Great post Jim.

I posted a link to it from my blog to yours.

I look forward to more from Adventures In Stoving!!

Blake

www.outdoorquest.blogspot.com

Thanks, Blake. Much appreciated, and it reminds me that I haven't visited your blog for a while -- a problem I intend to remedy very soon.

HJ

There are very few Esbit items readily available in the US. I haven't seen an actual CS2350HA, but it looks fabulous on the Esbit website.

If you combine the CS2350HA with the burner from an Omnifuel, then you've got a stove very similar to the CAP Arctic that I mentioned earlier, a stove that should work in the coldest, windiest conditions that a stove can possibly work in.

Do you have any photos of yours that you'd like to share with us?

HJ

Here is a site that compares stoves, so each of us can make their own decisions:

http://zenstoves.net/StoveChoices.htm

There is no perfect stove, buy what suits your needs...and level of knowledge I suppose.

First, let me say that a wood stove in an area where wood is plentiful and where wood fires are safe and ethical makes a lot of sense.

I didn't recommend such a stove because a) wood fires are often impractical in desert regions, high altitude regions, high latitude regions, etc, and b) because wood fires, even in a stove, are sometimes unsafe. Here in California, we have something called the Santa Ana wind. It's a hot dry blast furnace that can carry embers for miles, igniting multiple spot fires, each that can be come a conflagration. If I caught a person having a wood fire during a Santa Ana wind and they wouldn't immediately put the fire out, I'd report them, or if the danger were immediate, I'd take action to physically stop them.

Then there's the ethical question: am I in an area where I might cause ecological harm? In high altitude or other fragile areas, I personally don't think wood burning is ethical. Let the scarce wood lie, and let nature take it's course.

Indefinite? Maybe. But I've been on hikes where I've had a hard time finding suitable wood, particularly in arid regions. And don't forget about fires. I went through a burn zone in Northern Arizona a few years ago. There was about as much wood as the surface of the moon.

And don't forget about places like the Olympic peninsula of the United States which is essentially a rain forest. Getting wood ignited can be done, don't get me wrong, but it's not as easy as it might be else where.

Again, let me say that a wood stove in an area where wood is plentiful and where wood fires are safe and ethical makes a lot of sense. But don't grab a wood stove thinking I'll be "set" every where I go, no matter the time of year, the weather, or the elevation. There's a bit more to it than that.

Well, yes, but how is that different from a Trangia or any other stove? Most Trangia users I know cannot fill their Trangia burner and go on a week long hike. They have to carry a bottle of additional alcohol from which they periodically refill their burner. The Svea 123 is no different. On trips where I will need more fuel than will reasonably fit in the tank of my Svea, I bring a bottle with additional fuel.

Whether wood, alcohol, solid chemical fuel, gas, gasoline, or kerosene, you'd better make sure you are going to have enough fuel for your needs.

HJ

Very good and timely points, Jim. We came across this same situation today in a very dry/arid and ecologically fragile area. Temps were in the 90's along with a good wind kicking up. If a wood fire took off in these conditions today, it could possibly burn for weeks before it was brought under control. Due to these conditions, we carried (as always) our MSR Pocket Rocket stove for lunch and tea today.

Zen stoves is a *great* resource. I've referred to that site time and again.

This particular page (http://zenstoves.net/StoveChoices.htm) has a lot of good content, and like all sites and pages has its limitations. Well worth the read and hopefully along with this thread and other internet (or other) resources will do just what you suggest: allow each of us to make our own decisions. My "ulterior motive" if you will in answering a somewhat naive question is to start dialog and to get people to think. I'm sort of the evangelist of stoves. lol.

HJ

Occasionally conditions will be so dry that forest officials will not allow the use of liquid fueled stoves; your only option then is a canister stove. When things get that dry, I personally feel it is time to not have any kind of fire at all and to consider going somewhere else where conditions are better.

Wow! Now that's dry. I have seen entire forests closed to any entry during high fire danger periods. They allowed people to drive down the highway, but all the turn outs were cordoned off, and rangers were patrolling.

Here where I live, the closest national forest is Angeles National Forest. There's a standing order: no fires except in developed campgrounds. Here, wood fires aren't really practical in the back country -- unless you want to be a scofflaw.

In the nearby San Gorgonio and San Jacinto Wildernesses, wood fires are completely banned. I think the bans in the San Gorgonio and San Jacinto Wildernesses are more based on the popularity of the location. Allow wood fires in those two popular wildernesses, and you'd soon have the whole place stripped bare.

Again, though, if you're in an area where there's plenty of wood, the forest isn't a tinderbox about to go up in flame, and there aren't any ethical misgivings, wood stoves make a lot of sense.

HJ

Good stuff over on your blog, Blake. Having an interesting conversation with someone there about (what else?) stoves.

HJ