What is The Classic Camp Stove? Not necessarily your favorite. Not necessarily the best, most suitable or versatile. But the stove which the phrase, 'Classic Camp Stove', automatically conjures up. The epitome if you like. I'd say, Upright, possibly collapsible, paraffin, 1 to 1? pinter. A Primus No.1 or a 210 say. What do you think?
Hi Ian, Great question. Define camping? Backpack or Landrover? (Oh, sorry, car camping for you other mob) Backpack: Svea 123; first, never thoroughly bettered. Landrover: Optimus in a big tin; take your pick of 111, 22, Campingo. Coleman suitcase for our American cousins I guess. Classic Pressure Stove? For me, the CCS logo has it right: 2 pint, Optimus/Primus No. 5 No matter what else comes along, there's always a Svea 123 along too! Cheers, Tom
One pint collapsable "00"/210 does everything a 111 does, and holds more fuel. You can backpack, car-camp or canoe, it is the one-stove-does-it-all tool. For specific use there are better in a mountain hut - a silent burner 45 equivalent, backpacking solo - a 96 in two mess tins is eerily close to perfect. I'm going to admit to a sneaking admiration for Henry's Big Blue Box camping gaz stove.....
Aaaargh .. Cat among the Pigeons. The Classic Camp Stove. Doesn't have to be back-packable, just a stove to use in camp! Aaargh, Aaargh, Aaargh !!! How do you define Classic? Is it an item that would be recognised by people who are not necessarily informed or interested in the topic ? So, for example, the original Mini motorcar, is a Classic, as most anyone would recognise it. Now, given that the average 'Joe' recognises the brass liquid fueled stoves as 'Primus' stoves, even if they are Optimus, Radius, Monitor or other .. and also seems to be aware of the 'roar' of the '*Primus' stove and the removable pot supports, then I'd say that The Classic Camp Stove would be a Primus 51, .... or similar. Anyone got a spare they don't want Spudz
It's a simple question. Why make it so much more complicated? Someone says, 'The Classic Camp Stove'. What first springs to mind? '... define Classic', indeed!
As for me when someone comes up and looks at your stove and says look at that old stove looks nice how does it work never seen one like that before.[ Now its a Classic]
Maybe a 210 sport, no matter what age it is - the oldest or last off the line, the efficiency remains the same, perhaps not as easy to set up and get going as a 111, but the word 'classic' seems more applicable somehow. And it comes in a quality box.
Hi, In my opinion there is no contest. It has to be an Optimus 45. It is powerful, portable and when you are not using it you can admire the curves. What more could anyone want. Regards, Kerophile.
Greetings, Lads, I'll have to pick three "Classic Camp Stoves". The very first stove that comes to mind is the venerable Optimus 45. I agree with what Kerophile had to say about this wonderful stove. When I think of such stoves, the 45 is the one I picture in my mind!! For backpacking, there is no other choice, but the SVEA 123! When I first began backpacking, back in the late 50's, with the Boy Scouts, the SVEA was already winning friends in many places. By the time I began doing "modern" backpacking, in the '70's, the SVEA was firmly entrenched as the most popular choice of all "in the know" backpackers! I credit backpacking Guru, Colin Fletcher, for influencing most of us to love the little SVEA 123! I actually have the same setup that Fletcher used, in my collection: SVEA 123, red lacquered Sigg fuel bottle, and the same cookset, too!! I'll take a photo of it, one day, and post it here. Last, to me, the only "modern" stove that deserves the appellation "Classic Camp Stove", is the MSR X-GK, and all it's forerunners! When old Larry Penberthy, of the original MSR company, first developed this stove, he set into motion all the research and development that, to this day, still effects stove design and manufacture!!! And, of all the "plug and play" stoves that have come and gone since that time, the X-GK is still being manufactured, and is very hard to beat. It still does exactly what it was designed to do, and does it in a completely reliable, and wonderful manner! So, those are my favorite "Classic Camp Stoves"! Good thread, Brother Ian! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc Mark
If we are considering it from this side of the pond, in my lifetime, within my experience and style of camping, I would have to say the Coleman 500 or 502!! These stoves were early in a long line of Coleman stoves with the same general profile, design and features. Those brass beauties from Sweeden, Germany, etc. are pretty to behold and are truly desireable to collect. One also has to consider that many of the traditional, three legged brass stoves were marketed for kitchen use, not "camping", though the smaller, more portable, varities could certainly be considered camping stoves. The Colemans, on the other hand, are more like "grunt" stoves, they get the job done well and with little fanfare. They are squat and certainly less than "eye candy" but they are dependable, efficient, strong, easy to operate and essential to the type of camping the majority of folks over here have grown up with in the last 60 years. Gordon
Prior to finding this site I might have said a 111 as I did not know so many different models and brands existed. Since finding this site I would tend to say a 3 legged kero burner with a roarer vs. silent burner on the line of a 00, 210 or 45. From a western hemisphere standpoint, Gordon is spot on in terms of some flavor of Coleman stove.
Classic stove is th Standard 41 or the Optimus 210 made by H?vik. Then its 111 with noisy burner for real bad boys!
When I hear the words "camp stove" I'm about seven, and I see a grimy, beat up green box labelled "Coleman- Witchita, Kansas" with two burners in it on the end of a WPA picnic table somewhere in the breaks of the Moreau River in South Dakota, I can smell the lovely aroma of freshly boiled coffee with tones of white gas and the smoke from my Dad's pipe. There's also a green or red lantern hissing on a lanyard hung from a tree branch and surrounded by a few dozen moths and flies as well. Ideally there would be an old brown glass bleach jug full of white gas that set Dad back 15 cents a gallon from the drum in back of the gas station sitting on the ground under that same table. In the background a few yards away I hear fish splashing in a pond as they jump for mayflies. Coyotes will be singing in an hour or two after the moon comes up. When I hear the words "pack stove" it's a Svea 123 (NOT R) neatly packed in a Sigg Tourist cookset. I'm now eight or ten years older and 1500 miles further west in the Nooth Cascades surrounded by Alaska cedars four or five feet tall Waiting for my coffee to boil over a small bright campfire. The Svea will get it's turn in the morning, when I'll be in a hurry to get my trout rod rigged and a salmon egg out into the pool at the mouth of the outlet fo a mountain lake that is still 90% covered with ice in the middle of July. Man alive, I do love to go camping. Gerry
For personal experiences, I couldn't possibly say it better than Gerry. For me, that Coleman suitcase stove is sitting next to the Snake River in southern Idaho, though the other details are fuzzier. The Svea 123 (with Sigg Tourist set) is my first stove; the one I earned the money for by digging holes in hard clay, and is located just above treeline in the southern Sierra Nevada, with alpenglow on the peaks. But... when I saw the phrase "classic camp stove", the model that popped into my head was the Primus 96 "Pocket Primus". The word "classic" made me look back past my own personal experiences, and "camp" (as opposed to "base camp" or "expedition") led me straight to the 96. Wish I had one... ....Arch
