Tatonka Burner Stand Review

[British Red]

A quick review of my new favourit bit of "Gucci" kit. Some of you will know I am a big fan of "spirit burner" stoves and like both civilian Trangias and the Swedish Army model. Love them as I do they are too bulky for going light or minimal. I tried a "click stand" - very functional and light but let down in my view by three things

1) Price (c. £25)
2) Fiddly to assemble (not too much of a thing but its there)
3) Packing - it won't fit inside any of my billy cans which is what I want from a small light stove

Recently I spotted a neat little burner stand made by Tatonka. Having been a fan of their tarps I decided to invest.

I bought a complete stove set to experiment with - burner, stand and "simmer ring"



The burner is top left (complete with "o ring" sealed cap)

The simmer is bottom left

The parts of the burner stand are on the right - three legs and a ring. They slot together like this



The burner (deeper than a civi trangia burner and holding more fuel) slots into the ring



The simmer ring sits loosely over the top of the burner



Any type of pan will sit comfortably on top




I used the burner ring on the "Mors" course recently - and it coped well with brews, pancakes, corned beef hash and all normal camp fare!



The verdict? The best small stove set up I have tried so far by far.

What do I like?

1) It packs tiny - I can fit the burner, simmer ring and stand in a 10cm Zebra Billy, Crusader Cup or any pan I own

2) The stand can be used with an existing Trangia burner (but not please note an army model)

3) Its CHEAP - the burner stand is £5 - £6 or the whole set up about £15. Way cheaper than a click stand or any other alcohol burner micro system I have come across.

What would I change? Well as in all stoves it needs a windshield to operate efficiently. Not really a complaint - just an observation. The rivet pivot on the simmer ring has a hole through slightly compromising use as a snuffer (works okay but I'd be happier with a solid pin). Other than that? Not a lot. If you have a real or knock off Trangia, the stand is well worth a look - if you haven't but want a lightweight stove for day walks etc. I'd certainly give the whole set serious consideration. Several places claim to have them - but Lakeland Bushcraft were the only people who could actually supply the whole set to me and supplied in 24 hrs (cheers Lurch).

Red Recommends!

[SimonM]

As expected, a solid piece of kit receiving a solid review! Thanks Red.

I have several spirit burners myself (3 civvy Trangia & 1 SA model + a Triad) so might get hold of one of these soon! Kit nut...who me....?

Simon

EDIT:
I couldn't resist - Order placed with Lurch!

[Lurch]

Thanks Red! The thing with Tatonka is their kit is great but the delivery not so. Which is why I try to keep stock. Old fashioned concept these days I know....
Your swag will ship Monday Simon my good man.

[Greg]

What fuel do you use in these stoves?
Is it White Spirit or the purple Methylated Spirit?
I looked at one of these the other week but wasn't sure, having never used a spirit stove, but now I think I might just get myself one!
Thanks for the review Red, good as always!

[British Red]

Good old fashioned methylated spirit Greg

Red

[Greg]

Good old fashioned methylated spirit Greg

Red

So the purple stuff then! Cheers Red!

[British Red]

Thats the puppy Greg. It certainly seemed to work okay on the bannock pancackes with foraged blackberry and apple with a swirl of vermont maple syrup.

No ice cream though - it was hard core survival out there

[Wallenstein]

If you're woodland camping and you site your stove carefully, it's usually possible to minimise the wind problem. Tucked between the roots of a big tree, or else a few piles of branches around the stove, and you can block most of the breeze.

Worth chucking in 8-10% water for spirit burners, helps with a "cleaner" flame and means less soot to clean off the pans.

[Crowe]

I haven't heard about the 'add water tip', please explain

[John Fenna]

I am not trying to knock the kit at all but on soft ground - turf, forest floor etc - you can make just as effective a bot stand from 3 steel tent pegs of the 90 degree bend type simply pushed into the ground at suitable distance from the burner. Works for all size burners......

[John Fenna]

I am not trying to knock the kit at all but on soft ground - turf, forest floor etc - you can make just as effective a bot stand from 3 steel tent pegs of the 90 degree bend type simply pushed into the ground at suitable distance from the burner. Works for all size burners......

[SimonM]

Your swag will ship Monday Simon my good man.

Thanks Lurch, I'll try and beat SWMBO to the post or else she will want some extra pocket money too!

Simon

[Landy_Dom]

I just bought one of these and was going to review it too - you beat me to it!!!

anyways there was one thing that niggled me about it and that was that the pan rests were a little on the large side - a single mug or pan from a 1 - person cookset is a little small for it. Even the frying pan / lid from a trangia 27 doesn't overlap at all !

I think I will modify the legs slightly to bring them in a bit - will post pics soon.

The other thing that struck me was that it would benefit from a little tray to take hexamine to give an alternative / addition to the meths burner - I will also play with this and post pics.

Good review though Red, and I agree - a TOP piece of kit at pocket money prices

Dom.

[British Red]

Interesting what you say about the rests Dom,

I played with mine and given it supported all my pans okay I was happy. The only thing I had that was slightly precarious was my Crusader mug but a little judicious flexing of the legs sorted that (the stoves, not mine ). The problem was of course that the mug isn't round and is very narrow "front to back",

I like the idea of a hexy tray..having checked, you can just turn over the simmer ring and drop it in the stand to make a tray. The simmer cover is a bit loose but I bet you could use a few drops of "JB Weld" or a couple of spot welds to make a pretty neat stacking tray. Hadn't thought of trying that - good idea that man!

John - I agree on the tentpegs but I made a mess of that once in soft earth - one peg sank under the weight of a heavy pan of water and dumped the lot out - fortunately only tepid at the time . I gather you've already twigged this from "all but soft" comment - put me right off the idea though


Red

[spamel]

Three stones would work too. It looks like a neat bit of kit though, and stupidly cheap.

[Tripitaka]

Just bought one on the back of this review!

I've been looking for a trangia as Mrs Trippy won't go near my current Peak1 stove but this is exactly what I need.

Thanks for the review.

[Wallenstein]

I haven't heard about the 'add water tip', please explain

One of the downsides to using meths is the amount of soot it generates when it burns.

Anyone who's had to scrub a trangia pan will know what I mean!

I'm not 100% sure of the chemistry involved, but adding 8-10% water (no more, as you'll dilute the meths too much) is an old trick to prevent soot build up.

I just add 80ml of water to my litre sigg bottle, and fill the rest up with meths.

It won't damage your burner, so you can easily give it a try yourself... see if you can actually notice a difference, or if it's an old wives' tale!

[crazyclimber]

Wallenstein that's a good point and one of the few things I didn't used to like about trangias. For some reason though with my decagon that's never a problem; you can burn it all day with no soot whatsoever. Why? I've no idea

[spamel]

Well, after last weeks outing with The Ratbag and Scruff, I decided to get a new burner a few days back. Funnily enough, it is the stainless Tatonka burner, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it performs. For some reason, the Trangia was like a rocket and nothing would stop the flames from going totally mental. I filled the burner and a few seconds later it was empty. I had to refill it again before lighting it. I reckon it may have developed a crack somewhere in the inner wall, an old one did that too. At half the price, the Tatonka one seems like better value for money.

[Wallenstein]

I filled the burner and a few seconds later it was empty. I had to refill it again before lighting it.

I used to think that was the meths evaporating, or draining away, but it's just flowing into the outer cavity.

It's normal to fill a trangia burner twice... first pour seems to "drain away", and the second pour fills up the internal reservoir.

[bikething]

I used to think that was the meths evaporating, or draining away, but it's just flowing into the outer cavity.

It's normal to fill a trangia burner twice... first pour seems to "drain away", and the second pour fills up the internal reservoir.

There's also a wick between the outer and inner walls which will suck up the meths

[Landy_Dom]

I think I will modify the legs slightly to bring them in a bit - will post pics soon.

Well, as promised...

Here is the setup I intend to be playing with:


The stainless billy is modified from a woolworths tea / coffee / sugar set I bought on sale for a fiver, using a piece of 1.5mm braided stainless wire and a couple of choccy bloc connectors (great idea pinched from Wayland - thanks!) The dark grey hard anodised set is a Gelert Ascent solo which I've just bought but not played with yet. I like the Gelert set because it nests over a standard 1L Nalgene polycarbonate bottle - tidy!

As you can see, the support legs are just a little wide for either set:




So I went ahead with the minor mods to the legs - bend one:


and bend two (note keep top of arm at 90 degrees to the piece that slots into the ring:


Check that all 3 legs are bent identically:


I discovered that the critical dimension is the distance betweeen two of the support arm tips - too tight and the burner won't go in without removing one of the legs (not a massive problem but annoying nonetheless). I found the optimum for me was to have this distance set to JUST allow the burner to slide in:


As you can see, the smallest pot (the stainless billy) is just about supported ok now:


This is now the setup on the smallest pot:


And the largest I am likely to want to use on it (frying pan from Trangia 27):


I will look into the hexamine tray next - I think the lid of that tea container billy might be just the thing to start hacking up

Dom.

[spamel]

Now, you're using the trangia burner unit there, so what would that last shot look like with the Tatonka unit? Red? I know the Tatonka unit is deeper, does it clear the ground?

[British Red]

It clears the ground by quite a way Spam

[Mang]

Glad you've reviewed this. I'd seen it on the web but never seen much said about it on here. I'd looked at this http://www.trekdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Pocket_Cooker.html but I'll have to have a think, especially as I can't find them anywhere-Oh that's a lie actually, I saw one in a sale in the US...kit $14 but p&p $59!

[Scots_Charles_River]

What about wind ? Does it effect the burner flame ? Normally my trangia burner is in the trad.set and protected or in the mil. set and protected.

Nick

[rik_uk3]

If you're woodland camping and you site your stove carefully, it's usually possible to minimise the wind problem. Tucked between the roots of a big tree, or else a few piles of branches around the stove, and you can block most of the breeze.

Worth chucking in 8-10% water for spirit burners, helps with a "cleaner" flame and means less soot to clean off the pans.

no water please, it slows down the cooking process

[spamel]

no water please, it slows down the cooking process

Surely only by 10 per cent though!

[Landy_Dom]

I will look into the hexamine tray next - I think the lid of that tea container billy might be just the thing to start hacking up

OK - here we go...

I started with the lid from the tea cannister I'd made the billy can from. I marked out a circle with a deodorant can (just happened to be about the right size) and marked 3 equally spaced corners using the Tatonka ring:


I then decided to mark out six tabs to stop the hexamine tab sliding about / off:


Here is the flat pattern cut out of the lid with a dremel (marvelous tool!)


I scored the bend lines with the dremel before bending up using the closed jaws of my largest adjustible spanner:


Here it is with the tabs fully folded, trimmed and radiused:


7 Holes drilled for air flow:


Use the original Tatonka ring to mark the bend lines for the outer tabs:


The finished item (upside down):


And on the stove holder (right side up and ready to go):


Hope this is of some interest / help...

Dom.

[spamel]

Neat! Will it fit in the lower position, through the gaps in the side? There should be enough space as you have it between hexy and pot, but just wondering.