Evenin' all, Since I signed up here I've been squirreling away a stove or two I've come across here'n there (evilbay) and had a couple of disappointments, and one or two nice surprises too. The biggest disappointment was a beautiful baby Radius with a lipstick vapouriser that has probably been over-pricked by a former owner, and as a result it passes too much oil giving a yellow oily flame, alternating with some blue roaring flame, but it's always way too rich. Never mind, it looks good. I also got a Primus no 2, which I think might be able to burn through a bank vault, not that I've any such ideas? and this is such a pleasure to use I've already had my money's worth of fun from it. It roars like a lion, and looks pretty good too. (I may offend some by admitting to liking shiny brass rather than the patina of the years' passage) An Optimus 5s came to live here last week, and this is a very well behaved stove indeed. It has an extra little doohickey for helping the silent head to ignite, and a fair job it does too; a sort of wide tube-pipette thing with a wicked (as in wick't, not wicked-evil) spade end that hangs into the spirit cup. This was new to me, and I feared it to be gimmick, but no - it works an absolute treat. This is easily my easiest stove to light, by quite a margin. An old-stock new Monitor was also pressed into the team, and it's a bit rough'n ready compared to the more svelte Swedes, but it does shove out the BTUs and no mistake. So much so that I decided to have a race of sorts, between it and the Optimus. Roarer agin Silent, a clash of philosophies! Overlong stories are usually best shortened, and I'll cut straight to the result. After timing each stove heating the same measured volume of tapwater in a wok, the Monitor, roaring away loudly, took around 5+ minutes. The silent Optimus, to my surprise, did the same thing in over a minute less. Which seemed to me both significant, and interesting inasmuch as I'd expected the one that hollered his business to break the tape first, but nope, this race was won by the tortoise instead of the hare. Which only goes to show how little I know. So - is my roaring Monitor needing some steroids, or do I have a Silent unit that hits above its handicap? The stoves are of roughly similar size. Input welcome, fellahs. Cheers Ian
Hey, Ian, You have some very nice stoves on your list, already, and are off to a fine start!! More to get, or course (ain't there always??)!! 8) Some silent burners are real screamers, actually! The silent 111T is nice and hot, as is the silent Ranger #10, the 199, the Explorer #11, and several others that I have, including a 1934 Primus #5, which burns as hot as most any other stove of it's type, silent, or roarer! So, don't mistakenly give them short shrift, just because the speak quietly. Remember the words of Teddy Roosevelt: "Speak softly, but carry a big stick"!! Words to stove by, me thinks!! 8) And, on the flop side of the coin, not all roarer burners are really hot numbers, either. So, you pays your money, and you takes your chances, in the end, they are all FUN to own and use!! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Hi Doc, thanks for the quick reply. Another point that surprised was how the "silent" head is actually far from silent; mind you I hadn't expected it to be silent as such - it's surely a comparative thing, just. Over here we have car boot sales, (not sure if that'll translate well to US english, you'd say a car trunk sale I suppose, or perhaps a garage sale all in a public place from the back of folks' cars - I'll be taking a looksee at one or two of those to see if anything's to be had there. Ebay's all very well, but it's a rather lazy/passive sort of way to seek things out, and half decent stuff can sometimes go for rather inflated prices. What matter as long as the process gives a bit of fun on the side? What are your particular interests in stoves? Nice to've heard from you, by the way - thanks again. Ian
Hey, Ian, Thanks for getting back to me! Yes, "boot sales" are somewhat akin to our garage sales, or flea markets, but from a smaller "stall", as it were! 8) The principle is the same: neat goods, at cheap prices!! I have quite a few hundreds of different stoves, most of which came from swap meets, flea markets, yard and garage sales, and antique stores. Some, I've gotten from Ebay, but I prefer handling them before buying, unless it's just too good to pass up snagging a certain specimen. You asked my "particular" interest in stoves? In truth, my interest should be called "peculiar" instead of "particular": I LOVE THEM ALL!!! 8) My most favorites tend to be "do it all" type stoves, with multi-fuels leading the pack. But, Ross has also won me over to the Trangia tribe, and I do love my little Trangia 27, too! You name 'em, I like 'em!!! Small, medium, large, and humongous - kerosene, Coleman fuel, Meths, and Micro Gassies: They all have a happy and loving home here!!! How's about you, Sir? Is it the burning, itself, that you like, or do you like the entire process of stoves, beginning to end? That's most of us, I figure! By the way, don't give up on your little Radius with the knackered lipstick burner. There is a good tutorial, here on CCS, about how to peen the oriface smaller, and thereby get it back into good running shape. Do a bit of searching, and it's bound to turn up. Failing that, a replacement tube burner shouldn't be too hard to locate. At this past Summer's first CA Stove Gathering, I fettled a little Radius 20 into life, and it turned out to be a very satisfying little stove!! In any case, all stoves are your friends!! Have fun with yours, and keep your eyes peeled for those fine bargains that are just waiting for you to come along and give them a good home! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Hi again, last one before I fall into bed, it's getting on over this side of the water, gone half past midnight. I like mechanisms that move, breathe, heat, perform functionally, and I like the fettling of them to such a point that their performance is improved enough to please. Which isn't to say that I welcome basket cases! I don't know near enough to cope with those. For example, that same Optimus silent burner I mentioned - its flame pattern isn't symmetrical; the bulge of flame it produces slightly favours one side of the stove rather than another, not sure if this relates to an eccentricity on the jet's part, or if there's a peculiarity of the flame cap/holy cap wotsit. I've had the jet out, and although it was certainly a little bit coked up, cleaning it didn't produce any observable change. I think there's more than a little bit of common ground between these things and ramjet engines, and if you stretch a few points more than somewhat, there's also a trace of common ground with steam engines, although the vapourisation's function is totally different. But there's a sense of breathing and a useful process going on. And valves to work, and pumps to pump - all very satisfying at a childish sort of level. (I'm old enough to enjoy childish things again and make no bones about it) In other words, they're interesting and they're fun. And there's the frisson of contained danger too, a sense of a potential firebomb that I'm telling myself is under my control.. I hope. I did see the article on hammer-peening the jet-hole in the burner for the little Radius, but lack the precise manual skills at present to do anything practical about it. Base camp have spares but at (I think) over ?20 for a burner that's an expensive repair. Well that's me nearly asleep in my chair, best head off for the night now. Again thanks for chewing the fat Doc, catch you another time I hope. G'night all Ian
You need a copy of Chuck's Newark 2006 video, Ian - this contains a tutorial by Laurel & Hardy on refurbishing 96 lipstick burners.
Hey, David, You made me laugh right out loud, with that one, Lad!!! Now, I'm going to have to get out my copy and watch it again, just to see L&H do their thing!! Hilarious, to be sure!!! In truth, the thing that makes it so much fun, is that I'm watching friends, whom I've never met in the flesh, and enjoying their efforts to educate and entertain the rest of us!! Neat as a peach, sez I!! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
HI David, Doc - sounds interesting! Is is posted on you tube? Anything L&H or MarxBros-like is okay with me! Ian
How are you with Mutt and Jeff or Dumb and Dumber... No, it's not on YouTube (although it ought to be!). Someone may have a spare copy...
Hey, David, How about "Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum"?? 8) Maybe someone can loan Vapalladin a copy, sort of like checking out a library book, and he can then return it after having viewed the fun!! Chuck is, once again, to be congratulated on having created it in the first place! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Well if that can be done, obviously I'd be very grateful, but then again nobody knows me here, folks might not be too comfy sending their disk to a stranger. Anyway, if anyone does, let me have a PM and maybe something can be fixed up, but if not absolutely no worries this end... Interesting exchange on another thread over the need for lots of heat/do we need as much as we have? etc. - There's quite a lot of cookery where a very reduced flame would be needed, ie stews and suchlike - am I right that some stoves will coke up faster if run as low as the flame can be sustained? If so, is it down to incomplete combustion? Incomplete vaporisation of the fuel from less available heat around the preheat area? Or what? Apologies for probably raising things that are everyday knowhow among stovie cognoscenti! Ian
Hey, Ian, I think you're right, that some stoves do choke, if asked to simmer for too long. But, with care, many stoves will do just fine. Some are especially wonderful at long-term simmering. A few stellar performers, of both roarer and silent burners, would include: Roarers - Optimus Nova MSR Dragonfly Silent - (Most of them) Primus #5 Optimus Explorer #11 Optimus 199 Optimus Ranger #10 Optimus 111T ....and many others. The important thing, I guess, is for the cook to stay near his/her stove, and give it the attention it deserves, especially when simmering for a while. To keep some of the brass stoves going, a few light pumps, now and then, seems to keep the flame nice and blue. If the pressure falls, then yellow creeps into the flames, and chocking may soon follow! With care, I've had good lucking simmering with roarer Brassies like the Optimus 45, 00, and 96, as well as the Primus 210. So, it CAN be done. That's just my take on it, and others may have a different view. Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Hiya Doc, a good practical answer - thanks! This site is certainly a very handy resource! Best wishes from Fife Ian
