I'm a little chicken of liquid and gas stoves, Doug, so would be hard pressed to trust one bough second hand. That said, I did pick up an old Coleman white gase stove for our Scout group a couple of summers ago from a second hand store owner with a soft spot for Scouting. We've got a couple of guys who are brilliant at fixing them up. The Scouts have been using it regularly over the past year or so and it's working like a charm.

I'm throwing this to the top because I see Hikin_Jim is online.

Great Stove Guru, your expertise is needed...

OK, call me crazy.....but I like old liquid fuel stoves. Yes, there are issues of safety and learning curve. I have travelled mountaineering and such internationally and it always makes me leery of "dependng on a canister based fuel system" of any type. Give me petrol of any type. I have some REALLY REALLY old stoves, just picked up a WW2 Coleman 530 "pocket stove". I also have a 30+ year old XGK MSR that will run on just about anything and is outstanding at alitude (abeit LOUD). My Mother-in-Law has a Svea brass stove (similar to the Coleman 530) from the "touring car days" back in the 1910-20's. It is awesome, cant wait unit it lands at my house...... I have some MSR internationals, and a few double and single burner Coleman's. You can get a converter head to run the old school double colemans on standard propane canisters and if you still carry the fuel tank you can go somewhat multi fuel....

Your perference for wood cooking is also good! Do you have a Kelley Kettle yet? I really want one of those....

Ironwood

The XGK may be loud but it's pretty much bulletproof. Really though for a survival stove it needs to boil water and the XGK can definitely do that with almost any fuel -- white gas, kerosene & diesel, alcohol is not on the list.

The Svea is a classic.

On my coldest ever trip, three weeks on Denali,we used an XGK running on kerosene; it flamed flawlessly with a comforting roar. Twenty below was routine and one night we got a wind chill of -80F, and Mr. XGK still served up hot tea. If I could have just one stove, it would be a Svea - tough, dependable, and light enough. Going out in "normal" conditions, I nowadays tend to carry some sort of alcohol arrangement like a Trangia.

Going to get one from Buds store when he re-opens after illness.

Look good to me,going to get a rocket stove too.