Feather Fire Stove

[Old Hillwalker]

During my July Baxter to Monson sopping wet hike I carried both my Featherfire, my Bakepacker lite cook pot and a Heineken Penny stove with a little four cup Ti pot. My main reason for carrying both was the desire to experiment a bit with the Bakepacker which doesn't work at all with the Penny stove's burning time. The Featherfire burns about 16 minutes with two oz of fuel, and the Penny about 6 minutes with one oz. Most of the recipes and Adventure Foods dehydrated meals required around ten minutes of boil time in the Bakepacker.

For the seven days through the 100 mile woods I used about 28 oz of denatured alky. Had I used the Heine Penny stove and FB cooking I would have carried less weight and used half the fuel.

I used the FF supplied windscreen with both stoves and will continue to use it even when I leave the FF stove home.

I had no issues with wind, and more often than not didn't even use the windscreen.

Bottom line: The FF stove worked well, but weighs much more than the Heine stove and used maybe twice the fuel. However, the FF does allow you to extinguish the flame and recover the unburnt fuel and is a simmering wonder.

If I want to go as light as possible and don't want fancy stuff like biscuits, pancakes and cakes I will leave it in the equipment locker. Adventure Foods seems to be out of business and after eating some of their meals I understand why. The meals I had were donated to me and are all gone now.

Got to say, that their omelettes and huevo rancheros were darn good but the other meals not so much.

[oldfivetango]

I wonder if anyone here has an FF and Brasslite turbo IID and how
they compare to one another?I like the ring on the Brasslite as it
appears to be foolproof compared to the FF control but since I have
never used an FF before it is hard to say.

Also,am I the only guy with a small primer pan to put under
an alky stove?Is that extra bit an issue with people?
Inquiring minds want to know.........
Oldfivetango

[oops56]

I like to prime pan or prime wick not to much or it boil the alcohol in stove to fast and have shorter burn time just get to know your stove.I got one of the basslite with the hole at bottom ajustable. Not my cup tea so i just use it to make char cloth 1/2 oz. fuel is just right. Its been so long on boiling water not sure what is what.

[oldfivetango]

I like to prime pan or prime wick not to much or it boil the alcohol in stove to fast and have shorter burn time just get to know your stove.I got one of the basslite with the hole at bottom ajustable. Not my cup tea so i just use it to make char cloth 1/2 oz. fuel is just right. Its been so long on boiling water not sure what is what.

30 ml of alcohol in my turbo 2d and a tight windscreen and I
am boiling 2 cups of water in about five minutes on a rolling boil
in most cases.Love mine although I was tempted to buy an FF just
for kicks.
OFT

[Skidsteer]

I made a small bolsa wood base for my Feather Fire XL, I then varnisded it and then had it heat coated. Never had a issue after i made this base, I do however aggree that there are issues with this stove if you do not have a flat surface to put the stove on.

What do you mean by "heat coated"?

[ofthearth]

Skids-are you familiar with this stove? Opinion? Better stove for simmer?

tia

[Gumbi]

i just ordered the Feather Fire Stove, What do yaw think of this unit from: http://www.packafeather.com, It's the Feather Fire XL.

Thanks in advance.

Darren

My opinion is that the simpler an object is, the less likely it is to fail. That is why I have switched to alcohol stoves in the first place. I use a modified version of the Supercat ( I use only eight holes punched evenly around the 3 oz. can rather than 20). It is one piece and it is it's own potstand. There is nothing to go wrong with it and it is sturdier than your typical popcan stove. Granted, it doesn't do well in extremely cold weather (it failed me at -9F), and it doesn't simmer. But I like it for what it is. I don't like the FF because there are so many pieces which makes it more likely to fail than my supercat.

I would just as soon go to an MSR whisperlight than to the alcohol version of it. But that is my opinion. (take it with a cup of salt)

[Rickosovitch]

One other consideration worth mentioning here; this stove achieves its extreme lightness by being made of very, very thin aluminum. It's fragile and easily damaged. If you're a very careful person, this might not be a problem. If you're at all absent-minded or clumsy (like me) this probably isn't the stove for you.

[handlebar]

I used mine over 100 days on the PCT. It's the updated design (as of 07-04-09) that has a solid band that the adjuster loosens rather than the band with holes in it that the screw gear slid over the open ports to adjust the amount of air admitted. I did have a problem with that older version.

Mine seemed to simmer quite well. I've used it in all kinds of weather including winter camping at 10F. The trick for that is to have some kind of insulation under the stove. I use the top of my home-made pot cozy (closed cell foam circle the diameter of my pot) and squirt a bit of alcohol on the top of the stove to prime it. Occasionally had to heap up soil around the bottom of the windscreen in exposed, windy areas on the PCT.

The stove body is fragile---seems like it's made of a pepsi/beer can. Never a problem as it lives in my cookpot inside my pack.

[dart7383]

I've got one, and I love it. Mine is one of the new designs. The pot stand is a little weak for my tastes, and you have to get it level. They are a little thin, but I put mine in a ziplock inside my pot and it seems to ride just fine. I made my own windscreen, and have had no trouble keeping it lit or not being able to boil... I was going to use it for my thru this year before my dumb ass tripped and buggered up my knee(surgery on Mon). It worked great for that week in the rain flawlessly. Oh, and the bottle top they sell with the little straw is worth it's weight in gold to me.

[Jayboflavin04]

I can get damn near 30 min burn time on two OZ of alky on FF with the choke ring fully closed. I would agree that the pot stand on the regular FF is questionable. I use graphite to lubircate the worm gear on the choke ring mechanism. Basically, it works as advertised, no complaints so far.