Primus / Stove Appreciation

Wood fired

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Bit of a long shot but does anyone have any use for a half full Primus gas cartridge? Free if you can pick it up from SE20! Not very exciting I know but I've got no use for it and would rather not just chuck it.

Here’s my stove... not very portable though!

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This is about as light as I can go now.

Dripper 35.1g
Barebones stove 8.9g
220ml Ti mug 42.7g
6oz keepcup 38.5g
Ti Stove as windshield & pot stand 52.9g

Total 178.1g.

Extra 7g for the top of stove bit but the pot wedges in nicely at a jaunty angle without that.

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Went family camping for a week, expecting to be able to get a Campingaz cylinder there, only to find they couldn't be had for love nor money. Thankfully I'd thrown in the Trangia 25 as a just-in-case backup, and the campsite had campfire spots (and free firewood!) at every pitch, so managed fine for the week, with some surprisingly elaborate meals. Next time I'm tempted to try bringing a Dutch oven and have a go at using that over/in the fire...

Dutch oven

Hehehe…

Hehehe…

Are you laughing at something some of us are missing? Dutch ovens are cool.

Trangia news: just found a pretty tatty set, same as mine, in deptford market, but with the kettle. Took old set & kettle to E Anglia on little tour with tea-obsessed lad on tandem, boiled in a trice and was awesome. Burner fits inside it, whole thing packed is v similar if not same volume. We ate out of the pans, only needed trangia, cutlery and cups. Love them.

All spares etc are available here

https://shop.trangia.se/en/spare-parts/

Happy to help with buying in case you can’t get it in / to the uk, just pm me

Which pans? I've got the hard anodised set, which is great, but the frying pan is a bit warped from use; I keep meaning to try and get the duossal pans, but they're not easy to find. Kettle is a must-have; stick it on once the meal's cooked, and then you've got boiling water for a post-meal cuppa and to help clean the pans.

In cooking, a Dutch oven is a type of heavy pot with a lid.
But in slang, a Dutch oven is when you pass gas in bed and pull the covers over someone else’s head, trapping it in like a Dutch oven traps heat.

Toss-up between here and epic wtf:

https://thetrek.co/the-gossamer-gear-crotch-pot-your-first-step-to-stoveless-backpacking/

Well. Umm.

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Anyone into can stoves? I got into making them during lockdown and found it a fun hobby. Settled on this side burner design http://zenstoves.net/BasicSideBurner.htm as not crazy complex to make, but tough enough that it feels like fun.

However the last two times I tried using my stove outside it hasn't managed to jet. I guess it just hasn't reached temperature in the relatively chilly mornings? Surely people are using can stoves below 5 degrees though. Any ideas on what I might be doing wrong? I've been thinking of getting/making some kind of insulation from the ground, either a bit of silver foil or maybe silicon caulking the bottom of the can.

Warm the fuel first? E.g. carry bottle of it close to body?

I made quite a few can stoves a few years back and they're ace. The new San Peli can size makes me want to make another as looks ideal.

Warm the fuel, but also I have a metal Pringles can base that I use and pour a little bit of meths on this and light it to before lighting the main burner to get some heat into the ground and surrounds. I’ve found that ground as the biggest heat sink at stopping stoves blooming fully and firing up nicely.

After a stove hiatus, I spent some money on bits to experiment.

The Lixada alcohol burner I bought a few years ago is the best - smaller and lighter than the Trangia and burns well. Mega cheap.

Brasslite Turbo burns hot but can’t get the hang of it. Can’t remember when I bought it.

My old Fire Maple faux-jetboil works fine with gas but I want to try get a setup working with alcohol.

Bought a Trangia 27-2UL set with kettle, and a taller windbreak to my normal little one.

The Trangia setup used as designed works fine but takes an age to boil water. I think for actual food cooking it would be fine though. The Lixada placed under a solid fuel burner to act as a stove stand has been the ideal height for the Fire Maple tall pot.

Hoped that using the slightly larger Trangia burner could burn hotter. So far this is the fastest setup for 0.8L of water. B&Q bioethanol. Boil time 7m30s. That beats the Lixada by over a minute.

Got the Fire Maple heat exchanger kettle coming tomorrow, going to see if A: it boils faster than the tall pot, B: it fits the proper Trangia wind break setup. That would be golden. Then I can carry the full 27 kit plus the better kettle.

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Is there some well regarded "just get this" option for cycle touring when you want to do more complex cooking than just boiling water without having to carry maximum bulk?

I don't know about consensus, but I have one of these and I really like it. Can use whatever pan you like on it, and it's nice and stable.
https://primus.us/products/express-spider?variant=42276779491554

proper cooking = trangia

Not got, but this looks good.

https://heinnie.com/kelly-kettle-trekker-kit-stainless-steel/

was just about to type kelly kettle. 3 sizes, good deal if you buy the ultimate kits, i have the scout, and you can do quite fancy stuff. if you just get the basic kit, make sure you also buy the hobo stove. new stuff not much more than ebay prices.

Think big question is which fuel system you want to use - gas / alcohol / multi.

Saw you post something about a trip to Japan. So if this is for that, worth bearing in mind fuel availability.
Obviously can’t take it on the plane.

We went on an overseas (walking) trip recently, and borrowed a petrol stove for that reason.

Yeah it's for Japan, seems like they have good gas availability, but the gas stoves don't seem to simmer which seems crucial for actual cooking. Seems like if you want to simmer you have to get a trangia or a really expensive expedition grade multi fuel thing which seems a bit overkill

I might be missing something here, or you might be using 'simmer' in a technical way I'm not familiar with, but my gas stoves have adjustable heat so you can get whatever level of heat you require and I can certainly simmer water/stew etc.

Which one do you have? I definitely don't know what I'm talking about.