I bought my first stove at a local flea market when I was 19 or 20. It was a Høvik Verk Primus 210, as mentioned here, and I had no clue what it was, just that it looked cool. A couple of years later I got it up and running thanks to CCS. I really liked the little fellow and the possibility to make coffee everywhere. Looking closer at CCS I soon found out that there was a lot of cool looking stoves and different designs out there, so after that I always kept my stove-eyes open when entering an antique shop or a market. Guess I'm a collector, but I don't collect "shelf queens", I like to take my stoves out and use them for what they was intended for. Best regards, Vidar
My first Campingaz stove was changed in a lab heater by putting on their Bunsen burner adaptor. Still have that one! Other CG stuff came my way in the form of blow lamps to do the soldering of the water pipes in my house. Also CG lanterns came to live with me. The first liquid stoves that found their way to my castle were military ones, because I was collecting military stuff (British Mk2 and 3, Coleman 520 and M1950). A good friend who sadly passed away some years ago gave me a couple old stoves and torches to play with. From one thing came another, and while searching the web for information I (as many others) stumbled upon this site. The rest, as has been said a zillion times, is history! My garage was overflowing, so I had to build a garden shed..... Basically, I stopped buying stoves (and lanterns!)but can't help to look out for them on the net or at flea markets etc. .I do try to only buy the older ones now, but goodness, I am SO weak!. Mostly, stoves are used to cook for my troop at living history events, mainly my pre-1911 Primus N°5 and a 1938 double burner Primus or a double burner Barthel stove (age unknown, I guess late 1920s). Should I mention the blow torches and lanterns that followed me home? So, that's it in a nutshell, a hobby that cost me a considerable amount of money, but gave me uncountable hours of good fun! Best regards all, Wim
I started collecting when I was 13 in 78-79. Unfortunately I could not work out how to get the NRV's out so I put the stoves in a box and saved up and brought a Shinabro 340, and used it constantly for camping trips, I also picked up a couple of tilleys which were easier to work on that the stoves. After I married and set up my own home I move my stuff and found all the old brass stoves, as I had moved onto gas at this time the stoves were relegated to the shed. Some years later whilst looking for some tools I rediscovered the stoves and the lanterns. I also had a home computer and found the CCS site. So it really took off then both stoves and lamps. I'm not a polisher more of a stove user, I can see the attraction of a shiny stove but TBH Life is too short. Si
For me, it started around in 1980's. I saw a pressure brass stove in a flea market and asked the person who was selling second hand items. He answered as it is a stove. After a bargain, I got and took it at home. My Mom and Dad got so much surprised against this old item but at the same time warned me about its potential danger while using at home. They were all experienced person since they used that stuff in their real life. Anyway, Dad helped me to fettle the stove and then we managed it to run. It was really a beauty. My first stove was Optimus 5S. Then other neigbours, parents who kept their old stoves, all gave their items to me and my collection has started.
I have a large selection of different stoves, concentrated on 8/8R's, 96's, around the world, many brands. Over 140 now and CCS does not help keep the number down. I think my "want" list is down to 2. Duane PS: Fraction of what Doc Mark has.
Hi, I think I'm just an accumulator! I bought a Svea 123 in 1971 for backpacking purposes. My father had a Primus 71 in a Sigg Tourist kit, and there was a Coleman 425 in the garage, but for various reasons, while neither had been used in a long time, "borrowing" either was out of the question. Life was good with that one stove for a number of years. Somewhere along the line, I thought a Coleman suitcase stove made sense, as friends and I were starting to do less backpacking and more car camping. I found a 413(G?) at a thrift shoppe for about $20 that I thought was a fair price. Not long after that, I found a 425(?) at a yard sale for $5. Of course, it came home with me if only cuz it was a bargain! That was the beginning of what's turned into the "Pile o' Green" in the garage and includes multiples of the 425, 413, 426 and 502 Colemans, plus a couple of individuals. I've still got and use the original 123, which has been joined by a couple of 123Rs (just in case, ya know?), an 8R and some other stuff. Realizing this was getting out of hand, I started looking for Coleman lanterns instead. I've been able to control myself better there. I don't think there are more than a dozen of them hiding here and there about the house. Very few of either the Coleman stoves or lanterns cost over $5--thank you, yard sales! But all this stuff is just random, with no attempts made to put it in any kind of "collector's order" or to fill in gaps... it's just simple fun (unless I run out of room!) And though I might be in temporary remission, I'm not cured: I keep looking at the "Fettler's Kit" that came from Ross recently, and trying to figure what my first paraffin burner should be so I can put it to work... Rick C
I'll open w/+1 w/Gieorgi "It is probe to rescue part of knowledge disappearing with the passing of time. What can be done today - for two three years it will be impossible. It's not only fun, it's also a kind of duty." source I'm a collector and pretty much still a Boy Scout and camp stoves have always been a "hot setup" (over 40 years, holy crap). The rest is history, ie Isaac Newton 1676: If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. The more things change the more they stay the same. I share the SAME interests and like Sir Isaac CREDIT is due to ancestors incl Carl Nyberg (great story there) during the c1880's Industrial Revolution and development of the use of vaporized fuel (incl camp stoves!!!). Credit to CCS and membership, thank you. What kind of collector?... I always had too many fast cars, toss in some trucks (not a "collector"). I do still have a collection of motorcycles intent on making them fast.., but at the core of all this is man maximizing Nyberg's ignition of vaporized fuel c1880s. Campstoves !!! I am in denial but it IS now a collection (much easier to manage than bikes). I have come full circle I'm back where I was as 11 y/o Boy Scout and camp stoves are STILL the "hot setup". I have far too many stoves at the moment. I have grown to very much enjoy their history. The history of Coleman GI stove's role in WW2 and 501/502 "hooked me" just 4 years ago, result was a BIG renewed interest that has expanded and trended older and OLDER. I will thin my herd of stoves but will always embrace and grow old sharing the stovie history I've learned. So it maybe I'm destined to be stovie collector / historian. thx omc tag @gieorgijewski
@OMC I has been nominated to be a classic, my current life is like eternal camping, sometimes my blood boils - if I'm already a Classic Camp Stove? Rust, patina and traces of repairs confirms this ...
To be fair I do give a fair few of mine away after I've fettled them, I also swap a few for other things it just depends what people have up for trade. I'm a bit of a sucker for 111 and Shinarbro's of all kinds. If they are cheep i'll buy them and put them in the one day pile (One day I'll have time to sort it). I seem to have been finding a lot of 8r's, 71's and 80's at the moment plus the odd 123 for good measure. And please don't start on the MSR stuff. Si
There's no reason to own more than two svea 123's unless you're a collector. I've come to terms with the fact that camp stove collecting is separate from my outdoor endeavors and backpacking.
I blame my wife. We were camping with small children with only a campfire. She found a new in the box unfired Optimus 8R at a garage sale for $5. Then she brought home a Coleman lantern and then a 413 that I barely remember. This was over 30 years ago. After losing the 8R about 5 years ago I bought a new Svea 123R since the 8R is no longer made. I found CCS and then found the 8R, all the way across the USA in my son's apartment. The 8R didn't work so I bought him a pocket rocket and took the 8R back with me. The rest is history as they say. But I am fairly content (ha ha!) at 13 stoves. I only bought 3 this past year.
"There's no reason to own more than two svea 123's unless you're a collector" I own 2 123rs. One is original bought new when was about 20 and used till now. Missing the pot handle and currently residing in a globetrotter case. The other purchased minus heat shield to go with a Siigg Tourist kit found in a recycling shop minus all its pots. Thanks to Doc Mark for graciously gifting me the large Sigg pot to make it a working kit.
I consider myself as an user. I was growing up with my parents Campingaz buthan stove. When I was old enough to get my own stove, I got a Trangia 27. Later when I was getting into winter camping and has enough money for it, I got an Optimus Nova (ca 2000). Nova became my all seasons stove for several year. The first stove I got, but never have used more than testing, was a Primus Himalaya Multifuel. The history behind that stove can be found at: http://web.archive.org/web/20020804092436/http://www.primus.se/basecamp/baseindex_e.htm After the initial testing, my conclusion was that Nova was a better stove for my needs, so Multifuel has not been used anymore. But this was probably the first step in growing a collection. The next step was about 2010, when I was looking for a new winter stove. I wanted a stove that don't need assembly, for getting easy routines in the cold. As long as the transport is based on pulk, the weight is less important. This time I had to read up on classic stoves, and here I am. From the time in the army, I had only bad experience with Optimus 111, so that one was not my first choise this time. First I got a Phoebus 625 that did'nt work for me, I had to get an Optimus 111 and become a friend of it. That took some time, but it has been my winter stove since. I also got an extra Optimus 111 just to have a complete stove for future usage if something happen with the first one. When this reading up on classic stoves, I also became interested in Svea 123r and Primus 210. The 123r was possible to get new, so that was an easy choice, get it before it will be to late. That one has become my prefered stove in the summer. Primus 210 was not that easy. In my search for it, I first found a Radius 21. When I later found a Primus 210 (made by Høvik verk), I had two in that class. I prefer the Radius 21. To find out if this was caused by sample variation, I later got my second Primus 210 also this made by Høvik verk. I still prefer the Radius, so I got another of them in case of future needs. I have also got some Optimus 00 for parts. The last Primus 210 was a swedish made 210 Sport, the steel case was the most interested part of that stove. The 210 sport is the stove that has its place in my car, for camping, for coffee making and in case of ... When in search for Optimus 111 and Primus 210, I also got some other goodis, like a Primus 96, Radius 1sr with special silent burner, Optimus 8r and Radius 42. My plan was to use Primus 96 in the summer, but because the blind plug is leaking it is not a transportable stove for my usage. I have got a Manaslu 96 for this kind of smaller kerosene stove. Because this is a stove that can be purchased new, I did it before it is too late. The Radius 1 with special silent burner has become my waffle stove for use at home. I also got a Jøtul and a Drafn waffel iron for this. The Optimus 8r has become my stove for one day trips in the mountains in the summer. The Radius 42 is still in need for some fettling and some parts. When new stoves comes into the collection and is in need for fettling, there is allways need for parts, and other stoves can be gotten just for the parts. But this stoves will also be objects for fettling, and more parts is needed, and more stoves purcased for parts. The collection is growing faster than my usage, but the use of the stoves is still the main part. If a stove is not working, it can be fettled or used as parts, I do not get a stove just for collecting it. I don't want to have restriction of usage of my stoves, like not use a stove because it hasn't been used before. The latter is of course not a problem, because I do not want to pay the extra those collectable stoves is going for. My Trangia is still there even if it is only the coffe pot that is in usage anymore. And it is in perfect working order if one of my nephews ask to borrow it (or any of the other stoves). When they grow up and have gotten experience of modern stoves, they maybe come to me and ask for one of the classic ones.
It all started with my militaria collecting. I picked up some military stoves and lanterns both British and American and one thing lead to another. Same way I accumulated a bunch of razors. Started out with strictly military issue ones and then it just sort of spread. And of course you have to have reference books for what you collect.
I started out as a user/collector of Coleman lanterns. I became interested in stoves in part because of my rustoration of my '74 Westy. I learned from my experiences with Coleman lanterns how they tend to "multiply uncontrollably" and decided to hamstring my collection compulsion with a self imposed limit of $20 Cdn on any future purchases. As such I've ended up with around 20 single burner stoves and 2 two burner stoves. All either bought under my limit or acquired in trade. Also if I purchase a stove it must be a different model than one I already have, or be in significantly better shape than the one I already have which I will strive to "trade" away asap. As a side note, rescuing beautiful, efficient and long lasting old stove technology from the scrap heap is very high on my list of reasons for "collecting". Stan
At age 8 I joined the scouts and used a hopeless alcohol stove (piece of crap...) until I after a while progressed to a Campingaz Bleuet 206. On summer camps I always played around with the large stoves - most likely No 5's? I can't remember. But I was totally infatuated with them. Too big to carry on a hike though. At the mature age of 11(!) I decided that I had to find something decent to use when sleeping out in the winter - the 206 had been nothing but trouble the whole previous winter. My mother later that year gave me my grandfathers 1927 210 Sport sporting a Radius burner. The world changed into a better place... I got a Trangia 25 for christmas later on since all the other scouts were using those (I never saw the point of that then) , and I had a small collection. In all my close to twenty active years as a scout I was the only one with a kerosene stove. Too bad for all the others Health problems produced the need for a hobby some years ago, and the collection finally started to grow. The 210 has its place right next to the 206 (Kept it as a reminder) and the (still unused and packaged) Trangia. The reason for collecting and using is much the same as Stan says; Keeping the old, beautiful technology alive
