Just in case anyone was wonderering if I'd disappeared.... things have just been a bit busy! Amongst other things I'm preparing for my first photography exhibition - I'm not giving up the day job yet though...
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I went along to a local BHPC race this weekend but didn't take part - it was rather pleasent to just chill by the trackside, sit in the sun and watch the racing for a change! I did use the opportunity to fire up some of the stove collection to make coffee. The EK750OB had two runs - I recovered it from a little bit of dieback on the first run, on the second run it behaved perfectly! The more I use the wood burner the more I like it!
Third serving of coffee was courtesy of the MBDCult 'Stumpy' which also worked very nicely.
New stuff - I'm waiting on a pair of custom Mountain King Trail Blaze poles and a Factor 1 base layer from Subzero to arrive...
Oh, and having enjoyed getting back to cycling, at least on the race track, I'm working on rebuilding my faired race trike with the plan of getting it race-fit over the August bank holiday weekend ready for a race in West London the following weekend.
Monday, 24 August 2009
Monday, 17 August 2009
Mini Bull Designs 'Stumpy'
Just a quick note - today's 'goodie' in the post was a carbon-wicked MBDCult 'Stumpy' high-output compact alcohol burner. The carbon wick replaces the previous glass fibre wick design which tended to spoil and melt when the fuel ran out. On a first test run the carbon wick seems to be an improvement.
This stove is the big brother of the uno#1 I reviewed back on the 11th July and runs from the same fuel system - it is basically a larger bore version of the same burner. Results of the first test firing are rather curious - it took 12ml of meths to bring 375ml of water to a rolling boil in 9-and-a-half minutes - a good minute and a half faster than the Uno#1 but, curiously, using the same amount of fuel!
I really like the remote fuel system on this stove - it is great to be able to watch the fuel level drop as the stove is used and it being perfectly clear how much fuel, so how much run time is left in the stove.
When I'd finished boiling the water I disconnected the fuel bottle and recovered fuel in the pipe. The burner kept the water at a rolling boil for another 5 minutes!
This stove is the big brother of the uno#1 I reviewed back on the 11th July and runs from the same fuel system - it is basically a larger bore version of the same burner. Results of the first test firing are rather curious - it took 12ml of meths to bring 375ml of water to a rolling boil in 9-and-a-half minutes - a good minute and a half faster than the Uno#1 but, curiously, using the same amount of fuel!
I really like the remote fuel system on this stove - it is great to be able to watch the fuel level drop as the stove is used and it being perfectly clear how much fuel, so how much run time is left in the stove.
When I'd finished boiling the water I disconnected the fuel bottle and recovered fuel in the pipe. The burner kept the water at a rolling boil for another 5 minutes!
Monday, 3 August 2009
Woodstove success!
The more I use this little stove, the more I like it!
Tonight my first 'proper' end-to-end run using the EK750OB - using some home-made tinder, started using some of the tinder on the end of a stick from a spark from a firesteel and knifeback, sticks collected on Sunday's walk... 375ml of water, around 8 minutes... Yay!
Afterwards I deliberately let the stove die down to embers to practice bringing it back to life. I struggle on this. Tomorrow evening I have plans to meet up with Dave Watson of Woodland Survival Crafts in a local wood for some quick one-on-one fire training and to see if that is all I need or it is worth booking onto one of his 3-day firestarter courses!
Tonight my first 'proper' end-to-end run using the EK750OB - using some home-made tinder, started using some of the tinder on the end of a stick from a spark from a firesteel and knifeback, sticks collected on Sunday's walk... 375ml of water, around 8 minutes... Yay!
Afterwards I deliberately let the stove die down to embers to practice bringing it back to life. I struggle on this. Tomorrow evening I have plans to meet up with Dave Watson of Woodland Survival Crafts in a local wood for some quick one-on-one fire training and to see if that is all I need or it is worth booking onto one of his 3-day firestarter courses!
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