Wood Burning Stove Stainless steel vs. Titanium

[hopper333]

I love my alcohol stoves and prefer the cleanliness and simplicity in many cases but on my recent trip to Sri Lanka I could not use them at all because it was literally impossible to buy any fuel for them. Sales of meths, (bio)ethanol and anything similarly appropriate is very tightly controlled and licensed there. I tried camping, automotive and DIY shops, chemical manufacturers and importers, commercial kitchen or marine suppliers and anything else I could think of. I must have spent 2 whole days on the phone following up potential leads and shuttling around Colombo. They all told me the same thing: "we can't sell because of the licensing situation". Perhaps it is related to the scandals in SE Asia where ethanol and methanol are illegally added to drinks and which has been the cause of a number of deaths. I have never before been to a country where it is impossible to buy meths.

The only option would have been relatively low-grade (70%) isopropyl from the chemist which burns very poorly or a large bottle of methanol offered to me by a chemical manufacturer until I explained about the dangerous fumes that would result if I burned it.

So now I am back to wood gasifier stoves (which I enjoy in a different way having explored the airflow design in a few myself) so that next time I go to SL I can cook or boil water in the woods. However, I don't want to buy another S/S one where the inner chamber rots away after having been used for a while. Hence my interest in how much better Ti holds up to regular usage rather than for the weight benefits.

 

[Falstaff]

That's interesting, never heard of that anywhere, you might be right about the reason it's off the market. Just looked it up, approx 78% of locals use fuel wood, probably more now because the rest normally use bottled LPG which has just shot up in price due to the US/Iran market shortage.
Backpacking wood stoves are pretty cheap really, and fairly durable so I wouldn't fuss on the steel/TI choice. Just buy steel and not expect it to last forever. If you want you can always make your own out of a stainless cutlery drainer - see Ravenlore website or various threads on here. Or a big tin can..
The one thing they all fail on is dropping hot ash/coals on the ground. Getting it off the ground helps, but my solution is to also put it on a plumbers soft soldering mat. Not expensive or heavy, and wraps around the stove when packing away.

 

[slaine_23]

The one thing they all fail on is dropping hot ash/coals on the ground. Getting it off the ground helps, but my solution is to also put it on a plumbers soft soldering mat

I second the motion having burnt a lovely circle into a public wood picnic bench when what I thought was an ash catcher was as useful as an ashtray in a motorbike.