BushBuddy Back Packing Stove

jca21

jca21

Joined
Apr 12, 2006
Messages
3,188
Well... long story short, i got my severance pay from work and decided to blow it on a bush buddy stove and a ib cookset from brunton.

For those of you who are not familiar with the bush buddy, it is a wood burning stove which works on the principal of wood gasification.

Here are the manufacturer's specifications on the bush buddy stove:
Specs are:

Can boil 1 liter of water in 8-10 minutes
(will take longer under adverse conditions)

Weight: 5.1 ounces

Size: 4 1/4" diameter by 3 3/4" high

Price: $105 CAD
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Image from the Bush Buddy Website (http://www.bushbuddy.ca/indexs.html)

I purchased the IB (stands for Itty Bitty) Cookset to go along with my bush buddy stove. My other GSI pot is not meant to be used on open fires and this pot was a great deal so i decided to pick it up anyways.

Here are the specs for the IB cookset:

Construction:
Hard anodized aluminum

Set:
Pot: 1.36qt / 1.3L
Pot: 0.84qt / 800ml

Packed:
5.2" x 4.5"
(13.2 x 11.4cm)

Weight:
9.4oz / 270g

Price: $35 CAD

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So i decided to spend the morning at the lake before heading up to campus and being cooped up in the library cranking out research papers.

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A shot of the lake.

i did some thumpin on the trail for a while till i found a nice secluded area where i could set up my stove and have some hot trail coffee in peace.

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the log was a nice bench to sit on and i setup my gear on the opposite side on the ground.

Heres a picture of my cookset with my bark river fox river next to it for a comparison:
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Heres a shot of my cookset un packed. The stove nests very nicely inside the pot and i keep the stove in a large ziploc bag to avoid getting the inside of my pot sooty.
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Heres a shot of my pot, stove, and the amount of wood i had gathered as today's fuel supply.
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Close up shot of the wood. Its actually not that much wood, mostly some sticks i gathered that were already on the ground and i broke into hand width size pieces.
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Heres a shot of my stove with the stand setup ready to go.
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This is what the stove looks like fully setup with the pot ontop.
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more to come...
 
I'm interested in getting a woodburning stove to add to the collection. As per someone's recommendation here I have my 20 year old Sterno stove stand in my car as an emergency woodburner, but the Bushbuddy looks really nice.

I look forward to hearing more about it from you.
 
There was alot of snow on the ground and the wood i had picked up wasnt exactly bone dry so i pulled out one of my coghlan's fire sticks and broke it up into 4 smaller pieces.
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The reason i did this was so that i could build a little log cabin inside my pot to get my fire going.
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Its actually easy to get the stove lit as your hand can fit inside the stove no problem. I just took a lighter to the sticks and away it went.
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I threw in a couple sticks and soon the stove was alight and roaring.
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With the pot on top i sat back and watched the flames in the stove. Kind of nice actually, there was a little smoke coming from the stove but not too much that it was noticeable or that it bothered me.

Some action shots of the stove.
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Notice the little flame jets coming out of the holes lining the inside of the stove?

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this is actually wood gas and oxygen mixing together to create an efficient burn.

All in all i'm very satisfied with my purchase. Other then the price and the fact that your gear gets sooty i have no complaints. The fact that i need no longer carry fuel with me such as isobutane canisters or alcohol is a god send. Not only is it somewhat carbon neutral to burn wood, but i dont have to lug canisters or bottles of alcohol in and out of the woods with me on trips.

You dont even need to carry and axe or saw as the stove just runs on twigs and pine cones or whatever other wood debris u can find.

Thanks for lookin

JC
 
The stove took about 10 minutes to boil a half litre of water. Mind you, the outside temps were -2 so it wasnt all that bad. Also i wasnt using a wind screen with the stove.

This is definetly worth taking a look at if your at all interested in purchasing a wood burning stove. While the stove is pricy here is how i justify my purchase.

I tend to hike camp and backpack alot, and with the addition of a canoe this summer i'll be taking alot of paddling trips.

Without the canoe trips i generally spend anywhere from 30-50 dollars a year on canisters and alcohol.

so if i can use this stove for 3-5 years i've already covered the cost of the stove by not purchasing alcohol or canisters.

the stove is also one piece with no moving parts to fail like my isobutane stove. therefore reliability is good.

One tip i should add is to keep the handles away from the fuel port located at the front of the stove as flames tend to wick up from there time to time.
 
kage said:
I'm interested in getting a woodburning stove to add to the collection. As per someone's recommendation here I have my 20 year old Sterno stove stand in my car as an emergency woodburner, but the Bushbuddy looks really nice.

I look forward to hearing more about it from you.
Click to expand...

kage, i used to use a cheapo sterno stove from canadian tire as my wood burning setup.

it usually takes me a long time to boil water with that sterno stove. btw i didnt even use half of the wood i had collected to boil my water.

its definetly worth looking into

cheers

JC
 
Thanks for the input, jca21. I've had that Sterno stove forever and have yet to use it. It was collecting dust and I saw someone using it for a woodburner so I threw it in my vehicle kit to supplement my Esbit stove and alcohol car heater (small coffee can with a roll of TP in it. Add alcohol and crack a couple of windows and you're golden. Saw it in Outdoor Life and it works beautifully for costing virtually nothing.)

I'm teaching a small survival class at the end of the month so maybe I'll run the Sterno stove through it's paces.

Thanks for the review.

Kage
 
kage said:
Thanks for the input, jca21. I've had that Sterno stove forever and have yet to use it. It was collecting dust and I saw someone using it for a woodburner so I threw it in my vehicle kit to supplement my Esbit stove and alcohol car heater (small coffee can with a roll of TP in it. Add alcohol and crack a couple of windows and you're golden. Saw it in Outdoor Life and it works beautifully for costing virtually nothing.)

I'm teaching a small survival class at the end of the month so maybe I'll run the Sterno stove through it's paces.

Thanks for the review.

Kage
Click to expand...

no problemo. im always jealous of other forum members who post on here who can light open fires and enjoy the outdoors. 90% of the parks around my area cannot have open camp fires. however, since this is a wood burning stove it technically is ok. i make sure to soak the ashes with plenty of water before i leave the area.

also the outside of the stove stays relatively cool. cool enough that i can pick it up with my hands even when there is a fire going and move it around.

i could see this being an advantage where you need to make fire on snow.
 
Looks like a nice little stove. I love GSI gear as well, I just picked up 2 stainless cups yesterday, the ones that fit right on your nalgene.
 
Wow. I never would have guessed another forumite would spend $100 on a wood burning, backpacking stove.

JC did not mention how well made this stove is. The craftsmanship is stunning. This is not a tin can with holes. It has double wall construction based on engineering principles to enhance combustion.

And for those that were skeptical about the bottom of the stove staying cool due to the double layer design....

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i would just have assumed that most people will think the quality is good if the cost is 100 bux :)

but there ya go folks.horny toad proved that you can pick it up with your hands. which makes it ideal for winter situations where you will be cooking on snow or ice.

cheers
 
$105 CAD. How much is that in real money?:D

Just kidding! It looks like an exceptionally fine unit. And as my canoeing buddy astutely pointed out to me when I was giving him a bit of grief over the price of a new kevlar paddle: "A guy with a $700 knife on his belt has no standing to give anyone crap about the cost of anything." He won that exchange....

DancesWithKnives
 
It's funny that this came up when it did. I just got back from a few days in the GSMNP. The Bush Buddy worked like a charm! I'd insert a photo I have of it along side my Mora 2000, but it looks like I'm clueless on how to insert images.:confused: Sorry.:grumpy:
 
jca21,

It was actually a Pronghorn made by Bob Burke, Ed Fowler's protege'. Forged 52100 done so nicely that it fooled Ed at a knife show.

DancesWithKnives
 
tenkara said:
It's funny that this came up when it did. I just got back from a few days in the GSMNP. The Bush Buddy worked like a charm! I'd insert a photo I have of it along side my Mora 2000, but it looks like I'm clueless on how to insert images.:confused: Sorry.:grumpy:
Click to expand...

just add the following tags to the front and back of the url for your image link

"
"

@DWK: that knife sure sounds like a beaut.
 
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