Cliff,

Good info! The only surprise to me was that the Natick rig worked well.

Windscreen 101: KISS. Look at a well-used (or new, if you must) MSR XGK windscreen. You can do this...

1. Buy the largest disposable aluminum liner pan you can find - maybe two if you're not certain what your working perimeter will be. Use scissors to free a windscreen from the pan - or pans, as the case may be. If you have a seam(s), flat fell them and staple - it will require a long reach stapler and if you don't have one, visit your local Kinko's or equivalent. A little scrunching under the stapler arm to reach the seam won't hurt anything. Look for a fairly close fit to the pan/stove combo - a 1/2" gap all around is great; try to keep it between 1/2 and 1 inch (12mm - 25mm). Slit/slot as required for a handle protrusion. Provide combustion air inlet(s) at or near the bottom edge - hole punch, triangular cutout, whatever. Some folks just leave the ends gapped on the "downwind" side some variable amount instead of fastening the ends together, but I think they have less fickle winds to contend with than where I go AND IMHO the screen is not as durable when there are "loose ends" to pack up - YMMV. You do not need a large net free are for combustion air and it's trivial to add area (bend/cut in the field). This is simple, cheap, very effective, easy to stow (preferably roll it up - folding eventually fatigues the foil on the crease lines) To deploy, unroll enough to stick both hands thru the loop and make a dog-paddling motion with lower arms parallel to your thorax - voila!

2. Buy a roll of light-gauge aluminum flashing. Cut a piece to size plus an extra 1/2" - 1". Bend a tab on both ends, each of which is 1/2 of your extra perimeter length. I snip or radius the corners first - btw, scissors are OK on this stuff, too. One tab bends IN, one OUT, and they should be bent on an expedient brake - steel ruler, sharp counter top, whatever lies at hand. put about a 175 degree bend in each (OK - flat, then prise up the edges a bit). This is how you fasten and unfasten the ends together - the joint is like this: Left hand up. fingers bent. Right hand down, fingers bent. Interlock fingers. That's the seam. See #1, above, to add handle slots, air intakes, etc. Don't get too fancy. This really should be rolled to be stowed - around a 1 liter water or fuel bottle works great, but any old way will do.

Repeat #2 ~ 20 times for your 20 closest friends to use up the remainder of the roll of flashing...

Having used both, my preference, btw, is the soft screen in #1 - MSR had a good idea and it works great.

Now, if you want a rigid conformal windscreen that nests around your utinsel, that's not hard to do, either, but I can not think of many significant advantages to that UNLESS your windscreen must also serve as your pot support. But in that case, why not make a simple folding trivet from heavy guage wire? Then you can use that screen from #1... See the Lodge cast iron lid trivet for the general idea - a pot support would have longer legs and the peened rivet joint is not the only way to fasten the two pieces together into a hinge.

Does that help spur your creative juices?

Now I get to, er, um, I mean I HAVE TO go out in the woods by myself and tend a tiny little fire all night, so I won't be able to reply until tomorrow. <sigh> It's a tough chore, but SOMEONE must do it...

Regards,

Tom