Talk me into buying a honey stove or equiv. I have the urge to pee my cash up the wal

[FGYT]

If your going to buy one then get the honey stove it actually works and well its big enough for 16m or bigger pots and will hold a decent size fire for brews and cooking when a ground fire isnt allowed but a BBQ contained fire is
My mate has one for a couple of years now and we use it on weekend camps etc to do the last brews etc as packing up so we dont have to put out and deal with a big fire

with a little rounding ofthe corner it will sit flat in the bottom of a 14cm Billy

the pocket cooker is rubbish it is to small so does need constant feeding with littel twigs not really for big pots and will need to be watched to stop it falling off If you do want to try one dont pay more than a tenner

ATB

Duncan

 

[Hugo]

Buy a large catering size can of beans.
Empty beans into smaller containers.
Make holes in bean can, then you have a Hobo stove.
Take some of the beans on your first trip and heat up for yourself and some mates.
Lean back and think of what else you could buy with the money you saved.
£3.00 will but you a stainless steel cutlery drainer, that way you will have the deluxe model.

 

[eraaij]

Made one myself this weekend - about 20 minutes work..

Works a treat

-Emile

 

[slammer187]

Check this out I think that It might change your mind, Clean burning, efficient, fast boil time and very cheap to make!

http://worldstove.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/EverythingNice_Stove_Instructions.pdf

Here's some of my own videos of it in use!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyNgGDBi84Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch#v=UEMjgDr8ut4&feature=related

 

[Paul_B]

I have the 09 version (the bees knees). It works ok but I've only used it a couple if times as I can't see the point in the Lakes. You end up carrying twigs up a hill for fuel for a stove that is heavier than the whole fo my meths based cooking kit, pot included! It is good though but don't cook anything directly on the top grate that is thicker than bacon. Sausages will burn on the outside before they cook on the inside. Sorry to dissappont you about the idea of grilling sausages for brekkie.

My advise is to buy a whitebox stove for £29 or so from BPL-UK, get a lightweight, wide and low pot to cope with the wide flame spread and use the best meths stove ever IMHO. Cold water to a brew in 6 minutes! Of course for the bushie community the idea of a hobo stove or a honey stove is popular (why I got it) but for your money I'd get a wood gasification stove like BPL-UK sell (bush cooker). It can also work with a traniga meths burner. Check out podcast Bob's video on youtube or the site. Apart from satisfying the need for fire it is a more efficient burn. you burn the wood and higher up you burn the wood gas given off. You also get less ash left over. Leave no trace and all that.

What ever you do get the hell away from trangia. If you must go for that whole meths cooking system gubbins get a caldera cone which is tailored to the burner and the pot used.. There are people out there who can give you plans to make your own or to calculate how to make one to fit your pot and burner.

BTW TGO mag has a review on three wood burners. They were done about 2 years ago and two were USA / Canada made the other was British. It was a simple one just a square fire box made out of steel.

 

[Carbuncle]

I've had a honey stove, but here's three interesting and lighter alternatives to throw into the mix:

Due soon (in the US at least)
http://www.antigravitygear.com/proddetail.php?prod=EBY255&cat=170

Looks very interesting indeed and seems to up the ante a bit vs the honey stove, in weight, obviously, and easy of assembly with those numb fingers.

This from Vargo - due in in two weeks apparently
http://www.teamio.co.uk/shop/articl...agon-wood-stove.html?shop_param=cid=5&aid=83&

I've got one one on order, so I'll post thought when it comes in. Presuming it behaves like small single wall wood stoves do, a lot depends how it works with alcohol stoves. Lacks a top grill too, which doesn't concern me, but might others.

Lastly, this one, been around a while, based on a popular design:
http://www.canoepaddler.me.uk/nomad.htm

How an alky stove will fit I don't know, but £48 for the titanium one seems good to me.

 

[rik_uk3]

£48 for a fold up tin can

 

[Carbuncle]

£48 for a fold up tin can

Eh? £48 for a 120g titanium fold up tin can makes you squeal, but £38 for a 300g stainless steel fold up tin can (The subject of this post) disnae? No likey, no lighty!

There's various options - you pays your money and takes your choice.

 

[rik_uk3]

Eh? £48 for a 120g titanium fold up tin can makes you squeal, but £38 for a 300g stainless steel fold up tin can (The subject of this post) disnae? No likey, no lighty!

There's various options - you pays your money and takes your choice.

Buying those is a serious sign of kit fever and calls for medication. Go to Lidl, buy a size 10 can of chicken noodle soup, pour the soup into your billy can and use the empty soup can to make a hobo stove, better still use a real stove.

 

[Paul_B]

Honey stove is a real stove. Better than a trangia 25 or 27 set. Better still get a whitebox stove and use meths. lighter and more efficient for most trip lengths ppl do.

 

[JonathanD]

I like the honey stove, great versatile bit of kit that packs away very small.

 

[rik_uk3]

Honey stove is a real stove. Better than a trangia 25 or 27 set. Better still get a whitebox stove and use meths. lighter and more efficient for most trip lengths ppl do.

How is a Honey stove better than a 25 or 27 Trangia, please explain as I just don't see it.

 

[Paul_B]

Richard- IMHO honey stoves are better than trangias because they are lighter, more compact when carrying and use naturally found fuel source. Even if you use a meths burner with it it is still more compact and lighter than a trangia. On top of that I have only had negative experiences with a trangia probably due to my own ineptitude. I have only ever used them in winter in very cold conditions before I knew to keep the meths warm before lighting. As such they kept goiong out or just burning out before bringing 500ml of water to the boil. We can all have our own opinions and I am guessing you have different criteria than I do in coming to those opinion. I know someone who thinks trangias are the best thing out there and has a 25 a 27 and a mini-trangia as well as replacing the various bits and pieces such as getting a UL pot set.

I carry as small and light a sack as I can for my backpacking trips which means everything has to be a compact as I can get it. If I had a trangia I'd have to leave something behind such as my sleeping bag, tent or both tent and sleeping bag. It is just too bulky even if you stash stuff inside it. They are probably better made though and should last longer too.

Personally I've moved on to other stoves so don't take the honey out anymore. Not that I've been out much last year at all. Funny how you have years where you get out a lot then others where you don't get out.

 

[V4V]

i have a pocket cooker and tbh wouldn't reccomend it.

yes it looks the bussiness but in reality it just isn't practicle. you have to feed it constantly with match thin twigs which is a pain. with the honeystove you can put suprisingly large chunks of wood in it and you can leave it alone. if it was bigger maby it would be a good but the hoveystove isn't that much bigger but it works so much better


pete

Agreed! Had lots of hassle lighting mine and keeping it going!

I now use a Bush Buddy inside a Primus Litech Kettle set - plenty of room for the stove, a meths burner, for when wood is not suitable and some heexy blocks, all in one unit.

 

[rik_uk3]

Richard- IMHO honey stoves are better than trangias because they are lighter, more compact when carrying and use naturally found fuel source. Even if you use a meths burner with it it is still more compact and lighter than a trangia. On top of that I have only had negative experiences with a trangia probably due to my own ineptitude. I have only ever used them in winter in very cold conditions before I knew to keep the meths warm before lighting. As such they kept goiong out or just burning out before bringing 500ml of water to the boil. We can all have our own opinions and I am guessing you have different criteria than I do in coming to those opinion. I know someone who thinks trangias are the best thing out there and has a 25 a 27 and a mini-trangia as well as replacing the various bits and pieces such as getting a UL pot set.

I carry as small and light a sack as I can for my backpacking trips which means everything has to be a compact as I can get it. If I had a trangia I'd have to leave something behind such as my sleeping bag, tent or both tent and sleeping bag. It is just too bulky even if you stash stuff inside it. They are probably better made though and should last longer too.

Personally I've moved on to other stoves so don't take the honey out anymore. Not that I've been out much last year at all. Funny how you have years where you get out a lot then others where you don't get out.

They are lighter and more compact but are a twig burner, what happens when you have no twigs? Mount the meths burner and its a poor performer to be honest.

The Trangia setup (real ones not the military POS) are perhaps the mose efficient stove going and perform well in the cold (many thousands of Scandanavian campers use them in sub zero temps) and you can convert them, I've mounted Nova's, Omnifuels, Boosters, MSR's Optimus 111T's in them and they then out perform pretty much any stove going in terms of boiling times and snow melting capability. Not that bulky unless you are the type who manages with a 500ml cup.

Honey with Omnifuel burner fitted

I am a Trangia fan as you can see

But these days my setup of choice is a Nova or Omnifuel packed into a 2.9 litre Primus ETA pot

What other stoves do you now use? are you on the stove forum?

 

[Paul_B]

I have only had bad experiences with a full trangia set-up, a 25 or 27. One attempt at trying to boil enough water for a pasta meal and a brew led to me going to the pub after 1 hour 40 minutes! That was sub-zero temperatures whilst camping in the valley near Keswick. I was cold, tired after a long walk, the rest of my group with their gas burners had eaten and were 2-3 pints into a session (according to one who came back to see where I was) and I was so hungry. I know I used it wrongly in that I didn't warm the meths up first, I put the pasta into the cold water first as I thought it would warm up quicker as the water boiled, etc., etc. Anyway I know even my UL can top stove I bought the very week after would have coped with that. I burnt my way through about 4 trangia burners full of meths at the very least. I always spotted when the nburner ran out of fuel and filled it up after it cooled slightly.

All I am saying I am not a trangia fan but even if I hadn't had this and other bad experiences I'd still say it is too bulky and too heavy for a backpacking stove/pot set-up. You need lightweight AND good packability IMHO. Trangia's don't have that. I know you can get very excellent gas burners for them. I think they are made by my favourite gas stove manufacturer Primus judging by the Primus name on the metal bit near the can attachment.

I have really and truly made every effort I can to get along with a trangia both the big ones and the mini trangia. Not my cup of tea (which I never had BTW on that December trip)!

 

[Paul_B]

I'm not on the stove forum, where is it?

I own an old UL Coleman can top burner with PZ ignition, a go-gas thermotech (bought before it was go-gas and before it got re-named thermotech), a Primus Micron with PZ igntition (bought before they re-named it express), honey stove, AGG cookset (with 6g meths can type burner), whitebox stove (my new toy and stove of choice), mini-trangia clone. I can't remember the rest. That is annoying as I have only listed 7 stoves but last time I counted I had a lot more. In fact the new whitebox stove was my eleventh I think. I doubt I could even find them all now.

I am thinking a vargo triad and a vargo decagon stove is a potential purchase and I do want a bushcooker of course. That will mean buying a tibetan1100 TI pot against my own will of course. I want an esbit stove just because I've never had one. I reckon the crusader kit is a must just because it is so very clever in its packability. The main esbit stove is the Ti onefrom BPL-UK which is basically three pot supports that fold out around a square esbit support tray. That is so neat and is the KISS principle magnified many times.

I think I will eventually turn my favourite gas stove (primus express / old micron with PZ) into an eta express by the addition of a eta pot and windshield bought separately.

Rik - I think I need help. Do you think the stove forum you mentioned will be the best place to get it?

 

[widu13]

Here you go:

http://www.spiritburner.com/fusion/index.php?fbb_session_id/d6ef0f4efa03a1aaf7a58092d93835fe/

 

[Paul_B]

Not my cup of tea Widu13. Its all petrol / white gas or trangia style orientated. Basically old and/or heavy stove topics. I'm more into the cut a couple of tins or Al drinks bottles up to make a meths burner sort of stovie topics. Have you seen the mini-bull designs stoves Tinny is creating over in the US? I have one of his old brush type wick stoves and his newer ones using carbon felt as a ring wick seem good too.

 

[MrEd]

i swear by my tatonka stuff, although have cooked on an optimus, and an old school trangia and liked it. My tatonk burner, stand and simmer ring coupled with stainless billy cans works for me.

not the fastest boil but im in no rush and its way faster than the swede mil trangia. I quite like meths burners though