First off, I'll say that I am not connected with any of the sellers of these items, I found them both while trawling ebay and being a magpie the shinies attracted me!
I own a Wild Woodgas Stove and whilst it is fantastic, I do find that it puts a lot of heat downwards, even scorching stones or concrete, so I thought I'd try a Hobo Ikea-type Cutlery Pot stove.
I found one cheaply in Pound Stretcher for around £3 and it's remained in my "things to mess with cupboard" ever since.
Then I saw one on eBay already made up, along with sacks and pegs for under £10
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bushcraft...amping_CookingSupplies_ET&hash=item27d0e823f1
I also saw a 1.5l stainless steel milk churn style billy can from another seller for £15.99:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Billy-Mil...tEquipment_Accessories_SM&hash=item27d0ffae24
They both arrived quickly and I set to messing around with them.
The pegs for the stove were already cut to the right length (shorter than in the photo), so that was a nice bonus.
The bags were well made, although I think that I'll only be needing the larger of the two so that I can protect my Bergen from soot.
The Billy can nests inside the stove well, with enough room for the stakes, which although seen sticking out in this blurry photo, they actually fold round so that nothing protrudes to snag on the bag.
The Billy can feels thinner than a Zebra Billy Can, and obviously there is no plate inside, but the thing that I liked about it is the lid.
It fits the can very tightly, so much so that I filled the can with 1.5l of water, popped the lid on and turned it upside down. The lid remained in place without any leaks, so I feel confident that this could double as a secondary water container.
This suits me as when I've been out I like to boil some water when the fire is going and leave it in case I get thirsty overnight. If I can boil it in the container then I can in effect have a small radiator besides me, although I don't know how much heat this would provide.
The lid and the can both have handles which with a little tinkering could be made tighter so that they can be stay put and keep out of the fire, although as you can see from the photo of the second boil, the can handle is can stay in the upright position keeping it clean and cool.
I got a fire going in the stove and filled the can with cold water up to the neck line (1.2l), then rested the lid on top. I figured this would be a good test as I was boiling more water than I normally do and it was below freezing outside, with some snow falling. I realise that the height of the can isn't the most efficient way to heat water due to surface area in contact with the heat source.
(In that photo you can see one of the lighter scorch marks made by my Wild Woodgas Stove. This stove didn't leave any on the concrete, despite burning for around 30 minutes in all.
The first boil (as set up above) took about 20 minutes to get to a rolling boil. It would have been quicker if I'd have been a bit more attentive to the fueling the stove, and used a lower setting for the stakes, but then if I wanted speed I'd use my Jetboil (especially for the first coffee of the day)!
The second boil (after the can had cooled, been run under a cold tap and been re-filled with fresh cold water) was only 14 minutes. I used the stakes on a lower setting and paid more attention to my firewood along with chopping it up smaller as I found it was tricky to get larger pieces into the edges of the stove.
I suspect that if I'd used lots of small easy to snap twigs then the boil time would have been quicker.
I find this easier to fuel than the Woodgas Stove as you don't have to keep removing the pot in order to put sticks in, also you can slide small sticks down the side of the can if you need to.
Weight-wise, the Billy weighs in at 365g and the stove is 153g
I own a Wild Woodgas Stove and whilst it is fantastic, I do find that it puts a lot of heat downwards, even scorching stones or concrete, so I thought I'd try a Hobo Ikea-type Cutlery Pot stove.
I found one cheaply in Pound Stretcher for around £3 and it's remained in my "things to mess with cupboard" ever since.
Then I saw one on eBay already made up, along with sacks and pegs for under £10
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bushcraft...amping_CookingSupplies_ET&hash=item27d0e823f1
I also saw a 1.5l stainless steel milk churn style billy can from another seller for £15.99:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Billy-Mil...tEquipment_Accessories_SM&hash=item27d0ffae24
They both arrived quickly and I set to messing around with them.
The pegs for the stove were already cut to the right length (shorter than in the photo), so that was a nice bonus.
The bags were well made, although I think that I'll only be needing the larger of the two so that I can protect my Bergen from soot.
The Billy can nests inside the stove well, with enough room for the stakes, which although seen sticking out in this blurry photo, they actually fold round so that nothing protrudes to snag on the bag.
The Billy can feels thinner than a Zebra Billy Can, and obviously there is no plate inside, but the thing that I liked about it is the lid.
It fits the can very tightly, so much so that I filled the can with 1.5l of water, popped the lid on and turned it upside down. The lid remained in place without any leaks, so I feel confident that this could double as a secondary water container.
This suits me as when I've been out I like to boil some water when the fire is going and leave it in case I get thirsty overnight. If I can boil it in the container then I can in effect have a small radiator besides me, although I don't know how much heat this would provide.
The lid and the can both have handles which with a little tinkering could be made tighter so that they can be stay put and keep out of the fire, although as you can see from the photo of the second boil, the can handle is can stay in the upright position keeping it clean and cool.
I got a fire going in the stove and filled the can with cold water up to the neck line (1.2l), then rested the lid on top. I figured this would be a good test as I was boiling more water than I normally do and it was below freezing outside, with some snow falling. I realise that the height of the can isn't the most efficient way to heat water due to surface area in contact with the heat source.
(In that photo you can see one of the lighter scorch marks made by my Wild Woodgas Stove. This stove didn't leave any on the concrete, despite burning for around 30 minutes in all.
The first boil (as set up above) took about 20 minutes to get to a rolling boil. It would have been quicker if I'd have been a bit more attentive to the fueling the stove, and used a lower setting for the stakes, but then if I wanted speed I'd use my Jetboil (especially for the first coffee of the day)!
The second boil (after the can had cooled, been run under a cold tap and been re-filled with fresh cold water) was only 14 minutes. I used the stakes on a lower setting and paid more attention to my firewood along with chopping it up smaller as I found it was tricky to get larger pieces into the edges of the stove.
I suspect that if I'd used lots of small easy to snap twigs then the boil time would have been quicker.
I find this easier to fuel than the Woodgas Stove as you don't have to keep removing the pot in order to put sticks in, also you can slide small sticks down the side of the can if you need to.
Weight-wise, the Billy weighs in at 365g and the stove is 153g
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