let me give a quick preface here..
because i'm working in my den on dial-up with my daughters,
college hand-me-down laptop i have lots of time to kill
while i'm waiting for downloads..so i keep something around
to read..the book i had the other day was from a buddy who
is into miltary history and he gave me a book on the Germans
at the Eastern Front 41-45..a real potboiler with lots of
old photos..one was a propaganda shot of a panzer grenadier
heating coffee over a "methylated tablet stove". i say
propaganda because he was wearing a heavy clean winter coat
and smokeing a pipe..and the Esbit box was brand new..reading
into the text it turns out that no Esbit tabs went to the
front because almost every train carryed ammo..not warm
clothes or heat tabs or even rations..but lots of ammo..
OK..so on my desk is one of the big German Esbit stoves
you get in a 4 pack from the surplus shops on the web..
one thing led to another and i wanted to see what i could
fit into the stove in the way of heat tabs and matches..
by trial and error i could not make a small Bic fit in with
the heat tabs...this is what i ended up with to carry in a
pocket while on a day hike..



yes..i know there are several types of matches in the stove
but like i said i was at my desk just picking things up that
were in arms reach to see what would fit and work..
so 3 US Army triox tabs in a plastic bag..and in another
zip lock bag a book of MRE paper matches ..strike anywhere
wood matches..the big headed REI flamers and a few
waterproof life boat matches ..

well not content with that i thought i would try out the
stove using some old wood alcohol ration heat cans that
i bought with the idea of using them in an old Sterno
type stove called a Vulcan Safety Chief..well the ration
heating can did not fit but will work in the Esbit
stove so i went outside for a boil test...well i'm
retired with lots of time to kill--



the old scout cook kit pot is used on all my boil test
and any modern stove will bring it to a boil in about
3 minutes..the Wisperlight windscreen is sort of a cheat
but in the field i would make a windbreak out of stone
or logs..the cup did not fit on the stove --



it took about 4 minutes to get the water "warm"..
about 6 to get it to cocoa making temp..hot but not
boiling..and to get up to a full boil took almost
20 minutes..by the way the air temp was in the 50's

HOWEVER---

after 20 plus minutes of testing the can still had
enought wood alcohol fuel left to heat another ration
or make a cup of tea..a triox tab would have burned
out...so anything learned from all this??
well for one i would stick to the most modern stove
i could afford for any real survival gear bag..
surplus odds and ends and make-do are ok for casual
hikes or just fooling around to see what they would
do but i would not stake my comfort let alone my life
on anything but the best..

Cool. How much water does that container hold? It's hard to tell the scale. I'm figuring either a pint or a quart. Or somewhere in between, right?

Also in regards to the fuel, it really depends on how much heat the fuel gives off and it's burn time. I don't know the specific heat for either of them but I'd actually just try the triox tablet and compare with a thermometer the actual temperature before/after so you have a clear idea of which one works. Further don't forget that a smaller volume of water may be all that it was designed for (I.e. 8-12 oz) and thus can only effectively heat that much.

Good post though, I really liked the info and the way you packed the stove up with fuel/lights/etc. God help you if anything ignites while that's in a pocket though!

GARLAND..
good point!!!..i just re-wraped the match heads in foil
and put them back in end-for end so the whole batch would not
cook off at once..the boy scout cook kit pot holds 2 cups
when you fill it to the rivets..i wonder if they made it
that way??..i did the same thing with the small "real"
Esbit stove..i can get 4 tabs with about 12 strike anywhere
matches wraped in foil in a small zip lock with the striker
off the match box on top of the tabs and it will close up
tight..

"Hmm, something smells like chicken... OMG!"

Yeah, that just reeks of disaster when you've got all that fuel and ignition sources bundled together like that. Seriously though, nice cramming in there. It's surprising the cook pot actually seems bigger in the photos!

16oz is nothing major I'm guessing that the wood alcohol doesn't emit significant enough heat. As to the triox/esbit.. don't breathe the fumes and get ready to clean the bottom of the pot (residue from them is kinda nasty). I'd be real interested in hearing what the triox/esbit tabs boil time would be.

And as to the scout thing I'd reckon they probably intended it that way. They've always been pretty good with stuff like that.

Looks like a good fire kit at least.

The heat output runs Sterno -> Triox -> Hexamine, although I don't have any idea how big the steps are. Keep in mind that none of them were actually made to cook things. Sterno is heater fuel for chaffing dishes. Triox and hexi were both adopted by various militaries to heat canned rations and coffee/tea water. That being said, within their limits, they work well enough.

Also keep in mind that even though they say gelled methanol fuels don't loose anything on the shelf, I've seen too many of them loose volume between uses to believe it. What was in the can might have been a lot of gelling agent and not as much alcohol.

I would say as it is, it would be a good addition to a smaller kit where you wouldn't have a proper stove and want a brew kit so you can at least put some hot fluids in you while you get the fire built.

the can in the last photo is whats left after the water
was brought to a boil..i put the lid on and let it cool
and then re-lit it without the windscreen around it or
a pot over it and burned the wood alcohol dry and got that 20 minutes of burn time..all that
was left was a tiny amount of black ash--and the empty can..
hummmm..no can left from a Esbit tab--what could i use that
for???..put wax scraps in it to make a candle..dirt and
kerosene to make another burner..clean it out really good
to cook bits of rat meat in...well this is about survival!!

what is a " big German Esbit stove " ? I have 2 Esbits one is a Boy Scout Stove and it mesures 3x4, and I have a Stansport stove and it mesures 33/4 x 43/4. how big are the German stoves?

BIG AL..
the German stove is the same size as your Stansport..
could be the same for all i know,i got a 4 pack a few years
ago from the Sportsman Guide catalog where they were sold
as German Army surplus..the small stove is your Boy scout
model..i picked it up from the "kids gizmos" section of
a museum shop--bubble packed with "Esbit" and a picture
of how to use it stamped into the metal cover..the tabs
have such a nasty smell even in their plastic wrap that
i took it out of my kit and replaced it with the big stove
and triox ration heaters..

Very true CANOEDOGS, esbit tabs stink something fierce. I keep my stove and tablets in a cheap (airtight) otterbox type container and that seems to work. But when I first open it up, MAN! thats some strong smell! When I used the Esbit as my primary stove I always used a minimum of two tablets (and sometimes 3) to boil water and cook. I was very satisfied with the heat output and the utter simplicity of the stove but hated the blackening of the pots so now i use alcohol as my primary and have the esbit as a backup.

That is a good point- a THIN soda can or altoids tin stove can happily fit in the larger esbit stove with a couple of fuel tabs, some matches and a lighter. Add some aluminum foil sized to fit the side openings of the stove when it is open. You need a fuel bottle of some type, but it should work well.

My standard camping stove is the larger size of Esbit (about 4x5"). I use the military fuel tablets rather than Esbit brand, which are about 1" square. I break them in half. I can fit 6 half-tabs, plus a cheap Cricket lighter, plus some Sparklite tinder and some tinder card, and a tea-spoon, all inside the metal casing of the stove.

There is a fair bit of room left over. When I've finished cooking I blow out the fuel and keep it for reuse, so I have some small fragments like that as well. Most of this stuff is in a ziplock bag to keep it together and mildly waterproof. The only hard bit is fitting in the tea-spoon, but I really like to have something to stir with.

I also have the smaller stove, which I like because it is smaller, but you can't get nearly as much stuff in it. I can still get a lighter, though.

I have experimented with alcohol stoves. They have the advantage of being small enough to fit in a mug. However, I usually wrap my mug around my water bottle, so that's no real gain, and I am scared of knocking the stove over and finding myself sitting in my tent in a puddle of flaming meths.