Testing the Swiss Volcano Stove

Guyon,

First of all, in reference to your suggestion to Google the Swedish Bikini Team, I think you owe me some eye drops to relieve the strain. :(

As to the stove, if you're going to use the Trangia, why not just use a tin can sleeve with vent holes, short enough to set over the Trangia and retain enough height for your cup/pot, whatever. This would eliminate the problem of snuffing out the Trangia. All you would have to do is lift off the sleeve.

And, of course, you can't beat the price.

In my picture, I made the Trangia height adjustable to compensate for the different sizes of cups/water bottles.

Here's a picture with a Guyot.

Guyotinthecold.jpg


Doc
 
you can open up the fuel feed notch with a pair of snips (the aluminum corrugation is easy to disfigure but can easily be rebent) to allow the Trangia to slide in, and use the simmer ring to extinguish...the cork probably was the result of heating the bottle and turning it into a steam bomb... possibly to allow water to expand as it freezes
 
I used to use one of those fairly often. They are supposed to be used w/ Trioxane tabs, I think, and they do pretty well with them. The drawback is that the Triox is noxious stuff to breathe. There is now a fuel gel that burns pretty hot, but I don't have the stove anymore to test it out.

I have burned a bunch of spruce in one, and had the same soot issues you did. Also, for me, using tiny little twigs, it never did get water boiling, just fairly hot.

I would normally not use the canteen, it being stoppered by a cork and all, but just took the stove and cup. Toss the bail that holds the cup on, and just nest the cup in the stove w/ no canteen to save some weight.

Since then, I chose to switch over to more modern and expensive technologies, but would recommend those stoves for a lowbuck way to get outside and boil water.

If I remember right, the cup was 1 pint to the ledge, but it has been quite a while since I measured it. If you try to heat the canteen, it takes forever and a day to get hot, even on triox. I think I used two tabs, which would normally heat at least 3 cups of water, and it was still not that hot.
 
All good points made by folks here.
I don't know that the stove is ideal as far as size (for backpacking) or in terms of clean-up, but it is a very versatile stove, ranging across fuels and even put to use as a nice chimney/wind break for stoves like the Trangia. It also allows for someone to go out, practice some fire craft with wood, and enjoy some rewards.

My other stoves are much more specifically tasked and tailored to backpacking. I own quite a few such stoves...
- a SuperCat (that I made)
- two White Box Stoves, the Solo and the Original (three if you count the prototype Bill sent me about which I cannot speak ;))
- a Brasslite (the Turbo IID)
- a Trangia
- a SnowPeak Titanium Gigapower
- an MSR Pocket Rocket
- an MSR SimmerLite

And I just picked up a couple of canteen set-ups, one with the USMC canteen cup stove (has a bottom) and the other with the standard USGI canteen cup stove (open on both ends). I haven't yet tested these two out at all, but I'll do so in a forthcoming thread.

Anyway, I wanted to try something more in the vein of a hobo stove, and the Swiss Volcano fits the bill at a cheap price, though as Doc points out correctly, a true "hobo" stove can be had on the cheap cheap. I'm interested too in stoves like the Backcountry Boiler (currently in development) and the Kelly Kettle, but I haven't tried anything like them yet.
 
I took a few (kinda crappy) pics last night but fell asleep before I could post them.
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And since this is the Becker sub-forum...
My pack in Becker mode. Eskabar on the strap and BK2 on the waist belt.
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163034_10150380881750486_704575485_16954464_6078257_n.jpg
 
Cool pics. Thanks for the heads up on that carrier. I have one inbound. :thumbup:
 
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