a fantastic information source I was able to check some of the various volcano stoves

www.kellykettle.com
www.eydonkettle.co.uk www.unbeatentracks.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductID=EK1
http://spiritburner.com/collectors_k_mccarty_malley.htm
www.thermette.com

and was glad to find your review of the 1pt Kelly. As a result I didn´t burn hair off of my fingers, I don´t use it with the cork in the spout...
Thanks a lot. :You_Rock_

It has just the size I wanted. Who said it´s bulky? There´s plenty of space (the chimney) for storage in it.
And no, I didn´t modify the kettle itself for Trangia burner use. What I´ll probably do is to modify the fire case and the handle.

For real emergency I think the big 10 liter Thermette www.thermette.com/thermette_new4-04.htm
would be very useful

 

[Schwert]

The Thermette folks are just a few miles from me here in Seattle. I have been meaning to look at one of their copper boilers and possibly add one to my stock. I do not like their handle arrangement much, but the cook on top aspect and huge size is a definate attention getter.

It did not take but a couple of uses on my Kelly to appreciate just what a remarkable device it is. I would not want to be without one, and like you say the apparent bulk can be offset by using the chimney space for either found fuels as you walk or a zip packet of tea or oats etc. The one-pint is about all I would ever walk with, but the big one is perfect as car kit.

 

[Biddlesby]

I first saw one in action when my next door neighbour brewed up some impromptu tea using pine cones. A truely fantastic and original design. Will definitely get one when I can afford it, and when it comes to the top of my large list of kit wants .

 

[JBird]

Schwert,
Where here in the U.S. did you get yours from? I got the one pint from Lee Valley Tools but it did not come with the draw string bag that the Kelly Kettle website says it does, and was wondering if yours did. I know I can dig up a draw string bag but was wondering if I just missed something.

 

[Schwert]

I got both my one-pint and 2.5 pint versions from Lee Valley. I did not get a drawstring bag with either but they came in sealed boxes from Kelly, so maybe that is a new thing. Garret Wade also sold them but at higher prices. There is another place to....Wilderness something but their prices were quite high. Lehman Non-Electric sells the Eydon.

Ebay is listing more Kelly's then it used to. One seller in the UK is using my flaming one-pint photo....not quite sure how I feel about that. I gave Kelly permission to cite my article and Kelly allows this seller to use their images so by osmosis I guess they get to use mine.

I carry my one-pint in a nylon stuff sack. As I walk I pick up small suitable sticks, cones etc that I stick in the mesh side pouch on my pack, when I stop I transfer this fuel to the Kelly sack and inside, so when it is time to brew up about all I have to do is fill the Kelly, set it on a suitable piece of soil and light it.

If it is a damp day, I generally add a few cedar splits to my Kelly at home. Once these are roaring just about any small stuff will burn long enough for a cup.

 

[ilovemybed]

It looks like some of those storm kettles have an adapter at the top of the chimney for using with pans, rather than just using the coals in the base.
Is that something anyone has tried with the Kelly Kettle? Is it worth looking at creating one for the Kelly?

I love mine - boiled 2.5 pints using nothing but a few small shards of pine and an old newspaper!

 

[Schwert]

I made a hardware cloth (1cm square wire mesh) ring that I put on top of my one-pint Kelly. It makes for a very tall towering inferno with a pot balanced on top. The kettles that have a flatter top where the ring could be larger might work, and adding sticks required the pot to be lifted and then rebalanced. For me this felt way to prone to tip over to be of much use

 

[cyclist]

the first amount (2 cups) of boiled water goes into a pot with one cup of rice, cover pot with lid and store in a pot cozy.
Cut vegetables, restart Volcano Kettle (with cold water inside), place fry pan on top of Volcano exhaust port, start frying vegetables, add minced meat ...
As soon as your vegetable-meat-mix is ready your rice is ready too. And of course there´s hot water for tea/coffee. Try that with a today´s single burner standard stove (yes, I´ve seen the Andrée stove, the one that melts snow ...)

Balancing a pan on top of a Volcano takes some "training" & care and a rack that is supported not just by the chimneys rim - cooking on a standard stove could be done by anyone

I wonder if someone knows about the Sirram (Marris) Volcano Kettle, it´s reported (spiritburner.com) that they came with a water container that went into the chimney for storrage.

 

[oops56]

here my two cents i took a tea light candle stand cut to fit the top i use a alcohol stove does get both off them hot on 3/4 oz. Kettle only to heat up only need 1/2 oz. fuel click pic. for big

 

[cyclist]

somewhat similiar to my first setup: it worked perfect in the garage, but in combination with my skilled outdoor experience (sometimes .... ) distributed a frypan of vegetables on the forrest floor.
Now I use a more stable tripod.

 

[spamel]

Why not make the legs lower so that the pan is a few millimetres from the top of the chimney. This would significantly lower the centre of gravity.

 

[cyclist]

that was what I thought....

With a gap of just a few millimeter you wouldn´t easy refuel into the chimney.
You need to have the exhaust port big enough for escaping the combustion gas, otherwise the volcano principle doesn´t work and your kettle performs very slow.
It takes some experimenting to find the best setup

My tripod (3 alu tubes and a couple of st/st parts, for storage it fits inside the chimney) reaches the ground so I can remove the entire kettle & firepan without touching the tripod & frypan.

 

[steven andrews]

A baby milk tin is a perfect fit for the small Kelly Kettle's fire tray and gives a stable platform.



This method was a bit slow to heat the contents of the mess tin, but it did work:





A lot of the heat was lost through the exhaust, but I think that some experimentation with exhaust positioning could improve the results.

I think that "battlements" cut around the top of the tin may work better, as the flames and heat will go right past the mess tin.

I'll have to experiment some more.

 

[loz.]

62 Euros is a bit steep though !

 

[JBird]

I've taken couple of coat hangers and made four "L" shaped rods to rest a small pot on. Of course you have to set up three of the rods then move the fire pan over with a leatherman or pliers and shove the fourth rod into the ground. It's open enough to easily feed the fire and you can adjust the height of the rods if needed or to level it off. Also the rods fit into the kettle for storage.

 

[cyclist]

of course 62,-€ for a "simple aluminum can" isn´t cheap, But then you don´t need to buy gas canisters, extra refined petrol, meth. spirits or esbit.
Twiggs, last years black berry- or nettle tendrils or even camel or cow dung ...
I figured that I´ll reach the break even point in about one and a half years and expect it to last a minimum of 15 years.
It´s made at high labour cost in the EC without slave work, social security & tax has to be paid ....

Galvanized tins and coat hangers don´t last very long wen exposed to fire and collaps when you´d expected it the least.... One of the reasons why I took st/st for some parts.

Andrew have a look at a castle and drill holes arround the top rim (it´s much more stable to leave the top rim intact rather than just cutting tines), but you still can boil or fry on your Kelly. My Kelly does both at the same time

 

[anthonyyy]

A baby milk tin is a perfect fit for the small Kelly Kettle's fire tray and gives a stable platform.

.

THE best thing about using the baby formula tin is that the tin ) with top and bottom removed) easily slips over the body of the kettle for easy storage.

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?p=180100#post180100

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g117/anthonyyy_2006/mini-PICT0029.jpg