Swedish Army 'Trangia'

[Spacemonkey]

After seeing them on here, and then finding one on my favourite old fashioned Surplus Store ( a dying breed nowadays..) I decided to release £10 from my moth lair. First impressions are great. It fulfills my requirements of performing many tasks. In this case, it is combining cooker and billy tins in one, like my 58 bottle kit. Better than the 58 kit, is the lid with handle which can be a fryer, or a plate/bowl. The billy can also uses the handle so it can be used on a regular fire like a regular billy can. I was going to drill holes in the Crusader mug for clipping a chain for this purpose, and attempt to fashion a lightweight pressed steel lid. Anyway, the Crusader seems to take a while to cook anything, so I thought I'd try one of these and get one for my mate as well. After all, they are dirt cheap. Some questions arise though- can you get them in Stainless steel instead of ali, and how do I get the lid off one of them as it has seized solid while only half on? It's not apparently bent or damaged and assuming it can be removed by heat etc, then any ideas for the cause? Are they prone to any particular nasties that could cause this sticking?
I've never used the Trangia system as I have always thought them a little slow working, but I'm more open to conversion nowadays. The question is, what kind of performance can I expect compared to, say, a gas stove or a hexy burner? Does meths coat the billy tins in soot etc? What are the alternatives for meths for the burner and how do they compare with heat/cost/dirtyness/food taste tainting? I assume that a little fire could be made in the windshield and that could be used instead if need be.

And lastly, what is the ideal pouch for carrying them in (preferably on the British PLCE system)? I was thinking the PLCE gas mask pouch which I believe has a shoulder strap too???

 

[innocent bystander]

Is it the lid on the burner that's stuck ? if so i pour boiling water on it to loosen it. Best lube it to stop it happening again....

 

[Slimey]

I've got a stainless one but it is the only one I have ever seen. I picked it up from the army surplus store in east Runton, Norfolk while on a camping holday last year. whenever I see them for sale I check them out but they are always ali ones. If I ever see another stainless one I'm going to snap it up, it's a little bit heavier, but healthier.

Adding about 10% water to the meths is supposed to make them burn cleaner but I just use neat meths. When used as a billy over a fire it get a lot more filthy, so why worry about the meths?

 

[PC2K]

i use "brand spititus" in my trangia stoves, they are 85% spiritis mixures. Never really got soot on anything. Just some colorfull changes on my pot. But nothing else that can make my kit dirty. The stove is not very fast, but that fine with me. I't has the advantage of being quite and there's nothing to break.

i find the suplus "trangia" ( mine has SVEA stamped on it ) a bit heavy, but than again in got the Stainless steel version. And i'm used to my titanium snowpeak set up...

 

[Viking]

Some questions arise though- can you get them in Stainless steel instead of ali, and how do I get the lid off one of them as it has seized solid while only half on? It's not apparently bent or damaged and assuming it can be removed by heat etc, then any ideas for the cause? Are they prone to any particular nasties that could cause this sticking?
I've never used the Trangia system as I have always thought them a little slow working, but I'm more open to conversion nowadays. The question is, what kind of performance can I expect compared to, say, a gas stove or a hexy burner? Does meths coat the billy tins in soot etc? What are the alternatives for meths for the burner and how do they compare with heat/cost/dirtyness/food taste tainting? I assume that a little fire could be made in the windshield and that could be used instead if need be.

I think I can answer your questions.

Yes they are available in stainless but can be a bit hard to get.
What lid has stucked, the burnesr lid or the lid to the pot?
It will be slower then a gas burner but will work even in the coldest winter.
Meths will soot the mess kit but not as much as a fire will.
Why make small fire in the windshield better to make normal fire and hang the mess kit over that.

Any more questions?

 

[Rod]

Hi SM,

I bought one of these last year (from Gary @ Bearclaw) and like it a lot - mine's a green ali one. I found the supplied burner slow - I did some time trials and found that it would boil a litre of water in about 16 mins - slow . I compared this to a standard civi trangia burner (same conditions/cold pans etc) and found that that brought a litre to the boil in 10mins. Which is OK if you put the kettle on whilst you put your hootchie up. The civi also has a simmer ring - handy for those bush cordon-bleu chef moments!

Like Viking was saying its just as easy to hang over your fire if you are somewhere that you can light one. It is about the most versatile stove set up I have come across.

The 10% water in your meths is a good idea I found and the whole thing is ultra reliable - I would echo Viking - it works in the coldest of conditions, and is a lot less fiddly that one of those gas/petrol contraptions!

Hope you have many successful trips with it

 

[Graham_S]

the thing about the trangia is it is cheap to buy, cheap to run, the fuel is easy to get, and the most reliable stove on the market. if you want a simmer ring i expect you could get one in a camping shop (i think the military and civvy burners are the same size)
as to the boil time, well i'm in no hurry. i got back into bushcraft to slow down and relax.

 

[greg2935]

I used to use a primus multifuel, very good, very fast but sounds like a jet engine, it makes so much noise I am actually embarrassed to use it in front of other people. After seeing Neil1 and Leon-1's trangias', I was very impressed by the no nonsense operation and simplicity and switched. So far I haven't looked back.
By nature I'm a bit of a kit freak and have to try and stop myself from buying "trangia accessories", so I am using a small 12cm billycan that the burner and burner housing fit into, (the burner housing I beleive is part of the "mini stove" and can be seen here).

 

[Spacemonkey]

Cheers guys. it's the frying pan/lid that's stuck on one of the setups that I gave to my brother. The fuel bottle and burner are inside it, but ok.
The reason I ask about a little fire is if you are on the move and can't/don't want a full size fire! This is in case the Meths runs out, or is in short supply. In Spain I can't have an open fire throughtout most of the year, and wouldn't want to cart around a ton of meths, you see. Do others agree that the civvie burner is faster? If so I might pick one up. Bit of a kit monster myself i must admit...

 

[woodrat]

I have 3 of the military stoves and absolutly love them, when i use mine i "put them out" by covering with empty tuna can then replace lid when stove is cool, never had any lid sticking troubles since.

 

[Spacemonkey]

Just a thought (dangerous things, I know...) but do Trangia or similar do a mini burner that would fit in the bowl of the Crusader cooker underneath the Crusader mug?? This would solve a few problems..

 

[falcon]

\have a look on the Argos website - their Superstores stock a burner.

 

[Bumblebee]

Sounds interesting, had no idea that they were made in stainless steel as well.

Can someone tell me where I can get one? Mailorder/internet preferred.

 

[Earth Mother]

I've been using the Swedish Trangia for a little while now and although it takes an age to heat things up, I love its simplicity and compact design. Putting out the burner though is a pretty dangerous undertaking as there is no sliding lid on the burner. Can you buy a burner from a regular trangia separately?

 

[Earth Mother]

Apolgies for the overuse of the word 'burner' in previous post. Obviously a little dappy today

 

[innocent bystander]

You can buy the burner seperately - theyre about a tenner for a burner.

Burner.
Burner.

 

[HuBBa]

I've been using the Swedish Trangia for a little while now and although it takes an age to heat things up,

Hm.. is this the Military model or the Civilian one? I've noted a lot of people are complaining that their trangia's take a long time to heat up, mine (military model ) is faster than my stove at home The Civilian version is fairly crap though.

Or maybe i just got lucky with mine

 

[Earth Mother]

Thanks Innocent Bystander for ignoring my lack of verbal prowess today!
Mine is the military Trangia but I still find it takes an age to heat anything. Maybe you got lucky with yours! I will buy a burner with a lid now that I know I can get a burner lid separately for my burner.

 

[innocent bystander]

I haven't actually tried my civvie burner in the mil mess kit, though i will have a go. I found that not only did it take ages to boil up the water it used quite a lot of meths in the process - a lot more than my civvie set up does. Shame really...On the other hand the whisperlite uses hardly any fuel by comparison....

 

[nomade]

I also have the Swedish Army stove and am very pleased with it. Brilliant design and its every use has been studied with care. Just great! I don't have the lid to adjust the size of the flame but indeed, Earth mother, one can surely use the "civilian" burner which has it witht eh military stove.Has anyone else the Swedish Army stove??