OK, as promised, it's August, and now my article on windscreens in particular and fuel economy in general is out on Seattle Backpacker's Magazine: http://seattlebackpackersmagazine.com/2011/08/02/three-times-the-fuel.

I've written a blog post that goes with the article. The blog post discusses a few alternatives, including some that may not have occurred to you (they didn't to me): http://adventuresinstoving.blogspot.com/2011/08/windscreens.html

HJ

Great article and blog post Jim! Thanks for posting the links here. My daughter uses an upright cannister stove and I'm going to have her read your words of wisdom regarding windscreens and poential heat buildup around the cannister.

For kids, it always sinks in deeper when someone else, besides dad, tells you something like this. Thanks for being that "someone else"!

p.s. - my daughter is smart, she listens to most things I tell her. "most things"...

lol.

Well, in that case, glad to be the "other" voice.

I definitely recommend the use of a windscreen, BUT with due caution. As long as you monitor the canister by touching it and it doesn't feel hot, you're no where near the danger limit.

I put this in as a footnote in the article, but it's a nice succinct statement of the essentials of stove fuel economy:
-Turn it down! A low flame is much more efficient.
-Use a lid. Escaping steam = escaping heat = wasted fuel.
-Use a windscreen.

HJ

Many thanks to leeman for sending me half of his cut windscreen. It will work perfectly for what I want. Thanks Lee!!!

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While researching these windscreens I stumbled upon woodburning stoves as I surfed the net. I found what looks like a fantastic one for a very reasonable price. I just ordered it from the builder. It's actually a pre-production prototype, but the same as the production models that will go on sale in a few weeks.

http://www.youtube.com/user/fireboxstove#p/u

I can't wait for it to arrive!

Interesting! I love wood burners even though they're generally illegal in Southern California.

The guy has a lot of chutzpah running his stove in dry grass like that.

HJ

Very interesting design. It looks like the designer has some experience with sheet metal working and has tranferred it to his camping. I bet he has his own metal stamping machine (or access to one) to stamp cut the pieces and then a bender/folder as well. The points he makes about the versatility (adaptable to use other fuel sources and different size pots) shows that he has a background with several fuel stoves. I've never heard of this Eco brick - what's it made of?

Dried Sierra Club members?

HJ

I liked Ben's stove (the one I just bought - for $39.99 + $5.20 shipping) better than another somewhat similar one I found (for approx $150): http://www.kuenzi.com/home_e.htm

I like Ben's design better. It seems sturdier and better engineered. His is not ultralight for backpacking, but I was not after ultralight. It is made of 18ga stainless steel.

Ben is planning to go full production on his shortly. He will be building a website at http://foldingfirebox.com (the website is not online yet). Sales will be from that website once he's up and running. I lucked out and contacted him at just the right moment I guess, because he had a few prototypes available and was willing to sell me one. He had the prototypes on eBay, but his listing there has expired. Ben said he did not expect a big (if any) price change once these were full production.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150636253020&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

(I don't know why the above link is not clickable - cut-n-paste of it works fine.)

Eco Brick = pressed hardwood sawdust: at Tractor Supply

It looks like it doesn't fall apart like those pressed wood fireplace logs.

Sue

I really like a windscreen, "fire bucket" that is shown on Jim Wood's site - [url=http://jwbasecamp.com/][/url]

It is extremely cheap and lightweight, basically made from a length of aluminum roof flashing and a few odds and ends. I have found it to be very effective, especially with a Trangia. It can be used with a variety of other stoves as well. Weight is somewhere around 3 oz.

The only drawback is that it uses separate screws and nuts to assemble in the field, so it is a bit "fiddly."