February 05, 2012

I Would Use this Stove

I like small, wood-burning appliances. I had one little folding "twig stove," then received a "Trekker" Kelly Kettle as a gift — and yes, it boils its pint and a half (0.6 liters) of water in just a few minutes on a fist-full of twigs.

The Kelly Kettle and its relatives are a century-old design, and the old "Tibetan cooker" with central chimney and the samovar, etc., go even farther back.

G-3300 Envirofit stove.
Glenn Reynolds links to a story on an efficient, wood-burning cook stove that has won a prize for Envirofit International, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Colorado State University. 

See it on Envirofit's website.

And if you do not have foreign NGOs operating in your village, you can buy it on Amazon. (Currently listed as out of stock, however.) Why should people in Burundi have all the fun? 

Reynolds sees it as a disaster-preparation item. I see it as a great car-camping and patio stove. (Like the K-Light solar lantern, which I use in the trailer but is too fragile for backpacking.)

Despite the various gasoline and butane-fueled camping and backpacking stoves I have owned, going back to my first WW2-era GI pocket stove, there is something comforting about making a little, inconspicuous fire and cooking something with it.

(Related, sort of: The "butterfly" solar cooker in Tibet here — fine, but not portable. More info on solar cooker projects in mountainous Central Asia.)

4 comments:

Camera Trap Codger said...

Good one, Chas. I've browsed a certain amount of WW2 relics in flea markets and antique stores in Bangkok, Rangoon and Jakarta, but never saw that army stove. If I get over there again, I'll ask around. Would love to have one. A great piece for cocktail quizzes.

Janeen said...

I have an old kelly kettle and I love the silly thing. I used to use it to make a quick couple of cups of drip coffee when I worked as a surveyor out in the middle of BFE back in the day (25-30 yrs ago). I still like to take it out every now and then to make a cuppa for nostalgia's sake. Truly one of the Best. Tools. Ever.

Chas S. Clifton said...

Codger: The stove was made by Coleman, and I think their Peak One stoves are descended from it.

Janeen: I watch the Kelly and I think that if I were handier, I would add a steam line from it to an ultralight backpacker's steam engine, which would in turn run an ultralight dynamo, thus providing DC lighting for the campsite.

Janeen said...

Chas: Half the fun of the Kelly is the roar of the engine, it really does sound like a tiny gas turbine!