I'm looking to increase my stove collection and was wondering what type of stove to buy next? Any ideas/suggestions and why?
Depends what you have got already . You tell us what you have and we may be able to help you choose another one to add to your collection. And, of course, it will be dictated by your budget limit . Steve.
Camping stove or domestic? For dependability, flexibility, form, quality and function: Camping stoves: Svea 123 (coleman fuel) Coleman Exponent 550B-725 (coleman fuel) Optimus 111 Hiker T (kerosene or coleman fuel) Primus 41 (silent burner, kerosene) Radius 46 (coleman fuel, because they are soo cute) Optimus 22 (double burner, kerosene) For Domestics (all kerosene): Radius 10 (single burner, silent) Primus 525 (or equivalent double burner, silent Primus stove from that era) Radius 12 (double burner, silent) Primus No. 5 or equivalent 2 pint stove (silent, single burner) Some recommendations here on what to avoid.
New collectors of almost anything nearly always make the same mistake. Me included. They tend to buy any example of an Item in their new field of interest regardless of condition. I suggest acquiring examples in good condition unless a poor condition one is very cheap and could be cannibalized for parts. So with that caveat almost any stove you don't have is a candidate for acquisition if it is recognizable and within your budget. Stove collectors are not nearly as anal retentive about things being AS-IS as are say, coin or gun, collectors. So verdigris and dirt can be happilly removed, brass polished, and parts replaced with new to no particular lessening of value. Remember, these stoves were usually made in their hundreds of thousands and for the most part, are still there, somewhere. There are a few, of course, that are uncommon and some that are actually rare, and the odd one that exists only in aged, yellowing catalogs inscribed in Sumerian Cuneiform on vellum scrolls legible only to one or two scholars still alive, but only barely so. However, as with pre-medieval weaponry, early cars, early aircraft, and military firearms, one doesn't pay too much for an item, he just bought too early. Surf the threads, read, and learn. Then if you find something and it is priced a bit high for you, ask here about it's age and if it is a common or uncommon piece. Only you can determine it's value. I found about a third of my collection at flea markets and garage sales, buying them because they took my fancy. I had no idea I was a collector until I stumbled across this website to discover people all over the globe with the same affliction I have and learned that half of my stoves were desirable collector pieces while the rest were very common or unknown outside the Puget Sound basin. This is a veritable hot bed of camping, trekking, fishing, hiking and climbing, so small stoves abound in both quantity and form. It continues to be so. Good luck and enjoy, Gerry
best camp stove is a broard subject. Car camping I normally reach for my Tilly Titan Yes its gas but the wife can use it and it makes cheese on toast with its grill. I also sometimes use my 2 burner Coleman if space is going to be limited as it all fits in a nice box and it does normal cooking just fine. I have a 3 burner Gasmate gas cooker I bought new and used once It works fine but rarely need 3 burners Tramping (hiking for Americans) I like my MSR Dragonfly as it is small enough grunty enough to cook anything to a crisp but controlable enough to make an egg custard not that I have egg custard tramping very often. Unfortunately the fellow campers dont like it too much especially when its a very early start and they were partying to all hours. (at those times it gets a few extra pumps to enhance its most well known quality It jumbo jet roar) If I know I should be using a quiet stove it tends to be a Coleman 505b My most expensive and oldest Coleman but its powerful enough and controllable enough for most cooking. These are both heavy stoves but we regularly cook in groups so need stoves that can cook for 4 or 5. I have respect for the triangia for 1 or 2 people but dont like there price much.
Personal choices: Backpack - Opti 8R or Coleman 442 Exponent General - Brit Military No.12, Brit Military No.2 UnModified, Brit Military No.3 Mk3, Opti 111T. Horses for courses, try something different, if its not what you're after you can always flog it off again..... I err towards white gas but that's my preference, I do have a selection of Kero and Spirit beasties also Alec.
Hi Mookie, Do you intend using your stoves or will they be polished up to become "shelf queens"? There are people here who seem to have done both but they tend to have spent considerable amounts of cash getting there. If they are to be used you need to think about when and where they are going to be needed. Car camping lets you carry a double or triple burner suitcase style beast with a grill etc. backpacking around Hudson's bay in winter is a different story when weight, reliability and availability of fuel become the major concerns. Personally, I have a mad miscellany of butane, kerosene, gasoline, hexamine and alcohol burners. Most if which have been used by my scouts at some time or other so no point in me getting too precious about polishing or lack of minor dents. If you are going as a group then interchangeable parts is another consideration. Museum pieces are a different story, you probably have to make a choice between lots of variety or a collection of one make, one type, or even a single model. I'm guessing most people would go for lots of shiny brass or immaculate paintwork. As has already been said, only you can put a value on your purchases, so whatever you do, take your time to build up a collection that is worth having. Otherwise things can get very challenging financially rather too quickly. Regards John
One of the best ways to restrict the speed your collection grows is to commit to your next stove being an Optimus 9. Unfortunately one day it will come up and you will sell your house to get it.
For the last 7 summers, I have backpacked regularly (after a hiatus of decades), our specialty being 1-nighters, where we bring steaks, eggs, sausages, etc. We try to do 5 or 6 of these each season. I bring different 1-pint classic keroburners now and then, including the Optimus 00, Svea 121, or others. But there is one stove that I always bring, without fail. When we bring one stove, it is the one. When we bring two, it still comes along. It is, of course, the Svea 123 with Sigg set (to me they are inseparable, I've never brought the 123 without the kit). So, from practice rather than theory, I must regard the Svea 123/Sigg as the best hiking stove.
If you mean camping like base camp or such for a group of people, the Coleman 413E is the killer diller. It has the BTU's to stir fry,sauté and simmer with the best of them. For packing on the trail, I'd choose the 123 for cooking and a beer bottle alcohol stove for making a cup of coffee or cocoa. Base camp at home you'll see me cooking on a OO or a 45, just because it is fun. buzz
A 425 would suit me just fine. Does not take up as much room as the 413 and surely cooks like a champ. buzz
For day in and out car camping with the family, the 413 has it hands down. The 425 is very cool but just a bit too small for the two big pots of stew! I've got near 40 years on our family 413. Many years of great memories, all over the Cascades and the Rockies.
Been using a 426B for years for my car camping stove. Lots of real estate to get the job done with plenty of power like the 413. I can also store stuff in the cavernous insides, like a bottle of fuel or lighters, dish towels, etc. A true suitcase. Hiking/backpacking stove: Svea 123 with Sigg cooking set. Base camp backpacking: MSR Dragonfly. sam
SWMBO and I recieved 1 spanking new 425 as a wedding gift (and a 220 lantern)... that was 42 ish years ago. Still have the stove, gave the lantern to my daughter, who promptly got it stolen... But I prefer my 413/426
In North America, you need only 3: 1. Trangia. I'm not really sure which one; I have them all. 2. Svea 123. You do want to participate intelligently on the CCS board, after all! 3. Coleman 413. Because as awesome as the first two stoves are, eventually you will want to do some real cooking to keep the family happy, and the folding oven is just way too cool! Regards, Ridge
"as awesome as the first two stoves are, eventually you will want to do some real cooking" being unable to rustle up a proper meal on a trangia says more about the chef than the stove and whilst that (agricultural) 413 looks like it'll do the job, wouldn't a 22b do the same but with more finesse?
Well,Tetley by real I really mean big! The Coleman excels at quickly cooking the types and quantities of meals needed to keep morale at an acceptable level with the family, especially when Murphy shows up for a campout. That said, Trangias will always be my first love, the stove I always take when it's just Me vs. Wild. As a matter of fact, somewhere in the CCS archives is a post I made a while back with pics showing how to bake with the Trangia 27 and a disposable aluminum pan. I don't claim to be the first person to ever do that, just the first person I've ever seen doing it. That little trick has been the utter demoralizing ruin of more than one JetBoil toting stove amateur on a cold wet night. "A hundred bucks for a JetBoil? I mean really, if you just want to boil water you could have done that with some matches and an old bean can." That gets them going, but they don't say much with a mouthful of blueberry muffin! Regards, Ridge
