Well there it is in its full glory...the cool thing in the thread attached is the little blue can stove that I was smart enough to save is in picture right beside the last of the images up on the board.... Yup...that was a great stove and nothing on it to break! You just lit the little fuel that collected in the tiny cup and that was all it needed..no matter how full the tank, your hands were enough to pressurize it to get the fuel to spout up and under the burner flange.. thanks guys..well done.. Jeff
Jeff, That bit of information is incredibly useful to me, what kind of Alcohol BTW? I'm actually trying to get the paint off of a 1964 Rogers M-1950... That little stove in a flour can? if the can was red and blue most likely it was an optimus #80.... I've got one of those and it's definatly neat... EXCEPT for the little "arms" in the soldered sockets... Did the stove look anything like the #80 pictured in this auction? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...akeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:us AD
the only difference between that stove in the auction is it is not mine! Dang....and the can is square...and its mint...but I did not zoom in on the arm pockets...will go back there and ck them out...are they loose...if they are DO not attempt to solder them...go to a copper smith as you can loosen the whole thing and I mean it... it is the same thing alright.. the M 1950 stove will depaint with alcohol but I think that paint remover is better for the legs and around the filler neck unless you have a dremmel and a small wire brush that looks like the end of a pencil erassor and has stiff wire on it...the paint just peals off of the big spaces but sticks like all get out in the strangest places..use your storage can to fill it with alcohol and dunk the whole stove in it with the pump screwed in to keep the junk out or you will regret it..keep the pump on until all the paint is gone...I like the paint on them and it adds to the value of the stove....too bad you can not get replacment instruction and warning lables you can restick to the side of the stove under the burner knob...it would be very nice..but read about the little rubber valves at the bottom of the pump...man the alcohol ruins them pronto and dries out the leather pump plunger..keep it oiled with 3 in 1 oil when you are working on the stove or you will suffer for that....I got a 7/8" inch O ring at the hardware store by 3/32" thick and it works ver well...perfect to seal the pump to the tank... congratulations on that Optimus stove..I would have bought it myself had I known..but I looked for them for a long time before giving up and going to the army stove...that thing has no parts to fail on it...and it will outlast you and your whole family line...its built tough and simple... Jeff
I can see thie problems without the legs...the can works as the pot holder and the lid keeps you from putting a decent pot on it unless the lid folds back a fulll 180 degrees..if not I am not sure how handy that stove would be...I like the 3 legs better than using the box to hold the pot over the stove...ask the seller if the lid folds totally back and out of the way...if so you have a winner....if not, I am not sure I would go for it...but I suppose you could always pry off the lid and make it so it re-attaches when you are done... J
The Optimus 80 I have the lid folds back sufficiently to place a 2liter pot on it In truth my Optimus 80 "lives" in a kitchen cabinet so I can use it to boil water for coffee when the power is out, which sadly because of my rural location happens all too often. The stove I usually keep in my vehicle is an optimus 99 (Taiwanese copy but it works) BTW, if you like that little stove in a can the Primus #71 was sold in an identical can. there are a couple of those on ebay too... do a search for "stove, primus" and you'll get ~30 hits there are three Primus #71's at the moment. I remember seeing a burner the same size as the optimus 80 or primus 71 with tubes soldered to the side of the tank for wire pot supports that could either be rotated inwards (for stove storage) or outwards for supporting a larger pot... The arems and the attachment was like those on the #123, but the stove did not have the tubular brass "windscreen" like the optimus 123 AllanD
Allen, I don't understand....are you selling these stoves or you have one yourself? Right now I am up to my neck in stoves that I am going to sell as my kids think that these things are so LAME...where is have values gone? I will get rid of all but one unissued in the box M1950 for myself and sell the rest...still having my flat fold out stove that is like a flat Primus...one day I will find a perfect one like yours hopefully like my own one with the three legs...I can see that they are out there....its amazing how well those things are....the good thing is that the M1950 will burn anything and that is a plus... I can't think of anything that heats food as cheaply or as efficiently as your older stove in a can...it is a thing of efficient beauty...I was so stupid selling mine...but it had been on so many camp outs and hammred from use and fun out in the woods....but my last camp out scared me so bad that I sold what I could, gave the rest away and threw what was left in the trash...I don't even have a sleeping bag...something that I had better think about again....but when you get the life scared out of you that you go into shock, it takes decades to get over it....and that was in the Trinity Shasta Alps at Coffee Creek over camping next to Big Boulder lake...whew...it scared the 2 other guy too...ran into big foot and the next night hiking out of there I chased a huge light in the forrest that I thought was a barn light as it lit up the whole mountain side...so I hiked up there for help and the light kept moving and moving and all of a sudden it was coming close and things went strange...all I remember was hauling down the mountain with my trusty Commander in hand (boy I had hiked at least 3 miles in just a few minutes and I was shocked at how far and deep in the woods I had wondered off the road..then all I remember meeting up with my two friends outside of the only tavern and sold the Commander and had the best greasy cheese burger and fries I have ever eaten...the beer was good too...but from that monent back in 1975 I was officially not a camper anylonger and the stove went out the door along with everything that looked like it could be used for camping... Those were the days boy...meeting a cirtter that is almost 8 ft tall at the end of my Commander (about 8" away) was one of the worse things I could ever wish on someone...let me tell you
Dang Masthead, You sure scare easily!! Must be from San Francisco, eh?!! It's too bad that you got rid of all your stuff, especially after just a little excitement in the woods! But, I'm most sorry that I wasn't there to help. I'd have gladly traded you a hamburger on Tuesday, for your Commander that day!!! 8) As you seem the jittery type, maybe it's best for you to stick to unpressured Meths stoves, or better yet, propane stoves, and just "camp" in the back yard. 'Course, if you ARE from SF, that might not work, either. No telling WHAT might crawl over your fence, if you're camping in the back yard!! You might really NEED that old Commander of yours........ Uh, oh..... if you live in SF, you can't have it anymore, as they passed a ban on handgun ownership within the SF city limits!!! Dang, Mast, you're in deep kimshee, either way!!!! Just stay home and watch the National Geographic channel, and call it good!!! 8) 8) Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc Mark P.S. Might was well send your M1950 to CWO Lance. He has a "Home For Terminally Bewildered Campstoves", and he will take good care of it for you!!
I'm baffled how from the context of what I said you could think that I was selling any of those stoves... No, I am not. You mentioned you missed the one you lost and I was already watching those on ebay with an eye towards bidding on them myself if the price stayed low.also please notice that I told you HOW to find something and what you'd find if you looked but didn't direct you to any specific item (even though NONE of them are mine, though at the close of the auction they might be Frankly, I look to "steal" things on ebay by "sniping" finding poorly described items or items listed in the wrong catagory. I have been known from time to time to buy something, simply take MUCH better pictures of it test it to verify it works (something the previous seller wouldn't or couldn't do) and resell it for a profit, though I haven't do so recently... I have an Optimus #80 myself that I bought from a co-worker ~1989 like one of those listed on ebay (though several of them have better storage cans) AND I have a Taiwanese copy of a #99 that I got at a garage sale for $5 in the mid 90's The #80 has never been apart though I have polished it recently. It works perfectly and is fully fueled and ready to go (literally) at a moments notice. The Taiwan #99 is on my desk as I type this because I just had it apart to replace the valve packing and give it a bit of a polish before returning it to it's stuff sack and putting it in the storage compartment in my pickup truck where it "lives" I'd love to have another #80 or better yet find a good deal on a #123, but based on the simple fact that another family member may need to use it (I consider my mini stoves to be "emergency equipment") and several of the more nervous family members have shown an inability to deal with the method of operating the non pressurized stoves like optimus, primus, etc I'm switching to Coleman "dual fuel" type stoves for the various vehicle "emergency kits" in the name of "standardization" I'm torn between the Coleman 442 and the Coleman 550 in the smaller vehicles, but have firmly decided on the 533 for the larger vehicles (larger fuel tank, no folding legs that can become broken AND the 533 is ~$20 cheaper than either of the others) Then again what many consider to be "emergency equipment" might not be what I consider to be sufficient, but that's another story.... AllanD
You guys have any of those curved wrenches and filtered funnels? boy are they hard to find... thanks for all the help you have given me...this place rules... Jeff
