View Full Version : bushbuddy/cooker vs hobo in the cold/wet
Not sure whether this is kit chatter or fire craft, but...
Much as I love my Bushbuddy it does need a lot more TLC than a larger firebox, even in ideal conditions, not sure about a hobo because I have limited experience of these.
During this cold snap, and although I have managed well enough with the Bushbuddy, it has also been especially hard work.
Thicker sticks have been difficult to catch and its been a constant juggling act between thicker sticks that pretty well put it out, and then thinner sticks to rescue it and get the thicker sticks lit. To be fair, I overstate the hard work bit, because I enjoy it and equally, I am still getting my brew in a time that doesn't seem that long.
My gut feeling is that the problem is that the small size of the bushbuddy isn't really allowing it to build up any real core heat. and the less than perfectly dry and cold thicker sticks (1 to 1.5cm diameter) are sucking the heat out of the fire before they dry out and ignite properly.
I now have an insulated wind guard, and an insulated ground pad, using a lot more tinder than usual and burning thinner sticks longer than normal before trying the thicker sticks and its working OK. But I do wonder if the larger Honey stove or Hobo might actally perform better in these conditions as you will be able to get a slightly bigger core fire going in them.
Does anyone have any experience of using both stoves in these wintry conditions and think this may be the case, or does it not make any difference.
Thanks,
Graham
Toadflax
14-01-2010, 15:31
I've not tried them in cold conditions but I would choose the Honey Stove over the Bushcooker. I've always found that the Bushcooker needs a LOT of active management to keep it burning effectively, whereas the Honey Stove can be left alone to a reasonable degree.
Geoff
I have a Honey stove, and have built/used a few of the Hobo stoves.
Honey Stove
I can tell you that yesterday I went to the woods, put the Honey together and mad some Hot Ribeana - not a problem.
I also forgot to clear the snow to ground and just sat the honey on some kitchen foil on the snow. Still lit fine, still burnt well. Even after the heat caused it to sink into the snow. ( I have a pic, but on the camera at home - will update.).
Hobo stoves
Basically the same deal as the honey. A box to burn stuff in, but I find that unless build to a good standard they can be a bit hit and miss. There are million designs so some are better than others.
Main disadvantage to the Honey (IMO) is that you have to use it as it was built. The Honey on the other hand is more versitile.
Meths/Trangia
No really Hobo, but I use a CIVI Trangia burner as well so a quick cup when walking or a if im lazy.
Trangia stove fits beautifully in the Honey and works a treat. This can be a very hand alternative when you are in a tent, or as you say in the cold with no wood about.
Meths and cold though are not best friends. Keep you fuel in in you pocket or close to your body to help prime the stove first.
Hope that helps.
Mike
I've always found that the Bushcooker needs a LOT of active management to keep it burning effectively, whereas the Honey Stove can be left alone to a reasonable degree.
Yes, the Bushbuddy does seem to need a lot of TLC, which seems to made worse when conditions are that bit trickier. I really need to give the Honey stove a proper go.
Graham
Nickliv and I used this bad boy:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v602/FastNA2/beerkittinstove.jpg
to heat soup and fry bacon and sausages in the cold and snow the other week. Worked well once we fabricated some split sticks to raise the frying pan a little.
We found pencil thickness twigs hard going, fine to start off with but as posted above, gone too quickly and didn't generate a good core heat. A much better bet were inch to inch and a half diameter sticks split into quarters - both thick enough to burn well and with enough mass to leave a good enough heart to keep going when more fuel was added but easy enough to light as they were split rather than round.
It's made from a 1.5kg homebrew kit tin (Coopers Bitter in fact - lovely drop if you brew your own) - 185mm high x 100mm diameter (7.25" x 4" give or take a few thou)
It was only it's second outing and it's already been modified twice - making the holes around the top bigger being the first and adding peg holes in the base to be able to stabilize it being the second (unwieldy frying pan + lightweight stove full of lightweight firewood = bacon fat all over the snow and cold sausages).
I've got a cutlery drainer which I picked up together with a stainless tea pot (of the type you get in supermarket cafés) for a quid from the local charity shop - not fired that one up yet but I'll post a comparative when I do.
Cheers,
Mike
I have a Honey stove, and have built/used a few of the Hobo stoves.
Thanks, useful comments on the Honey Stove. All too familiar with meths and cold weather from winter camping in the Highlands, but its a good fallback when getting a fire going isn't practical. I have dropped a whitebox stove into the bushbuddy in the past, but the height isn't right and I have never been bothered to fix it.
Graham
Nickliv and I used this bad boy:
We found pencil thickness twigs hard going, fine to start off with but as posted above, gone too quickly and didn't generate a good core heat. A much better bet were inch to inch and a half diameter sticks split into quarters - both thick enough to burn well and with enough mass to leave a good enough heart to keep going when more fuel was added but easy enough to light as they were split rather than round.
It's made from a 1.5kg homebrew kit tin (Coopers Bitter in fact - lovely drop if you brew your own) - 185mm high x 100mm diameter (7.25" x 4" give or take a few thou)
The firebox on the bushbuddy is about 90mm x 40mm as you are meant to keep the gasification holes free, so you never really get much wood in there. In fact I have been ignoring this and piling as much wood in as I can get and this seems to work better. I have also been splitting bigger sticks exactly as you have been doing
Graham
Mike
Thanks, useful comments on the Honey Stove. All too familiar with meths and cold weather from winter camping in the Highlands, but its a good fallback when getting a fire going isn't practical. I have dropped a whitebox stove into the bushbuddy in the past, but the height isn't right and I have never been bothered to fix it.
Graham
Now you see that's where the honey will shine. First off it comes with a Trangia mount and there are slits at differnt heights to you can very move it to what is required. You can alos leave all the other bits at home and just use 4 side if you are just on meths... (my prefered hiking setup for the trail...)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3551/3859659984_174be5abb5.jpg
I keep my Trangia stove in a ziplock bag inside my pot kit so its there if needed. With this setup you have the option of Wood, Meths, Esbit/Hexamine, or as I have done in the past, use the Trangia Gas Buner conversion kit inside the Honey (pic to follow).
Should have mentioned Honey also that the honey packs down flat as well.
Now you see that's where the honey will shine.
Should have mentioned Honey also that the honey packs down flat as well.
I should mention that in fact I do have a honey stove (an impulse on a group buy on here) but found it a faff to put together and "tidied" it away. I'm going to go and have a serious look for it now.
Graham
It take a little practice to get it right and in an easy process.
Personally I make sure the first 4 side are in then slot in the base to give it some rigidity and finish it off.
My 2 mates also have Honeys and they we have found some interesting ways of make SUPER HONEYS!!
My 2 mates also have Honeys and they we have found some interesting ways of make SUPER HONEYS!!
OK I will practise :-)
Super Honeys sound like things that could lead to a divorce.
Graham
Could you use something to help it along Graham ?
I'm thinking plenty of birch bark or maybe some pine resin. Not sure if pine resin's a good idea in a bushbuddy though as I've not had a play with one yet ??
Could you use something to help it along Graham ?
I'm thinking plenty of birch bark or maybe some pine resin. Not sure if pine resin's a good idea in a bushbuddy though as I've not had a play with one yet ??
Well, I am helping it along with finer twigs, and yes birch bark would be another option but its a fussy little thing at the best of times even though I am very taken with the wood gas idea. However, as I mentioned above the firebox is only 90mm x 35-40mm so its a tiny volume of wood.
I'm just a bit unsure whether to persevere with it, or move to something bigger (albeit not a woodgas stove) like the Honey Stove.
Graham
OK I will practise :-)
Super Honeys sound like things that could lead to a divorce.
Graham
My Missus is my super honey and she knows it. I'm allowed to flirt with my other Super Honey (the stove), but only because I alway come home to SWMBO.
My Missus is my super honey and she knows it. I'm allowed to flirt with my other Super Honey (the stove), but only because I alway come home to SWMBO.
:-))
Graham
OK, much milder of course, but also much windier, but I have just had a go with the honey stove using the same wood stock that I was using for the BushBuddy.
Unlike the Bushuddy where the wind is bit of a problem, it seemed to help the Honey Stove and my tinder/twigs burst instantly into life and i was able to quickly put larger sticks on it (up to 1.5cm) that lit easily. All told a much easier process than the BushBuddy and although I didn't time it, my water boiled in a similar time.
I will need to wait for a proper cold day to make a better comparison, but this rather limited trial suggests that the Honey may well have the edge. It also rather neatly folds into the rectangular dutch army mess tins.
One slight problem is that the BushBuddy stays cool and can be picked up while burning, I found to my cost that the same of course does not apply to the Honey Stove !!!
Graham
JonathanD
16-01-2010, 18:13
I love the Bushbuddy and always go back to it. I find that carrying some decent secateurs reduces the work by 70% and you can cut some large stubby pieces which don't need topping up all that often. You do need to get it going for about five minutes to build up the heat though before weaning it to the larger sized pieces. Takes slightly longer in this weather, but once you have the big bits burning, it is no trouble or effort to maintain.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a77/darkcrown_1969/21Jun2009-SUMMERSOLSTICEAM11.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a77/darkcrown_1969/21Jun2009-SUMMERSOLSTICEAM15.jpg
I love the Bushbuddy and always go back to it. I find that carrying some decent secateurs reduces the work by 70% and you can cut some large stubby pieces which don't need topping up all that often. You do need to get it going for about five minutes to build up the heat though before weaning it to the larger sized pieces. Takes slightly longer in this weather, but once you have the big bits burning, it is no trouble or effort to maintain.
Don't get me wrong, my Bushbuddy is one of my favourite bits of kit, but I think in fact you are supporting the issues I am having "5 minutes" before adding thicker bits of wood and taking "slightly longer " in this weather. I wondered how much this was just because of me or whether it was a feature of the stove.
My gut feeling is that when its going well, the Bushbuddy is throwing out more heat than the Honey Stove, but the Honey Stove gets a head start so that the" time to boil" ends up very close.
When you say that you "always go back" to the Bushbuddy, what is this back from?
The secateurs seem a good idea, I tend to nick with a knife or half cut with an SAK saw with thicker bits to make sure I break sticks to the right length.
Thanks,
Graham
JonathanD
16-01-2010, 19:34
I always go back to it from using my honey stove. You are right though, it takes about five minutes in this weather before the larger lumps start to take. Given that though, it still manages to boil quicker than the honey and there is virtually no smoke when it is up and running which I find is a major plus.
andythecelt
16-01-2010, 19:34
Secateurs! Now why didn't I think of that? I love my honey stove, unless I need a decent sized fire for warmth I use it for cooking almost exclusively because during the warmer months it virtually eliminates any fire risk. But.... even with a decent sized firebox like the honey stove you're pretty limited in terms of wood size. Secateurs would make it a doddle by being a lot faster than a saw. Brilliant. It's 'lighbulb moments' like this that forums are for IMO!
Given that though, it still manages to boil quicker than the honey and there is virtually no smoke when it is up and running which I find is a major plus.
Thanks, very useful that you are also comparing it with the Honey. I like the lack of smoke and that the Bushbuddy stays relatively cool. Interesting that you still consider the Bushbuddy boils quicker even when allowing for the extra "getting up to speed" time. With very limited comparison, my gut feeling was that they were probably about the same. However, once the Bushbuddy gets going it boils very quickly, so maybe I just need to improve my Bushbuddy lighting skills.
Graham
I use this tubing to "turbo-charge" my Bushbuddy, without inhaling smoke, getting my hands and knees wet, or making myself light-headed.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c116/Oblio13/IMG_3386.jpg
I, too, love my bushbuddy and I have had no problems with it in the recent snow:
http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/6320/snowbuddy.jpg
You do have to keep feeding it but it still boils enough water for a brew with a very few twigs. On this occasion (in the photo) I kicked it off with birch bark and added a little more when I put the second lot of twigs in. The wood was from a fallen beech branch that I had to shake the snow off before snapping to size. The secret (as in JonathanD's photo) is to make sure you have enough fuel prepared in advance as it can go out very quickly if you have to scout out new supplies mid-brew.
I use this tubing to "turbo-charge" my Bushbuddy, without inhaling smoke, getting my hands and knees wet, or making myself light-headed.
Thanks,
I use a section of aluminium tent pole to do the same thing, but this seems a more flexible solution.
Graham
P.S. pun not intended
The bush buddy looks the business
I, too, love my bushbuddy and I have had no problems with it in the recent snow
Thanks, your picture looks very like the way my Bushbuddy looked, at least for most of the time.
I could get it burning like JonathanD's picture by adding small twigs of a few mm, but larger bits never really took that well, and I felt it was always on the verge of going out. Still boiled my pot of water OK.
But nice to see someone else happy with the Bushbuddy in poor weather so further support for it being my lack of skill.
Graham