Cabelas Canada is carrying a commercially manufactured, portable "smokeless" firepit that looks like it's built on the principles of a rocket stove. Since I have infinite wood to burn, I'm intrigued by the possibilities. http://www.cabelas.ca/product/74645/double-flame-smoke-less-fire-pit



The manufacturer's website is here: http://www.rethinkingfire.com/ . They also build larger models and inserts for existing firepits. (The site blogs have a sort of practical prep attitude fwiw.)

What do you think? It's kinda spendy at $299 CAD. Worth the money?

I know nothing about that device at Cabela's but keep the list updated about your experience if you get it.

If you are considering spending that amount of money, you should also consider the similarly priced BioLite BaseCamp (http://www.biolitestove.com/products/biolite-basecamp), which is probably more efficient with wood, more rocket-stovey, has its own self-charging battery power pack & fan which feeds the fire and stores excess electricity to charge your USB-chargeable devices. I've had the BaseCamp for about 6 months, and we use it regularly for cooking burgers, sausage, bratwurst, chicken, onions, peppers, mushrooms, etc; and to charge headlights, phones, even a portable projector.

The included LED light has a pass-through USB plug, so you can light and charge simultaneously.

It's not a pit for the purpose of looking at wood burning, but I'd argue the BaseCamp is more useful. You can also concentrate the flame to boil liquids in a pot with a moveable flame deflector.

I don't know about Canadian availability of the BioLite BaseCamp, but in the states it is available at the company's website, at REI, and I believe at Lowe's hardware stores.

(Despite sounding like a product promo, but I have no affiliation, etc.)

Speaking of the Biolite Basecamp stove, it's currently on sale at REI --
http://www.rei.com/product/877671/biolite-basecamp-stove

Nice find, Russ. That's a substantial savings. I believe the odd $0.93 means REI didn't sell them too well (was I the only one?), and the product has been shifted to the REI outlet. At 18 lbs, the BaseCamp is not a good fit for on-the-go REI customers. It is really more of a back yard or car-camping item, though perfect for this community.

I'm happy to answer anyone's questions about the BaseCamp stove.

$239 on Amazon with $6.95 shipping.

Yup, its a gasifier/TLUD ...
Micro_Gasification_2.0_Cooking_with_gas_from_dry_biomass.pdf


Depends, why are you thinking of buying it , what do you expect it will do?
how often do you plan to use this firepit?
how long will it last before it breaks/rusts?

Would you buy the cheapest firepit at homedepot (for 79.99)?
Would you buy a fireplace grate ( under 40)?

This fire pit produces less/no visible smoke if you top light it,
but so would the cheapest firepit if you top light it

Another one of the same type for "pellets" shorter by 2 inches about Flame Genie
price with shipping would come out a little bit cheaper ... yes you could burn logs inside as long as they're shorter and don't stick out above the holes


Another choice, a little smaller, similar price, but an actual tested cook stove, stainless, with chimney, don't put a pot on it and you can watch the fire silverfire hunter



I dunno, if you burn 30 fires a year in it, and the wood is free, thats about $10 a fire
If it lasts three years, ~$3.33 a fire ...

But if you got free rocks/mud you can stack in a circle a simple fire grate is even cheaper ...


since free wood is like play, you might also like to play with tin cans, punch a few holes in a bucket, cut a few strips and bend a grate ....


what is the goal? where is the joy?

I already have fixed and portable firepits, along with a couple of small wood stoves that are sitting idle.

More than anything, it's the smoke reduction aspect that grabbed my attention. I have a lot of wood of marginal quality that needs to be burned down to charcoal (not ash) for the garden, but that's a smoky business and it really gets to me these days.

I've been interested in rocket stoves for a long time. The main attraction of this one is that it's ready to go, and meets the minimum size for my needs. But I suspect "smokeless backyard firepits" may be flooding the market en masse in the next couple of years, since it's not a patentable technology.

This one is way overpriced IMO. So I may be down at Cabelas with my phone camera and a measuring tape. My father is retired and loves to weld ...

The knowledge is free ... if you cant find what you're looking below, try the mailing lists
small

1g-toucan-tlud-biochar-jan-2010
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downloads like EZ-char-drum-oven.pdf
others Making_BioChar

The wood gas stove uses fuel more efficiently, more thermal energy for the same amount of fuel. This is just a large one. It is more than just a fire pit.

However, it is a judgment call whether it is worth the investment. I am not sure how much better it would be.

I do understand how useful it would be in a small, portable, backpack size. You can do more heating/cooking with just twigs and small bits of wood.

not really, its sized/sold/marketed as a firepit that produces less smoke

less smoke can be achieved with an "upside down" fire and windbreak/skirt (bucket, trash barrel)

in the picture above they're grilling a few steaks , there is some 9kg-20kg of wood loaded into this fire pit ...

sure its based on a woodgas stove and uses some of the principles, but its primarily heating the sky

otoh
pyro-grilling