what do you cook with?

[wartomods]

can anyone instruct me a method to light and keep going slightly humid wood/sticks on the wood stove, i am not even ask when it is raining. From what i gather the best way is to keep some heat going with any kind of starter, and just wait and wait till the wood gets dryer and dryer until eventually starts firing.
Thats when alcohol stoves come in handy, you just light it and there you go.
But one thing thats is good about wood stoves is that if you get decent wood, even if the fire extinguishes, one can still cook with the residual eat and the slow combustion of ember.

other good thing about this design it is wind resistant, the fire will even get more lively if there is wind.

 

[Richard57]

how come when i used the alcohol stove the flame isnt invisible? i use the 91% isopropyl alcohol, and can see the flame clearly.

 

[finn]

The flame is only invisible when there's a brighter light source that washes it out. Also, did you know that purell hand cleaner is basically an alcohol gel? You can use that as a fire starter, and I figure that with the flu scare going on, there should be more dispensers around...

I read about someone making a multi-wick tea light with an altoids tin can (uses paraffin wax). Has anyone tried this? I'm thinking of testing this out of curiosity if there aren't any reports.

 

[usuallyonthefloorsomewher]

minibulldesigns.com
sorry no hyperlink

 

[Atilla the Hun]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned this yet, but I use something called a "buddy burner" which is basically a long strip of cardboard that is rolled up, stuffed inside a tuna can, and saturated with melted wax or any other flammable liquid you can find. It works like a giant candle, with the cardboard acting like a wick. Dunno how it compares to your alky stoves and sternos and shit, but i've had no trouble heating up a can of chili with my buddy burner. Plus it's got an impressive flame.

Look it up on google. There are a whole bunch of sites that give instructions on how to make these. The link below was the first result that had pictures to go with the instructions.

Homegrown Evolution: Buddy Burner

 

[finn]

I've known that as a squat candle, and while I could go that route with an altoids tin, something with multiple wicks would be nice because theoretically, it could be regulated instead of being either full blast lit or unlit. I may go that route, since an altoids tin is a pretty small container.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned this yet, but I use something called a "buddy burner" which is basically a long strip of cardboard that is rolled up, stuffed inside a tuna can, and saturated with melted wax or any other flammable liquid you can find. It works like a giant candle, with the cardboard acting like a wick. Dunno how it compares to your alky stoves and sternos and shit, but i've had no trouble heating up a can of chili with my buddy burner. Plus it's got an impressive flame.

Look it up on google. There are a whole bunch of sites that give instructions on how to make these. The link below was the first result that had pictures to go with the instructions.

Homegrown Evolution: Buddy Burner

 

[drun_ken]

some form of fire....on the road...ive found pine cones make the best coals(just gotta wait TILL they are coals otherwise youll get the pine fever which sux)....at home a stove, oven or my b-b-q pit(wanna make a smoker but im a lazy ass procrastinating old bastard)...at werk a grill that runs off gas and hits about 550-575 degrees, unless im on fry or mid then its a fryer or a flat top grill....but yeah pine cones yo...pine cones....and i reiterate brun em down ta COALS before cooking on em....

 

[wartomods]

some form of fire....on the road...ive found pine cones make the best coals(just gotta wait TILL they are coals otherwise youll get the pine fever which sux)....at home a stove, oven or my b-b-q pit(wanna make a smoker but im a lazy ass procrastinating old bastard)...at werk a grill that runs off gas and hits about 550-575 degrees, unless im on fry or mid then its a fryer or a flat top grill....but yeah pine cones yo...pine cones....and i reiterate brun em down ta COALS before cooking on em....

yeah i agree with this 100 per cent . Pine cones are good for starting fires and they fire fast and still have a great heat capacity giving good coals.. All the resin they have.

 

[skunkpit]

fuck yeah got the wood gas stove workin
works so well
lots of smoke till it starts working then none at all

 

[finn]

I've known that as a squat candle, and while I could go that route with an altoids tin, something with multiple wicks would be nice because theoretically, it could be regulated instead of being either full blast lit or unlit. I may go that route, since an altoids tin is a pretty small container.

Okay, I had a blackout along with the snow so I got an opportunity to try out the altoids tin mini squat candle. I was reheating/defrosting food in a pot that was put outside in the snow because the refrigerator went out. Instead of using multiple wicks I ended up using traditional cardboard. It took a while to get to full tilt, because I'd overfilled the tin with wax, so not all the cardboard was sticking out to provide the flame. Wax is a traditional material- as a liquid, it uses up more space than as a solid, unlike water. Once it got going, it burned pretty hot, and I burned a little bit of the food to the bottom of the pot.

Next time, for a pot, I'd probably use multiple tea lights for even and controlable heating, but for a smaller container, the mini squat candle should be fine as long as you hold the container above the flame by hand.

 

[WapatoGreyer]

Might be making one of these soon.
http://www.imrisk.com/woodgas/coffeestove.htm
Lightweight, no need for fuel, as long as you have matches and firestarters or just really good wood.

found it off this site:
http://zenstoves.net/LinksGeneral-DIY.htm

 

[Wolfeyes]

It still needs some work, but my cooking system consists of an American Spirit tobacco can, a bike sprocket, a larger can that that stuff fits in, and a beer can burner.

The larger can acts like a heat shield/wind screen for the alky burner, as well as a wood stove, the smaller one acts like a stand and preheater for the alky burner. The sprocket acts like a grill for smaller articles.

 

[tallhorseman]

I carry a five-piece cook kit that self-stores, and a two-liter coffee pot. I've cooked with alcohol, and toilet paper, heat tabs out of MRE's, but I'd much rather just build a small fire. I still carry heat tabs in case of emergency, but there's just something hypnotic and Zen about feeding a fire.

When I'm hiking I'm constantly foraging, looking for game trails, etc., and one of the things I look for is damaged pine trees. Not only do pine cones make pretty good tinder, but a lightning struck pine, or a pine stump, usually has lighter-pine(wood that is impregnated with pine sap). Lighter pine burns better than coal. But if I don't find good tinder it don't matter...as long as you start small the wettest wood will burn.

 

[BUMJUG]

i use a tiny msr pocketrocket. It doesn't weigh anything, and fuel is fairly cheap. I need hot food when it gets wet and cold out. Brings me right back to life. The beer can alcho i have played with a bit.

i can vouch for this stove as well...saved my fingers in a recent cold experience...haha weighs like an ounce too....

 

[left52side]

I used to carry around a little colman ultralight stiove like the msr version.
It finally broke on me and I have just been carring around a can of sterno.
Seems to heat stuff up pretty good.

 

[Skaggy]

A tip i heard from a guy was that if you use one of those alcohol stoves fill it up with citronella oil and it works as a stove and mosquito repellent!

 

[thenomad]

good ole fashioned frying pan

 

[mbgeorge]

doesn't anyone use sterno any more? it's cheap readily available at grocery and department stores. it'sreusable and disposable. ialso heard stories of homebums drinking it to get drunk. flares are also good. you can cook with them on trains too. also the ones that produce spatter are good for self defense. that sullfer and phosphorus is no fun if your on the recieving end.

sterno is pretty fucking spendy nowadays it's like 8 bucks for two cans, and as far as drinkiing it goes i wouldn't recommend it, there is methanol added to denature it, which is intended to make it too toxic to be drinkable... lots of people died from trying it.

 

[bryanpaul]

wal-mart has little stove burners in little boxes in the campin isle that are rediculously easy to steal (20somethin to buy), they use propane/butane fuel ,not the tall green propane cans but short fat ones...but yeah...they work damn good...the fuel is 5 bucks

 

[dharma bum]

i've got a snow peak giga powered something that burns off of canister fuel when it's raining or wood is wet or i'm just too damned lazy to get wood in the mornings. i weighs next to nothing, lasts forever (all i'm doing is boiling water, really), and doesn't take up too much space. i bought it a while back for backpacking, but still carry it with me just in case.

those dekota holes work well when you're trying to be discrete though. there's just something about cooking on an open fire... blackening the bottom of your pot so that it cooks faster... i dunno, i really like the cookfire method.