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stoves, especially for Tomsie

stoves, especially for Tomsie


Postby mrssanta » Fri Feb 01, 2013 10:38 pm

Well we were going a bit off topic in the bothy bag thread.
Now it's confession time. we have a large variety of stoves in our loft.
for a fixed base camp involving a car, I have to say I love my dutch oven. this goes over a campfire or charcoal, weighs about half a ton (I exaggerate slightly but let's say I wouldnt want to carry it more than about 100 yards) but you can roast bake and everything in it. It's a cast iron pot on legs with a close fitting lid with a flange so you can put coals on the top. we have had bread, pot roast and so on.
I also have two Storm Kettles mostly used for brewing tea on the beach. they are very efficient and work on driftwood, dead stems of nettles, all sorts. not useful on top of hills as there is generally not enough fuel.

For more lightweight camping the choice really is between meths or gas. Some folks have multifuel stoves and I would love one but they are relatively expensive and I can't justify it. One day maybe.
Meths is more reliable at lower temperatures, as long as it can be kept out of the wind. the best way to do this is probably a Trangia - very reliable and you can cook properly on it but bulky and heavy - or a Caldera cone - very light, slightly bulky, only really for boiling water. We got the caldera cone from Ultralight outdoors on the web, but their shop is near us and is a treasure trove of delights! they come in lots of sizes to fit different pans, we have two, one for an MSR titanium kettle and one for an Alpkit Mytimug. the main disadvantage of meths is it is not very controllable, and therefore more dangerous to use inside a tent if the weather is pants. It is also slow.

Gas is more controllable but is not very good in frosty conditions as it doesnt flow as well. Also it can be difficult to tell how much fuel is left. There are very lightweight stoves available and we have several - the oldest is a camping gaz dating from the sixties which I only keep for sentimental reasons! the ones we use most are the MSR pocket rocket and another MSR one we bought in the USA and I can't remember what it is. there is a huge choice out there to suit all budgets from the super fast jetboil type to the simple screw onto the canister type. there are pros and cons to different types but they are generally faster and more controllable than meths. we estimate you need about 30g of gas per person per night for a multi day trip involving several cups of tea and a dehydrated dinner.

hope that helps, no doubt rudolph will add corrections ! :lol: :lol:
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Re: stoves, especially for Tomsie

Postby mrssanta » Fri Feb 01, 2013 10:53 pm

:D here is a couple of pictures
caldera cone.jpg
caldera cone in use at camp. you can see there is a gas stove in a bag hiding top right. the burner is sitting on a rock under the cone which you can't see well, not straight on the grass I hope you realise!

on top lui.jpg
caldera cone on top of ben lui

Picture 702.jpg
storm kettle in Glen Kinglas
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Re: stoves, especially for Tomsie

Postby Tomsie » Sat Feb 02, 2013 12:03 am

Thanks again for this info Mrssanta and photo's, just after spending last few hours searching tents, bags and other things, have being thinking about camping instead of car and B&B's for this year :( and when got invite to join 2 other members, may as well, know once I buy the gear I will get the use of it.

Those cups arent very outdoors looking, only the prints on them, is that a home comfort you bring with you :wink: :lol:
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Re: stoves, especially for Tomsie

Postby Rudolph » Sat Feb 02, 2013 9:42 am

Tomsie wrote:Those cups arent very outdoors looking, only the prints on them, is that a home comfort you bring with you :wink: :lol:


Yes - a bit embarrassing - but they are light, cheap, pretty much indestrutable, don't burn your lips and don't make the drinks taste funny. They also strap to the outside of the packs which makes getting water out of awkward burns easier.

Still not sure they are worth that picture though! :(
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Re: stoves, especially for Tomsie

Postby electricfly » Sat Feb 02, 2013 11:22 am

Rudolph wrote:Yes - a bit embarrassing - but they are light, cheap, pretty much indestrutable, don't burn your lips and don't make the drinks taste funny. :(


:idea: Just had an idea for a new competition thread... "Guess who's cup?" :lol:

I'm betting that yours is the puffin one Rudolph, and MrsS has the sheep one. Am I right? :mrgreen:
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Re: stoves, especially for Tomsie

Postby Rudolph » Sat Feb 02, 2013 12:52 pm

electricfly wrote:I'm betting that yours is the puffin one Rudolph, and MrsS has the sheep one. Am I right? :mrgreen:


Major marital dispute in progress. Will let you know...
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Re: stoves, especially for Tomsie

Postby mrssanta » Sat Feb 02, 2013 1:30 pm

actually those are our old cups, they came from the National Trust years ago.
the new ones are half the weight and half as much again in capacity and cost 99p from Yorkshire Trading. they are also very cheerful. We have them in yellow, orange, pink and green. Rudolph claims the green one (at least I think he does? :? ) these cups hold about 350ml so a cupful is about right to rehydrate a meal.
P8141776.JPG
lower Killeyan, Islay on a rare beach day last summer

P6021288.JPG
on Schiehallion, I know this because the picture was in a folder called Schiehallion
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Re: stoves, especially for Tomsie

Postby Caberfeidh » Sat Feb 02, 2013 4:08 pm

I spotted this beauty in a charity shop - snapped it up for a mere three of your Earth Pounds. Meths reservoir fits inside the pot with a stand. Very light, compact and neat. :D
Feb 2013 009.jpg
Feb 2013 010.jpg
Feb 2013 011.jpg
Feb 2013 012.jpg
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Re: stoves, especially for Tomsie

Postby mrssanta » Sat Feb 02, 2013 4:55 pm

That's a beauty!
I have something similar which used to belong to my Grandpa, but it does not quite manage to heat the water to boiling point. In fact barely tepid. there is some sort of wadding inside the burner which I think must be clogged up, as it doesn't absorb much fuel.and then the flame goes all over the plae. but it is a thing of beauty!
P2020356.JPG
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Re: stoves, especially for Tomsie

Postby Caberfeidh » Sat Feb 02, 2013 6:45 pm

That is a nice one, it would be worth cleaning out the wadding, and replacing it with brass-wire gauze to act as a wick.
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Re: stoves, especially for Tomsie

Postby mrssanta » Sat Feb 02, 2013 7:07 pm

Caberfeidh wrote:That is a nice one, it would be worth cleaning out the wadding, and replacing it with brass-wire gauze to act as a wick.

there's an idea, I don't suppose even I could make it worse!
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Re: stoves, especially for Tomsie

Postby Tomsie » Sun Feb 03, 2013 10:29 am

I have 2 ring stove, much like the one we had as kids except this one is white :)

This is ideal for car camping and have a cheap tent that if weathers really bad could use as the kitchen :crazy: :lol: :lol:

Bought a small stove last night on the net, this looks really 8) , wether it works is another thing :roll:
But after spending most of yesterday looking at tents, bags and stoves had to buy something, today will head Thainstone market to see if anyone sells camping gear there, if not onto Inverurie to get some customer service and advice something you cant really get on the web.
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Re: stoves, especially for Tomsie

Postby morag1 » Sun Feb 03, 2013 11:55 am

I was really interested to read about the different kinds of stoves - great information :clap:

I've just gone and bought a thermal food flask - £12 from Sainsbury. We tend to just go away for the day rather than do overnight camps and its great to have a hot meal once you get back to the car and before the long drive home. You can fill the flask with casserole or a curry and it stays warm for most of the day.

But with an eye on doing long-day walks in particular the WHW later this year I'd like to get a small stove so I can make myself some coffee or heat up some soup on the way. Tiso are selling small stoves with small canisters but I'm not sure how long they last, one day or two? It would be great to find something very small and light so you could just make a coffee whenever you want
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Re: stoves, especially for Tomsie

Postby Tomsie » Sun Feb 03, 2013 12:03 pm

morag1 wrote:I was really interested to read about the different kinds of stoves - great information :clap:

I've just gone and bought a thermal food flask - £12 from Sainsbury. We tend to just go away for the day rather than do overnight camps and its great to have a hot meal once you get back to the car and before the long drive home. You can fill the flask with casserole or a curry and it stays warm for most of the day.

But with an eye on doing long-day walks in particular the WHW later this year I'd like to get a small stove so I can make myself some coffee or heat up some soup on the way. Tiso are selling small stoves with small canisters but I'm not sure how long they last, one day or two? It would be great to find something very small and light so you could just make a coffee whenever you want


Morag have a look at this

and you can get them on Amazon not sure how good they really are, when I get mine I'll let you you know.

Is the food flask same idea as drinks flask and maybe a differert shape..

If you ever find yourself at a hurling match you will see colcannon being emptied from flasks into plastic tubs or least they used to years ago.
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Re: stoves, especially for Tomsie

Postby morag1 » Sun Feb 03, 2013 12:13 pm

That's fantastic Tomsie, very small and compact and looks quite like the Tiso one. Would love to hear what you think of it before I go and buy one :D

The food flask is similar to a hot drinks flask but its a different shape. Everything goes into it and it saves you having to carry food packets around and then cook them at the end of the day.

I've heard of Colcannon, not sure if people still do it though :D
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