Hi people.
I'm the new kid on the block on ETS and have been reading what and how most of you guys "do things"...for a few years now.
I am surprised at how few of the members use wood for fuel when hiking or camping outdoors.
My backpacking camp kitchen consists of 1.) a kelly kettle for boiling (and sterilising) water faster and cheaper than anything else on the market. 2.) a Trailstove, which in transport sits inside the kelly kettle and also does a fantastic job cooking my meals (fast!). and last but not least a grilliput (which was only recently added as it is a fairly new concept) which is a stainless steel bbq that folds into next to nothing and in transport lives inside the kelly kettle/ trailstove combo. These three items combined don't weigh much (less than your cooker with fuel) and do a far better job than the bulk of gas, fluid and solid fuel cookers I've been using in the past ! Also you're not lugging around fuel and the cannisters/bottles it comes in. The minute your hike starts you're tripping over fuel everywhere for this combo.
And if you plan to go above the tree line pick up some wood or pine cones on your way up. Purpose now defeated ? Nope, because this would be the ONLY TIME you actually carry fuel vs. carrying ALL THE TIME. And let's face it it is extremely difficult to run out of fuel and since there is nothing to break this combo is virtually idiot-proof. <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />
All the bases covered and the best thing about it is they don't burn just wood. They happily digest almost anything you feed them: bark, paper, pine cones, dry grass, peat, dung and garbage you otherwise would have to carry out. <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

So, why aren't more people using these things and still clinging to their liquid/gas/solid fuel burners. <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Let me know what you think !
Regards,
Pharaoh.

Last weekend I spent a few days in the woods and I just improvised a stove. I had 4 stainless steel skewers and just laid them across the rocks around my fire and put rocks on top of them, worked great. I always use wood. It's easier than packing fuel. I have the kind of skewers that have the ring on the end so I just secure the ends with a tie wrap and clip them to the outside of my pack with a carbiner. I use carbiners for everything.

Another one from the Netherlands....Welcome!

woodfires are usually restricted in many area, so is scavaging for wood. A woodfire needs more carefull handeling, to prevent forest fire's. Many people don't clean up there firewood coals and ashes properly.
Also woodfires have less accurate control and keeping a little fire going with damp wood can be a pain.

I occasionally use open woodfires to cook, but only on special places, where it's legal and safe. A billycan is good enough for that purpose. Don't even have to carry a stove than.

btw, welcom fellow dutchie.

Usually, the only wood that can be collected is public areas of the US is wood that is already "dead & down." No sawing or breaking allowed.

So, you have limited availibility. The good stuff is usually taken in the more crowded areas. Plus, because the wood has to be "down," it has been sitting on the ground soaking up moisture if it has rained recently.

Hiking in the US is fairly restrictive when it comes to campfires or open flames. For example, most of this year there was a burn ban for the state of Oklahoma...not even charcoal was allowed, so it's much easier to continue hiking and just carry the fuel as you say.

Also, when it's pouring down rain...I can still brew up a nice cup of tea using the rain fly and my stove...might not be possible with regular wood fire. Although is you use a hobo stove type set up...it might work, but you would really have to keep the flames low and it might take eons to get the heat up.

Just my opinion <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

In addition to the finite supply (if everyone does it, there is no wood left) and wildfire risk (if you light a fire, you are morally responsible for EVERY spark and ember created, including the ones you don't see) issues, there is another one.

I know that in Europe, most land that isn't heavily settled or farmed is public land (Not all, just most), and you don't have our drug problem (I refuse to debate who's method is stupider). As a result, you don't get an issue we have in my area, which is tresspassers who are doing more than just burning wood. Private land owners who see campfires that they didn't know about get a little crazy- it's often a sign of someone putting in a marijuna patch on your land, or that they have packed in a miniature meth lab. Either of which could cost the landowner, who had nothing to do with it, thier property. At the very least, if the land holder calls it in, you get cops showing up with the fire department. And it doesn't have to be the land holder, just someone driving by who spots the fire and is being a good neighbor.

Pharaoh, maybe your idea of a good time is having a knee in your back and your face in the dirt while you are cuffed and dragged like a sack through the woods, but I'll pass.

Given the Leave No Trace and burn restriction posts here, I think people missed the point. I googled trailstove and found that it was a chiminey type affair that uses wood for fuel and there is at least one other type of chiminey type also. Think wood fired stove. There is another with a battery powered fan out there too, although I cannot remember the name. This is not lighting and cooking over a campfire, this is using wood as a stove fuel. Pharoh is right, an almost unlimited source of fuel especially since these stoves burn so efficiently in comparison to campfires. They use tinder/twigs, not logs. Seems like a good option to me for most locales.

Regards,
Bill

For the past several years there has been a ban on fires, this includes any stove that use wood as fuel. They are good but just seem out of place. If you want to see the really efficent source find an ultralight website and see what the distance hikers recommend.
cheers

I like the traditional campfire and use it where it is permitted and not too dry. Unfortunately, on most of the public land around here campfires are prohibited, except for one or two designated "fire rings" at drive-up campsites.

For instance, in the area where I've camped numerous times, the rules say:

(http://www.nps.gov/dewa/Activities/Hikes/hikeAT.html)

So, is a more-or-less enclosed wood burning stove "self contained"? I don't know. I do know that the smell of wood smoke will get you a visit from an Ranger who is probably expecting to find a bunch of drunken, rowdy kids who stumbled into the woods to build a bonfire and do who knows what else. He may not be in a good mood.

Now, if you are in trouble, don't worry about the rules - go ahead and build a fire. If it does get you a visit from a ranger, that's a good thing, even if he isn't in a good mood.

Finally, there are times when it is just too dry to build any type of wood fire, survival situation or not.