I tried the magnet test yesterday, and it didn't work on this stove, or any other known stainless items that we have in house.
Most stainless steel I am in contact with are austenitic, and thus not magnetic at all. I would also expect a cookware like this to be of that type e.g. regular 18/8. But when checking my mess kit, it actually was slightly magnetic so I guess they used a ferritic SS. Strangely enough, this wasn't the case with the smaller pot. It was only the large one that was a tiny bit magnetic.
Hi Eddie; Could you kindly post the site where they sell spirit containers for one USD. I would like to buy a steel set too. If you know of a site please post that also. I did not know that some SS are none magnetic. Now you made me wonder if my set is aluminum or steel. Mine is riveted and painted. What does that mean? Yours Daryoush
LOL, after the Apocalypse there will only be cockroaches and these things! I used one for a while, worked ok. Better after I installed a T burner that actually simmered. I like to cook
There is a good reason why lots of military kit is made from the grades of Stainless Steel that are non-magnetic, the most common of these is SS316. It is because of magnetically sensitive explosive mines. If you keep the soldier's magnetic signature as low as possible, there is less chance of him detonating a proximity magnetic fuse.
Daryoush, if your set is riveted, then it's the aluminium one. Their good, but the s/s mess kits are bomb proof, thought a little heavier.
This turning out to be a very interesting read, which adds even further to the fun of stove ownership. I'm always keen to learn new things. So thanks everyone for the input into what is such a basic stove.
If it has two ridges at the top of the main pan it is aluminium. If it has one ridge it is stainless steel. The windshield is anodised aluminium in all cases. I used paintstripper and a stiff brush to get off the awful paint on the pans, it is much better looking now. That is well worth doing. It works better with a civvy trangia burner. This is smaller and thus easier to get the windshield off/on. You also get the benefit of the simmer ring. A pot gripper is a useful piece of kit for maneuvering the windshield once it gets hot. Ross has new rubber rings for the military burner at fettlebox.co.uk
The unofficial name for the cookset is "snuskburk" which can mean roughly filth-jar or similar. The meths bottle btw is somewhat notorious for leaking. As a sidenote I sometimes use magnets to separate SS bolts from ordinary steel ones as the stainless ones are not magnetic.
Thanks for the extra info David. One quick question in regards of the Trangia. Having not owned one before, I didn't realise that there was a difference between the civilian and military version. I'd hoped to order a simmer ring for mine, but after reading your post, would I be correct in assuming that they are different sizes? edit.. I have just thought of another question. I'm guessing the military green colour on the pan sets is a heat proof paint, so does anyone have suggestions of what to use as a replacement. This isn't for my current stove, but for it would be handy for future reference.
The military burner is somewhat larger than the civvy one, and the Trangia simmer ring does not fit it.
Milspec trangia burner is too big for civilian simmer ring. Unfortunately, as I bought one specifically!
Well, I checked out the 4 Swedish cook kits I have. All were bought from the same source and appeared new when I got them back in the 1990's. They have the pot, pan, wind screen, burner and fuel bottle. All are painted green. All have two grooves in the pot. NONE responds to a magnet as far as I can tell. This includes all components such as handles, rivets, windscreen and pot supports, etc. Since none repsond to magnets and from the other tell tales of rivets and grooves denoting aluminum contruction, I assume they are aluminum and that they did go thru the trouble/expense of either priming or chemical treatment to allow painting of the aluminum body. On Average the kits weigh about 27oz/810g with all the above named components. This as measured on a cheapie postal scale of unknown accuracy. So that's what I have on these kits in my posession. I like them and have used them with my kids on various Boy Scout outings in the past. My only complaint is that the pan is odd shaped(too deep, too narrow) and not very good for frying. Otherwise they do the job they were designed for. Jim Henderson
They are very nifty little items and especially when they were going for 10 bucks or less a few years back. They work well for boiling and pot meals. Don't know what they sell for now. The surplus store I bought mine at finally went out of business about 5 years ago.
They work well over a fire: [media=youtube]PqafG81yBfU[/media] Or any other heat source: [media=youtube]dn7zbx0GKwA[/media] And the windshield/burner can be used in other ways: [media=youtube]dSjFlLgFXUE[/media] The same burner is used in this other Swedish army stove: [media=youtube]2cjIZ_-mV0Y[/media]
I have just taken delivery of two more Trangias and it would appear that there are differences in the hole/jet sizes. All three below are military spec Trangias, the left hand one just has Trangia wording and the three crowns, and is running on neat meths. The centre Trangia has the Trangia wording, NC64, three crowns and the SVA wording, and is running on neat meths. The right hand Trangia is the same as the left hand one, but is running on meths with a tea spoon full of water added. The Centre Trangia/SVEA version has a larger jet/hole size than the other two, and fires up quicker, but appears to use more fuel and also runs hotter. The two internal holes also appear to be larger. It is also slightly harder to extinguish than the other two burners. The slowest to run and warm up properly is the burner on the right which has the water added.
Here we go, I now have a stainless version. Weight is the first obvious difference between this an my aluminium version, followed by the non rivetted and rounded pan handle and square bale handle compared to an oval handle on the aluminium stove. It arrived to me a few days ago with chipped green paint, which I have stripped off, and I'm now undecided about whether to leave it as is, or re paint it. I'm a bit of a fussy old git, so I'll probably paint it again.
I bought 2 of these sets in stainless a year ago and they ended up in the garage (8 EUR for a set). I decided to give one for a friend, so I was doing a comparison today and noticed the hole size difference in Svea and Trangia burners. I also noticed that Trangia simmer ring fits the Trangia brand burner, but not the Svea one. So I'm keeping the Trangia burner, it seems wiser with the smaller holes and ability to simmer. Both of the lids were cracked and the simmer ring does not fit over the lid, so I'll just leave that home. EddieJ: How did you strip the paint, it looks nicer that way than the scratched and ugly green paint there is now.
A thing I learned from collecting militaria and reading about it. One CANNOT generalise specifications from a single example of anything military. One can have a dozen examples of a military item, be it shoes, stoves, pistols, ammunition boxes, rifles, stoves, fuel containers, pencils, paper, tents,underwear, field rations, ANYTHING! and still have a plethora of differences in similar items yet the items all meet what we in the New Hess of Hay call "Milspec" or Military Specifications. I've owned four U.S. Springfield Rifles Mod. 1903 over the years and all were widely different, about the only things in common were field stripping procedures and they fired the Cartridge, Caliber .30, Mod. 1906. They also accepted all accessories for the Rifle, Cal. .30, Mod. 1903. Even the bayonets have innumerable variations. Sundry European military rifles are the same in that most have sometimes dozens of standard variations. So when it comes to military things, assume nothing. Gerry
Mikko S, I used a product called Nitromors paint stripper to remove the old paint, but it did take a couple of goes to remove it. From there I just got busy with abrasive grit paper, finishing off with P2500 grit on its own, then Belgome Alu polish rubbed with P2500 grit. I could have gone on forever trying to flat the metal off, and the finish that I achieved is only a compromise.
