Stainless Steel wood or alcohol burning backpacking stove

Reviewing the stainless steel wood and alcohol burning backpacking stove.

We were at the stump reviewing our new stainless steel wood/alcohol burning backpacking stove. Over all we were very impressed.

The first thing we noticed that it packed quite small when it is nested inside itself. It came with a carry bag. The packed dimension is 5 inch x 2.7 inch(H).  Item weight: 390g/13.6oz. 

What makes these stove work so good?  

Like most of these camp stoves, they have air holes on the bottom part of the stand which allows the air to flow in. The inflow of air is efficiently drafted into the fire because the wood is held off the ground by a grate and by additional air holes on the inside top of the fire box. The fire creates draft which further drafts oxygen into the fire.  The heat is stored in the firebox and there is only one way out and that is out to the cooking surface.  

How good does it work?

The stove burns very efficient and clean. It burns dry wood into a very find powdered ash. The fire box stores the heat and there is no way out but through the top to the cooking surface.  A hand full of dry material will boil water. 

How to use the stove.

1. How to light the stove.   

Some fill the fire box with dry wood and reach in with a lighter or match. We are minimalists so we only had the spark of our ferro rod. We found the easiest way to light the stove was to load the stove with dry tinders.  Make a small 2 inch/5cm fire out of birchbark and tinder then set the stove on top of the small fire. The  dry tinders in the stove then ignites in less than 10 seconds and within a minute you have a hot fire at the cooking surface.  

2. A good cooking fire 

Jimmy says a good cooking fire does not flame out of the top of the stove.  A good cooking fire you should be able to hold your hand near the top of the stove for a few second but no more than 10 seconds.  So keep your fire under control.  With this stove you do not have to load it completely up.  You can easily add a pine cone or a little wood to the fire via the load port near the top of the stove.  Using the loading port you do not have to remove the cooking pan to add wood. 

3. Use dry material.

Dry material can be found even when it is raining.  The inside layer of the birchbark is usually dry.  We also baton/split 4 inch peaces of wood. The inside of the wood is usually dry and ready to burn.  

4. You can use the stove with Alcohol.

If you prefer, or if you cannot find dry wood you can use Alcohol with this stove.  It has a little dish which can be place in the firebox and filled with alcohol.  Light the alcohol and start cooking.

5. Packing away your stove.

Once the fire is out, the stove cools down in about 5 minutes. The stove can then be disassembled and the peaces nested inside itself.  Put it back in its carry bag and put it in your backpack. A total of 30 seconds. 

Like any other camping skills, you become more efficient with practice.

Check out the backpacking stoves on Amazon

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Atlantic Salmon information from the Atlantic Salmon Federation and their submission to the DFO. What happened to the Atlantic Salmon population?

The full Atlantic Salmon Federation report can be read at http://asf.ca/asf-submission-to-dfo-survey-on-gulf-salmon-management.html

Taken from AFS's report is:
 "As noted by DFO, both large and small salmon (grilse) in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence have been declining over time, reaching in 2014 the lowest levels observed since monitoring began in 1971. For example, the Miramichi system (which historically had the largest known runs of Atlantic salmon in Canada) had average returns (small + large salmon) of around 100,000 per year from 1985-1995. That dropped to an average of about 50,000 per year from 1996-2011, and to about 21,000 per year from 2012-2014, reaching a low of around 17,800 in 2014. Likewise, rivers in the Northumberland Strait and Cape Breton regions of Nova Scotia had record or near-record low returns in 2014. Despite some signs of improvement in 2015 compared to the low year of 2014, populations throughout the region remain at low levels of abundance compared to 20 years ago. - 
"

Also taken from the same report:
"These measures also contributed to positive movement in other critical areas of fisheries management.  It enabled Canada to report to the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) that it has taken steps to reduce fishing mortality on a stressed resource.  This assisted in creating pressure on Greenland to move toward reducing and better managing their fishery. In 2014, Greenland had a reported catch of 58 tonnes; however, it was determined that there was a high degree of non-reporting, resulting in an underestimate of the total harvest.  The actual harvest by Greenland in 2014 was potentially as high as 96 tonnes. In 2015, Greenland agreed to cap their 2015-2017 annual catch at 45 tonnes and, to counteract high levels of unreported catch, implement significantly stronger monitoring, control and reporting measures to ensure that the actual catch is capped at 45 tonnes.   It is also our understanding that the catch and release regulation has been taken into account by some First Nation communities, and therefore may have played a contributing role in moving toward selective fisheries (i.e. where large spawners can be released for conservation reasons) in certain areas such as the Miramichi - See more at: http://asf.ca/asf-submission-to-dfo-survey-on-gulf-salmon-management.html#sthash.7nqfeiNk.dpuf"

Lets do the math - Based on this information lets do the math.  If Greenland harvested 96 tons of salmon that equates to 211200 pounds of fish. Lets say the average fish weights 7 pounds  (grilse and salmon).  That is 30,171 fish harvested. There was only 17800 salmon enter the Miramichi system and most of those were released.  So the problem is the commercial Greenland harvest. 


Don't blame the natives for feeding their families or anglers. The DFO has to take a stand against Greenland.