If you want to try your hand at an cheapo but rather good meths cook set, try the LEDMARK COOK SET. Then when you decide you like the pots but are unsure of the burner, ditch the burner for a Trangia item with simmer ring that does. I have an Optimus 77a that is effectively identical and my usual meth carry. Perfect for 2 people and will shrug off a breeze that would be uncomfortable to sit in. And hey! If you don't like it, you'll be out about a sawbuck.
Ed, great picture! We live in Stevens county, near Loon lake, about 40-odd miles north of Spokane. We built ourselves a small straw bale cottage back in the late ‘90’s at 3,200 feet on Blue Grouse mountain and have lived there happily ever since. Backpacking is perhaps my favorite pastime. In the photo I see you and your wife are all set with a stove for cooking, a fire for warmth and ambiance, a tarp strung up and you even carry an umbrella! Eh, what kind of stove is that?? My wife and I are planning our first ever ultralight multi day backpacking trip with a shelter setup that weighs under a pound, lightweight backpacks, a two person quilt instead of sleeping bags and the works. I have ordered two Golite 6 ounce umbrellas as part of our kit – Good for sheltering an alcohol stove from the wind, blocking the open end of a tarp shelter, opened and laid on the ground by your head at night it supports a mosquito net, keeps the sun from frying your brains when hiking above the treeline in nice weather and oh yeah, keeps the rain off yer head as well! Usually we’re typical traditional backpackers with internal frame packs and my wife carries 20 to 30 pounds and I’m in the 30 to 40 range for a four night trip up high. Here is my wife on Idaho’s Long Canyon Loop, at the top of Pyramid Pass. That’s parker peak, tallest summit in northern Idaho ( I think! ) in the background. We got to the top of the pass late in the day after a very exhausting climb, and the campfire picture with my wife above was taken just a few feet away from this photo, on the only flat spot we could find to sleep on. I searched for “LEDMARK COOKSET” and didn’t come up with any for sale, they don’t seem to available anymore? Fantastic deal though, I’ll have to keep my eye open for ‘em. You guys are not helping with my desire for stoves…. Lately I’ve been playing with homemade alcohols stoves and have made a pile of soda can stoves, a super cat or two, a turbo cat, extra big Fosters soda can stoves, and a few penny stoves. I think the basic soda can stove is my favorite, but the utter simplicity and astonishingly light weight of the super cat can’t be ignored for a solo stove. I think I might just go get me a mini-Trangia setup. I’m curious how a Trangia burner compares to a homemade soda can stove, the price is right, and I think I can cook for two in the .8 liter pot if I’m careful. Not ideal maybe, I generally prefer a two quart cooking pail for everything, but with some modifying my cooking regime it should work. Honestly, I simply prefer cooking over a liquid fuel stove! I like the heat and I’m so used to them. Still, for a lightweight summer trip I think I will try alcohol.
Etd, the lass is my eldest daughter, a regular backpacking companion. Here's a photo of me on the same trip, which gives a good idea both of my geezer status and the invaluable, and oft-overlooked, role of the umbrella in the backcountry: That particular outing we knew it was going to rain, but we had camp set up before it happened; thus tarp in place, hot fire going, and then the umbrellas. The bumbershoot is indispensible for going about a campsite and environs comfortably in the rain. The stove in the foreground in the earlier pic is a Svea 121 with its red tin; the other one is the Sigg Tourist with Svea 123 inside. I usually hike with the Svea/Sigg kit, and a different 1-pint keroburner every season. I bought a new Trangia 25 last Fall which I will deploy soon. 8) Here's a closeup of the stoves: I love that country around your area; I'd really like to hike it sometime.
Heh, dirt stove? How about "field expedient stoves"? Or are stoves self-contained portable camp fires? Oops! Daughter, not wife. Sorry Ed. I love the 123 in the Sigg Tourist setup! Why the heck doesn’t someone still make those? Great setup and they still make Svea 123s – I do love the Selkirk’s in northern Idaho, it’s one of my favorite places.
Hi all, This is my Coleman 508 running on butane. I used a Coleman fuel cap with a schrader valve to charge the font and it works very well. Cheers, Norman
Hi Paul, You should try butane in your 508 because it will put out a lot of heat and is fully adjustable from simmer to full blast. The great thing about the Coleman font is that it's steel and is welded so way it will leak unless someone punches a hole in the font. Very easy to convert using the Coleman cap with schrader valve. Cheers, Norman
Is there a tutorial on converting a Coleman cap to have a schrader valve? Where dowse one get the valve?
I havent come across a tutorial. For the Shrader valve, think the bicycle tube has one or your nearest auto tire dealer. Ron
Sparky asked, Norman (Techguy 58) tells me he'd taken a look at my series of posts in the 'Frankies, Mods and Hybrids' column on fuelling various stoves on butane. Coleman 502 fuelled by butane As an alternative to adapting a Coleman NRV as I did, Techguy ingeniously sourced a Coleman fuel cap equipped with a schrader valve from an Amish online store. It's an accessory to allow Coleman stoves/lanterns to be pressurised using a footpump. The idea and accessory pre-dates the current Amish product and there's an example featured somewhere (I think) in the 'Paraffinalia' section of the Stove Ref Gallery. By filling the font with butane from a donor cartridge (warmed in hot water, Coleman font cooled prior to filling to establish a pressure diferential) it's a simple enough job and the Coleman runs well on butane on the usual generator tip Here's Techguy's post from the F/M/H column Coleman 508 on butane He'd earlier in this 'flame shots' thread shown us the success he'd had in adapting a Pak-Cook (Svea 123 clone) to burn butane ... Pak-Cook ... based on my refuelling of a Juwel 34 with butane Juwel John
Arara S58 meths stove - something I've yet to feature in the Stove Ref Gallery - simmering flame John
Here is a shot of a nice little Stesco "Hiker's Stove" petrol fueled. Cute little thing and boiled a litre of water in 8.45 Mins.
never had coil burner. They are as a result a lure .... just not sure if I wanna mess with ebay to get one.
