At last, I was able to put my hands on a Pigeon! (Not the bearer of peace.) I got this stove on eBay France, for a decent price, after searching for more than a year. It arrived in a very dirty state, with some foul smelling liquid in the tank. After disassembly and a good cleanup, I replaced the filler cap seal, flushed the tank with some kerosene (white gas is too expensive), put everything back together, and the stove lit up on first try. It came like this, including a cloth bag, a wrench, and a funny looking brass rod which I believe does not belong there: It has a strange capsule attached to the fuel line below the burner, between the tank and the valve (flow-wise). The fuel flows from the tank through the inner tube into the capsule, and then back through the outer tube to the valve. I can't figure out what it does and why it's needed. Perhaps intended to prevent pulsing? The tank cap has a built-in SRV, with a tamper-proof top. I did verify that I can push its piston up against the spring with a wire inserted through the bottom hole. The flame is perfect blue, rather hot, and very silent. However, it flips into under-burn with the slightest disturbance. Underburn makes the burner glow bright orange, on the verge of melting. The stove boils water reasonably fast. After running for 10 minutes, the tank is too hot to touch. In summary, I like its peculiar French engineering as a conversation piece. It follows what I think is the French golden rule of engineering: "Don't make it simple if you can complicate it." I will continue to brew my coffee on the old reliable 8R, 123, and Radius 42. Yonadav
Congratulations Yonadav, on getting your pigeon stove you have been after so long. It sure is a nice little compact stove, with a good amount of power. I bet you have been really looking forward for it to arrive and to fettle it, once aqain Yonadav well done
Great score Yonadav! I love those little mailboxes! Could you please post a picture giving an idea of its size?
Hey Y, nice addition to your collection. I have stopped short on dreaming about an Ignus unless one falls in my lap and hope it is cold and not recently fired up. Its all about preferences since as you said the whole stove really gets hot. Ron
Thanks, folks! I'm still waiting for someone to come up with a good explanation of that seemingly useless capsule at the bottom of the valve housing. Yonadav
Hi, Yonadav, That is one lovely little stove!! I've never seen one in the flesh, but yours appears to be in wonderful condition, and definitely responded to your short fettle with good results. Brilliant!! How much does it all weigh, in case I missed that in your report? Thanks for sharing, and hearty congrats on your score!! Well done! Have fun with it, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Thanks, Doc. The bare stove weighs some 620g. The entire "system", including the "pigeon house" and pot rest gets to 860g. This includes some 50g of fuel in the tank. There are still no responses to my challenge. It seems that I should offer a prize for someone who comes up with explanation of the "mystery capsule" of this stove. Yonadav
Yondav, I believe the part you are talking about is a fuel filter. Maybe the brass screen or cotton was removed and all you have left is the tube. See this link: Pigeon Ignus with Instruction on lid It's the fourth photo. The instructions are in French, but I believe they are talking about cleaning the fuel filter, part no. 6500-A-7 and the cap, part no. 6500-A-8. I don't speak French so someone that can may have to translate that. sam
Thanks, Sam. We are getting close. The instructions show disassembly of this gizmo. I will try to find a French speaking friend to translate them. Yonadav
Roughly goes like this: Maintenance notice Ordinary petrol contains tars and greases that settle in a cleaner. 1) Unscrew the sedimentation cup N° 6500-A-8 with the flat key 2) Unscrew the cleaner N° 6500-A-7 (I guess this is some kind of filter) 3) Clean the "cleaner" (filter?) and screw back in fully 4) Refit the sedimentation cup and tighten with the flat key. Note: over long periods (of use), dirt accumulates in the sedimentation cup. Clean completely at the beginning of the campaign (this would be the camping season or some such...). Hope this helps. Best regards, Wim
So it was you who won the auction ! I decided to refrain from bidding on this stove when I was told the postage . Congrats to your stove, hope you will have lots of fun with it. Regards, Philipp
Very nice,good shot with the coke can, gives the idea of its size, I always thought they were bigger than that. Thanks for posting
Philipp - I'm glad we did not compete over this stove. The actual shipping cost was lower than quoted, and the seller was honest and refunded the difference. Sam, Wim - thanks for solving this mystery. I believe I understand it now. The stove must be from the 40's or 50's of last century. I suspect white gas was not an option then in France, so the stove was designed to run on (leaded) pump petrol. The small tube should probably contain a brass mesh filter. The capsule is positioned such that it will be colder than the vaporizing chamber, and the gunk would accumulate in it. It has ample capacity to hold gunk before becoming clogged. So, French engineers are not so dumb, after all. Yonadav I looked up a French stove site. Information there says the Pigeon Ignus was introduced in 1948. I wonder until when it was manufactured.
Hi @yonadav, Well, the site you've looked up to was wrong about the release date of the Pigeon Ignus. It has been on the market since 1938. Back in those times, they made advertisement based on an expedition to Lapland. I'll post something about it pretty soon Bastien
