An Optimus 111 Hiker T, well used and missing her burner pre-heater/wind shield and jet/multitool. No instructions, box, alcohol jet or alcohol restrictor either. She came from ebay for $36 US. Previous owner had purchased the stove (amongst others) from Army Surplus, Ohio, shortly before listing her. No idea of her age, some parts most likely had been replaced during her service: NRV, pot supports, fuel cap, etc. No embossing of logo or text on her front lid, she had the Optimus silver rectangular sticker on the front right corner (showed signs of melting/overheating). I'd be guessing mid 1980-early 1990? The case showing the typical wear/paint peel from inside due to heat/use. Pot supports are most likely recent replacements as they were in near unused condition. MADE IN SWEDEN and some Arabic writing x 2 on burner rim. Internal needle intact and jet deployed was for kerosene/coleman fuel. Standard knurled pump handle and cap, steel pump rod and leather pump cup. Pump leather was unusable (torn, deformed) and had to be replaced. Although the non-return valve (NRV) 'passed' the initial air pressure test, during the actual firing she showed some very minor (1 ml) leakage (15 minute test run). Removed NRV: her lead washer was in bad shape so replaced it with rubber o-ring; no brass cup so the PIP was a plug and still pliable so retained it after applying silicon lubricant; spring was fine. Replaced NRV back into pump tube. Fuel cap with square hole for SRV (could be spare that replaced original) but did not hold pressure, both its gasket and SRV PIP dried and needed replacement. Replaced its fuel gasket with one cut from Viton (1/16th"), opened SRV with Robertson's screwdriver and replaced its hardened PIP with one cut from viton (1/8th"), spring was fine. 'Old'-style, thin brass spindle, affixed chain with black thick round bakelite handle. Printing CLOSE and CLEAN on her topside with arrow symbols noting direction. No pre-heating shield with this stove, used one of the original brass ones as a template and cut a Friskies can to match. Burrs were smoothed off with grinder. Continued...
Top view of the shields. The Friskies can have a handy little ridge that balances perfectly on the rim of most standard-sized silent burners. The slots for the fuel tube and fuel control valve cut with metal shears. Stove back together. Unfortunately the case does not close flat/seamlessly - the right back hinge 'flange' piece does not curl up around the pin of the lower base, as if it has been pulled and straightened out. As a result she sticks up on her right side. Whether it was brute force or poor manufacture Q/A (unlikely), the skew didn't seem to weaken the welds of the hinge (both the bottom and top). They remain solidly affixed to the case interiors. I will need to fix this though, but it may be tricky - any advice would be appreciated. Running on medium output using coleman fuel as the energy source after priming with spirit. Could have used kerosene but I have lots of coleman fuel to use up... These stoves perform very well at all ranges and can maintain that consistent heat output for long durations with minimual, if any pumping. Stove on medium-high Low simmer These are excellent camping stoves, particularly with their dependability, toughness, thier wonderful burner with excellent heat range (high to simmer) and flame/output consistency over long periods of time. Large fuel tank capacity, everything well protected when packed and their ease of use are all standout features. One of the best camping stoves Optimus has made, and is up there in the list of best ever camping stove produced amongst all manufacturers. They are heavy though (a consequence of their toughness); paint is easily removed due to heat; their twin parallel metal pot support/design results in unbalanced cook pot setup and like all stoves running in cases you have to set them up on a flat surface. The size of pot you can use on them safely is also limited: in part from how far back the top lid will open and up front not to cover/overhang the fuel tank. This may lead to overheating from reflected/radiated heat and insufficient ventilation.
Stephen, This looks like one of the Marine surplus 111s that were dispersed through military surplus outlets when the Marine corps decided to phase them out for whatever reason. I managed to buy two some time back but eventually scavenged them for parts. I think we are lucky to the the fine examples of these stoves when considering the brutish handling the USMC is known for, some of these surviving stoves look as it they were used to drive tent stakes. Super job on the resto/fettle, it is no surprise a 111 would bounce back. Perhaps someone here who has experience in the Corps can give us some insight when, where and for what reason they were replaced. I think I will lay awake up at night thinking about this.
Thanks Chef, great information. Haha - love the driving tent peg usage, sounds like they'd be up to that task and perform it well. I hope someone with Marine/military knowledge can provide more information on them. For the price I paid I was willing to take the chance she was inoperable and I would scavenge/recycle her useful bits, but turns out she'll be a user (and expensive tent peg whacker/puller). The tin I may repaint down the road, but for now I've Turtle-waxed her inside/out to give her a layer of protection.
Paint would be the frosting on the cake. I do not know about Canada but with the environ-mental controls in the U.S. we are somewhat limited in the spray colors available from our street level hardware and auto stores. One can still get a respectable green hammercoat in a spray can. I like the polish you got on this one.
Thanks again for the info Chef. I've been provided excellent recommendations by Pinky (Adam) on the process of painting such cases in addition to instructions on building an electrolysis tank to help remove paint/rust. When the time comes I will endeavor to build one and try it out, in full acceptance I will likely botch/sacrifice a few in the beginning (as long as I don't shock myself or others I'll consider it successful). I've just read the link here on dating Optimus 111s and in it there is mention of USMC using the Optimus 111s. Assuming what has been posted is accepted, I'd date my stove now mid to late 1970's: leather pump, sticker on lid with no case embossing, 'light-type' spindle). It's not a 111 C because the burner is not cast, but mine does have the writing on the underside however all my 111 T's have that characteristic, so that attribute is not distinguishing. It is difficult to precisely know the date on account of the swapping out of parts a stove goes through in her life, particularly one in the military. I do have an odd nickel-plated 111 that I will post shortly. She's a hybrid model, a roarer, dating between the end of 11 line and the early 111s. Her case exhibits attributes of both the 11 and the 111, she has no internal pricker (her burner not designed to support one), has a green cookie cutter handle and the top of her burner has the full 4-armed cross, not the 3 or 'T' shape + the hole, is marked OPTIMUS SWEDEN < 1962. Oops - I just dated the nickel-plated one, she's from 1953 +/- a year. It's the first type in the posted link from Twodogs, without the old-style Radius 43 spindle but mine came with the old style windshield with the slot for spirit.
Hi yellowdog - I'm watching them, but have not had any fail yet. Been over a year since I've been using them (and some lead washers) on the NRV's. What is your experience with o-rings for the NRV? For me they are easier to remove compared to those with lead washers. Lead washers more often 'stick' to the inside of the pump tube and often become so mangled (like the original on this above) that they fail or become useless (back to the pile to be remelted). I've replaced NRVs that have had copper and steel washers on them, assuming by previous owners who didn't know better. Most I've pulled out did not have any washers and the odd newer stove (Hiker +) with factory rubber ones (milky rubber).
Viton O rings for the NRV Calls for some experimentation I am running out of lead. Been caught too many times pulling off the wheel balance weights off of cars in the shopping mall car park.
I have tried rubber but found it swelled. Bad nitrile or squashed out of shape. I have not tried o-rings. I always use PTFE washers punched out of milk bottles these days.
Lead NRV washers should really be considered one shot wonders. Not much of a problem because outside of maybe some problematic troubleshooting, the valve's not taken out that often. Modern stoves I've seen with traditional NRV's use a HDPE washer which is ok for multiple in-outs. You can use a washer made from a hdpe milk carton but they are not as thick as originals & will shred after few in-outs. I offer all my kits with HDPE or lead washers on my store (lead only via ebay). Most people prefer lead as it's more traditional I guess. I use lead in my old stoves. Viton washers are also fine - Vapalux/Bialaddin used a rubber washer on their NRV. O-rings are normally held captive on their outside diameter except for hand-tighten applications. I'd be wary of using one in this way.
Hi Chef BC, Vietnam vet here. I have seen some of these stoves in rear areas in Vietnam. The boonie rats on patrols probably very rarely carried them because 1. they are heavy; 2. they require carrying fuel(more weight); 3. they can be noisy; 4. small foil gel packs to heat rations, light weight, easy to carry. Or a more common ration heater, pinch of a small marble size chunk of C4 explosive which burns readily great for heating rations. The only way to carry anything and keep it dry was in a small ammo can that had a rubber seal. I guess it was the wrong stove in the wrong war at the wrong time. Anyway, I don't remember wanting anything hot; we were hot enough in that stinking jungle. What we wanted was cold, a cold drink of water that didn't taste like it had a dead mule in it. Until you added water purification pills then it tasted like it had 10 dead mules in it. I guess it was just impractical. The 111 stoves while one of the greats, were phased out when self-heating rations were phased in. But that leaves more for us. Every cloud has its silver lining. Have a good one--- bob
Actually thats LDPE. Polyethylene is amazing stuff. The low density version in milk bottles and the cheap stretchy rope sope in $2 shops but the ultra high density version of the same molecule is dynamic or Spectra rope with no stretch (less than 1%) and twice the strength of steel.
