Any experience with the nesting GI canteen stove

[Strabs]

I have been carrying a German folding type (esbit) with a canteen cup for heating water. It works good, but does the cup stove that fits the canteen work as well? It appears to store better, but I was wondering if not having a metal base to place the fuel is a pain and limits where it can be used-snow,wet ground, etc?

 

[CH]

Works great, and it requires no space to carry. Often I've just dug a small hole big enough for a piece of trioxane, then placed a GI canteen cup on top to boil water, make coffee, etc. No stove required.

 

[bruce]

A little history! The canteen cup stove was invented by someone at Natick Labs (the military's R&D lab for food, clothing, personal equipment -- rucksacks, etc. -- and also houses the US Army Research Institute for Environmental Medicine) in the 1980's. It was developed to use with trioxane tablets but works acceptably with small fires of natural materials -- except they smoke enough to blacken the stove and canteen cup. This was the early fix for heating MRE's before the ration heater. Just start some water boiling in your canteen cup and plop the entree in. The ration heater is better for this.

During a test of the canteen cup stove, a troop placed the setup on the seat of his M577 Command Track. The seat is made of a plastic covering over a fiber cushion (not much cushioning though). When he lit the trioxane bar, the seat melted, the fiber caught on fire, and the vehicle went up in flames, including the Colonel's (Brigade Commander) personal gear, maps, radio, and everything else in the vicinity.

Bruce Woodbury