Ultralight Hike
Over the last few years I have cooked on a variety of stoves. Along the way my habits on tour kept changing. While for instant meals a small cup with about 400ml is enough for boiling water, I need a bit more volume for proper cooking.
Over the course of the past year I cooked more and more often on my trips. So the small cook set kept staying at home and I used a larger one with 0.9L capacity. When cooking proper meals, not only the effort but also the fuel consumption goes up. To avoid having to carry the fuel, every now and then I took a wood stove along on tour again. Below the tree line, carrying enough fuel was no longer a problem and I could cook extensively with a clear conscience. One of the big drawbacks of cooking with a wood stove, however, is that the whole cooking process takes considerably more time, from searching for and preparing the wood to the final cooling of the ashes. In the evening that's no problem for me, but in the morning I don't want to stay in camp 30-60 minutes longer just because I fancied a coffee. After long deliberation I came to the conclusion that a cook set that works well with both alcohol and wood would suit me best. The Bushbuddy for example is extremely efficient as a wood stove, but it is only of limited use as a windscreen for an alcohol stove.
I did a bit of calculating to find out what options I have for finding the lightest solution for such a cook set. These considerations included, for example, the weight of a tinder pouch and of a larger pocket knife.
By chance I found the Stormin Stove Shop's Ti Stove System. The system consists of a cone as a windscreen for an alcohol stove and another cone with which a wood fire for cooking can be made inside the first cone. In theory that already sounded very good. Both cones have to be slotted together. On the one hand that saves a lot of space, but unfortunately it also means that they have to be assembled before the stove can be used. That may still be acceptable for an alcohol stove windscreen, but with a sooty wood stove it is a bit annoying.
So I contacted the company owner Norman to explain my requirements and ask his advice. Not 24 hours later I received the reply that the system would work wonderfully as is, but that he would rather recommend the Horizon Cone and a flat pot like the Toaks 1350 to me. That would make it possible to stow the cone horizontally inside the pot.
After some calculating I found that I am lighter from 2L of water to boil in wood gasifier mode, or with 3-5 liters in dual mode with wood gasifier and alcohol, than with my pure 900ml alcohol cook set. The cook set also contains an ESBIT stove weighing about 1 gram; since I don't cook with ESBIT, I save myself that (albeit bearable) extra weight and volume.
The delivery didn't take long, and after a week and a half I had the parcel in my hands. To find out as quickly as possible whether this set could meet my high expectations, I headed straight off to make coffee.
All the different components of the set (which I will explain later) can be stowed inside the pot.
The baseplate is made of thin titanium sheet. There is also a small piece of titanium sheet to cover the rivet in the middle. In the course of this test I found out that the stove gets very warm under the baseplate in wood-burning mode. To protect the vegetation, in future I will put carbon felt under the baseplate for insulation.
The wood gasifier insert, called the Furnace (oven), is another cone that has to be slotted together. The fire is lit inside this cone.
The next picture shows the setup of the wood gasifier. The fire is lit slightly raised on the grate. This way enough oxygen can reach the fire from below as well. Together with the Stormin Cone, the Furnace forms the double-walled wood gasifier.
Tip: A crease in the titanium sheet of the grate holder increases its stability.
The lightweight stove has a very large combustion chamber. You can fill it directly with plenty of wood and only rarely have to add more while cooking. As tinder I used some waste paper this time; there is plenty of that in a big city.
The next picture shows that the pot sits very tightly on the cone. This way the flames can only lick at the pot to a minimal extent.
Because of the tight fit, only a small part of the pot gets sooted by the fire. Within a few minutes the water started to boil.
The stove is very efficient in combustion. The secondary combustion works brilliantly. See for yourself!
After this initial firing, the few sooty spots on the pot are clearly visible. In wood gasifier mode it is very helpful not to have the handles above the opening, because flames can escape there.
Only a small pile of white ash remained of the wood.
After the first test had been successful, I could take the stove with a clear conscience on the cozy hike through the Odenwald, where I used it not only as a wood gasifier but also as an alcohol stove.
Below you can see the individual weights of the cook set in the respective configurations. There is also some saving potential in the stuff sacks.
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| Hobo Min | Wood gasifier | Alcohol Min | Alcohol + Hobo | Alcohol + Wood gasifier |
| Stuff sack | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Pot | 103 | 103 | 103 | 103 | 103 |
| Lid | 46 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 46 |
| Pan | 80 | 80 | 80 | 80 | 80 |
| Spork | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 |
| Horizon Cone | 38 | 38 | 38 | 38 | 38 |
| Stuff sack Cone/Furnace | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Storm lighter | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 |
| Baseplate for ground protection | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 |
| Pocket knife (Vic Walker) | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
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| Alcohol-specific |
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| Alcohol stove |
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| 26 | 26 | 26 |
| Fuel bottle |
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| 30 | 30 | 30 |
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| Wood-specific |
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| Stuff sack for small items |
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| 7 |
| Stakes | 7 | 7 |
| 7 | 7 |
| Tinder pouch | 6 | 6 |
| 6 | 6 |
| Carbon felt for ground protection | 7 | 7 |
| 7 | 7 |
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| Wood gasifier-specific |
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| Furnace |
| 27 |
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| 27 |
| Wood grate |
| 16 |
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| 16 |
| Wood grate stand |
| 1 |
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| 1 |
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| Luxury |
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| Towel | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Sponge | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
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| Total | 383 | 427 | 419 | 439 | 480 |
Even though the stove can be used with ESBIT, I didn't list it in the table because I don't use that type of fuel. You'll have to test that yourselves ;)
For slow simmering, the intensity of the burner has to be reduced. Here it has proven useful to increase the distance between the pot and the burner, analogous to wood gasifier operation, and to dilute the alcohol with a little water.
At Christmas I replaced the pot lid with a matching pan. The pan opens up new possibilities in the kitchen at an acceptable extra weight of 34 grams.
After three quarters of a year of intensive use in all weather conditions, I can say that I am extremely satisfied with this stove!
