Are Wood Burning Stoves Worth the Savings in Weight and Money???

[rocketsocks]

Not for nothing but the North East has so much tinder on the ground from last years ice storms (fall of 11') and the the summer hurricane Sandy, I can't imagine wood couldn't be collected along the trail for a small cook fire. It's more likely summer fire bands will keep all that tinder at bay just waiting for the next lightening strike or foolish fire bug..follow all Regs, back woods fire can get out of control real quick, and long after the fire tinders/and embers are long gone.

[QiWiz]

I didn't read through this whole thread, and it may just be my opinion...but I'm taking an alcohol stove with intentions of using a campfire when possible. Why take a wood burning stove when I can sit my pot in coals? I'll use alcohol when I can't have a fire and a have a sealed 4 pack of Pyropac gel just in case...it's not that much weight for my setup with 3 options to boil water, and 2 that don't depend on dealing with wet wood.

A few reactions . . .

A campfire can obviously work to heat your pot, assuming that there is an existing campfire ring where you want to cook/camp OR you don't mind creating a new one despite the impacts that may have.

Some shelters have fireplaces (like those in the GSMNP), but most don't. Most that don't have a campfire area outside. If you are not always going to camp/cook at a shelter, there may be more of an issue finding an existing fire ring.

If it is raining, it's pretty easy to use a small wood stove from under the shelter of your tarp or tent, but you won't want to set up your shelter next to a campfire ring or have a less controlled fire right next to your shelter.

To cook with an alcohol stove requires a windscreen, separate or integrated pot support, and an alcohol burner. Adding this option to a wood burning stove is usually easy, and may be lighter than an alcohol-only kit. What you save in alcohol fuel will more than compensate for the weight of a wood burner, as long as it is a light one.

[not_possible]

I just brought it up because I had pondered it to avoid carrying fuel, but for me the benefits didn't offset just carrying a few oz of alcohol and a light side burner can stove with aluminum windscreen and the slight added weight of 4 pyropacs just in case...I'm not big on esbit at all so that was out of the question. May have just been a bad experience with old tabs, but trying to get some going out of wind took 3 matches to get burning. My plan is just carry the sealed pyropacs, a few oz of heet and use an established fire ring where possible. The alcohol stove/pyropacs are mainly double redundant back ups when I can't have fire...after watching a VLog of a guy that took a canister and stove and said he mostly boiled over coals last year, figured my plan would work fine and avoid the canisters. Plus I have quite a few 4 packs of the pyropac gel saved up I can have mailed to me if I go through them and alcohol should be easy enough to come by.

[Mags]

"People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like." (often attributed to Abraham Lincoln)

[QiWiz]

I just brought it up because I had pondered it to avoid carrying fuel, but for me the benefits didn't offset just carrying a few oz of alcohol and a light side burner can stove with aluminum windscreen and the slight added weight of 4 pyropacs just in case...I'm not big on esbit at all so that was out of the question. May have just been a bad experience with old tabs, but trying to get some going out of wind took 3 matches to get burning. My plan is just carry the sealed pyropacs, a few oz of heet and use an established fire ring where possible. The alcohol stove/pyropacs are mainly double redundant back ups when I can't have fire...after watching a VLog of a guy that took a canister and stove and said he mostly boiled over coals last year, figured my plan would work fine and avoid the canisters. Plus I have quite a few 4 packs of the pyropac gel saved up I can have mailed to me if I go through them and alcohol should be easy enough to come by.

Sounds like you have a sound plan.

I agree with your Esbit experience (hard to light when windy) and have found that some tricks help in this situation. If you have alcohol, put a little on the Esbit cube and light. If you have cotton balls (or jute, etc) with vaseline, oil, or wax in/on them as fire starters, a very small piece under or to the side of the Esbit cube lights easily and then gets the Esbit lit.

[zelph]

Are Wood Burning Stoves Worth the Savings in Weight and Money???

Yes...yes...yes on all accounts.

Watch how easy it is to use this stove:

[JAK]

Beautiful top down burn Zelph. Brought tears to me eyes.

How long was the total burn, and what was the weight of fuel?
How dry? 20% moisture give or take?

[Son Driven]

Tested my Vienna stove blustery 12 degree day. 4 ounces of yellow heet burned for 33 minutes. Used aluminum foil for wind screen. Got 4 cups of water to boil in 11 minutes. Stirred in half cup bacon bits, 6 oz. of wild rice soup mix, and half cup of pine nuts. Mmmm good! I figure my back yard Minnesota conditions exceeded what I will experience on the trail. I have more confidence then ever that my home made Vienna sausage stove will suffice.

[Country Roads]

If you need to cook for several people, they work great. I saw a couple with 4 kids, all teenagers (and you know how they can eat) using a woodburning stove. They had to cook a lot of food and this was the lightest option for them. Their evening routine was for the 2 adults and the two older kids to set up the tarps and the 2 younger ones to gather small sticks for the stove. They set up 2, 11 x 12 tarps for sleeping and an 8 x 10 for cooking and eating under. They would have had to carry a lot of fuel for the amount of cooking they had to do. Oh, the stove was a Sierra Zip stove.

[zelph]

Beautiful top down burn Zelph. Brought tears to me eyes.

How long was the total burn, and what was the weight of fuel?
How dry? 20% moisture give or take?

Tears to your eyes Tis nice to have stoves that don't do a lot of smoke.

The weight of twigs was, guessing, around 6 ounces. 20% moisture maybe less. it was some stuff I had sitting my green house environment for a few months. Most of the time I use split twigs to insure a good burn. Always do my stacking verticle and lighting from the top. I have 100% ignition success, never goes out and have to restart.

[Hairbear]

Tears to your eyes Tis nice to have stoves that don't do a lot of smoke.

The weight of twigs was, guessing, around 6 ounces. 20% moisture maybe less. it was some stuff I had sitting my green house environment for a few months. Most of the time I use split twigs to insure a good burn. Always do my stacking verticle and lighting from the top. I have 100% ignition success, never goes out and have to restart.

Very nice job,reminded me of a swedish torch wrapped in titanium.

[SassyWindsor]

Are Wood Burning Stoves Worth the Savings in Weight and Money???

Absolutely, you'll have a learning curve but after that you'll not turn away from the Dark Side (as in smoked up pots) again.

[zelph]

Very nice job,reminded me of a swedish torch wrapped in titanium.

Thanks, wood is my goto fuel.

I put together a beginners kit with fuel options/apps

[Marta]

As others have said before me, try it to see if it is right for you.

I love burning wood. Make a fire in the house stove every night. I was in love with the idea of a titanium Zip stove. Was fortunate enough to have a friend who loaned me his, and offered to sell it cheaply...if I still wanted it afterwards. Long story short--I found it annoying. And messy. Nothing I want to deal with when I'm out walking. I did not buy the stove, even at a great price.

There are a couple of hiking memoirs by Zip stove users. The Barefoot Sisters did, and...his name escapes me, but he was an important person to the ATC and hiked the AT twice, 25 years apart. The book he wrote about his second hike mentions a number of times his relief when people gave him trail magic and he could eat without dissing with his stove. Some of that trail magic was simply other people heating water for him. In other words, he found using the stove to be a real PITA.

You'll never know unless you try.

[Game Warden]

I built and used a "hobo stove." It is cheap, lightweight and works almost anywhere. The drawbacks are bulk, soot, and labor intensive. I used it the Pine Barrens of south Jersey. Pine does make more soot than other woods, but it also burns hotter, so it is a trade-off.

[Tri-Pod Bob]

http://www.amazon.com/Solo-Stove-Bac...I1AE96WO09CCX3 I've been using this Solo stove for quite a while & love it! I've only had to use the alcohol back-up on a cpl of occasions due to a later than usual end of day site set up. My 'go to' starters are birch bark, small pitchy pinecone or Vaseline smeared cotton balls. Initial fuel is a softwood like pine or such, then hardwood for the main burn. If a hardwood is scarce, then all softwoods are used. Just have to keep on it a bit more so that the combustion is maintained due to the quick burn time of softwood.