We are big fans of the FyreMite fire starter. You can get some here from Lone Cedar's Etsy page.
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]]>Meet Hot Ash.
It’s a compact, lightweight, portable rocket stove perfect for camping, off grid cooking, and emergency preps.
The Hot Ash Stove efficiently cooks and heats water, requiring very little wood to burn. You can literally cook a meal with a handful of sticks.
All of the pieces tuck neatly into each other to save a ton of space in your pack. It even comes with its own handy carrying bag to keep everything neat and tidy. Weighing only 3 lbs, it’s light enough to carry pretty much anywhere.
Assembly is easy, and requires no tools. The two wingnuts used to hold the stove together are easily tightened with your fingers.
There are clear instruction on how to put the stove together, if you just aren’t sure.
Let’s put it to the test, shall we?
It took me less than a minute to assemble all of the pieces as shown. Super easy. I did drop a wingnut during the process which made me realize how easy it could be to lose one in the field. Don’t drop the wingnuts.
Once the stove is put together you’re ready to start cooking. Use the stove the same way you’d use a burner on your range at home. Eggs and bacon? Perfect. Chicken noodle soup? No problem.
The stove top will accommodate something as small as a camping cup or as large as a 12″ pot or pan. It’s even strong enough for heavy cast iron cookware.
Find level ground to place your Hot Ash Stove on before building a fire. The built in stand on the back helps keep the unit steady.
There’s an opening in the front where you load your fire starting material and small sticks. Collect dried grasses, bark, twigs, and small sticks to build a fire. Make sure you clear the area around the stove of anything flammable before lighting a fire in the stove.
I’m no master fire builder, but I have cooked on other rocket stoves quite a few times. On first attempt I found it difficult to get a fire started in the Hot Ash. There is no damper, so no way to regulate air flow. Eventually I was able to get a good burn going. It does take some practice to get the hang of it, and the choice of burning materials will definitely affect efficiency.
Once a good fire is going you can add a few small, dry sticks to feed the flame, pushing them further in as they burn. Continue adding more sticks as needed to keep the fire going.
I thought I’d test the stove’s ability to heat 2 quarts of water to see how quickly it could reach a rolling boil. That’s probably close to the amount of water I’d boil for my family of six for soup or just-add-water meals on a camping trip.
The stove burned very hot. You have to be careful not to touch any part of it while a fire is going. Definitely keep curious kids away!
After 25 minutes of feeding a blazing fire, the water was at a simmer. This was significantly longer than it took me to boil water on an Eco Zoom Stove, another rocket stove with its own set of pros and cons. If I had used less water I have no doubt it would have come to a boil much more quickly. A cup at a time would heat very quickly, I’m sure. Perhaps my choice of wood affected the outcome as well. The sticks I used were dry and fit to burn, but a harder wood might have burned hotter. When you’re in the field you may not have much choice in what you burn, so it may take longer to cook depending on what you have available for fuel.
I waited about 10 minutes or so for the stove to completely cool before I could dump the ashes out and pack the Hot Ash up. Make sure you pour water over the ashes to put out any remaining hot coals.
Cleanup is messy. You must disassemble the stove in order to pack it up compactly again, which means touching lots of soot. Be forewarned, anything that touches the stove will get blackened.
All in all, I was very pleased with the Hot Ash Stove’s ability to heat using very little wood. Because it is so lightweight and compact, it would be my first choice for a travel stove. As a matter of fact, I’ll probably keep it in my car emergency kit to replace the small Esbit folding stoves I currently have in there. Those little fuel tablets stink like crazy and burn up pretty quickly, leaving the Esbit stove useless once you’re out of tablets.
Check out this quick video to watch the stove in action.
Several design elements set the Hot Ash Stove apart from other off grid cooking alternatives:
As cool as the stove is, I did note a few downsides to consider with the Hot Ash:
Conveniently cook meals without having to create an immense bonfire by using this hot ash wood burning stove instead. It sports a rugged metallic body and helps get rid of harmful creosotes found in traditional campfires.
http://www.thisiswhyimbroke.com/hot-ash-wood-burning-stove
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Go ahead and say it. Go on, they want you to. I'm sure it's why it got its name in the first place. That is a Hot. Ash. Stove.
The Hot Ash is a 3-pound wood-burning rocket stove whose stainless steel composition armors it for use on nearly any outdoor terrain, and whose primary and secondary burn chambers enable it to cook and boil water quickly using only sticks and twigs. In addition, the chambers create continuous turbulence to recycle establish flames, so your wood fuel burns for longer, with more heat and less smoke. The Hot Ash design also filters out harmful creosotes found in traditional campfires before they make their way to your wieners and s'mores.
The little bushcraft buddy has assembled dimensions of 3" wide x 7.25" deep x 8.9" tall, and nested dimensions of 3" wide x 3.25" deep x 8.9" tall. Small enough to pack for a trip into the yonder, but large enough to cook a meal for the 2 to 4 people on it. And strong like ox too--Hot Ash notes that their engineer once performed a very scientific test of its durability by standing on a 12" skillet placed over the top of the stove. It held up.
Hot Ash heat output is strong enough to cover a surface area of up to 12" in diameter. As a point of reference for water boil time, the Hot Ash crew added a pot with 4 cups of water to the stove in 45-degree weather, and achieved the roll in about 10 minutes.
If you're not into cooking with the forest floor, the Hot Ash Stove will also burn store-bought fuel tablets, but purchased wood pellets.
Hot Ash Stove: Wood Burning Rocket Stove –
With camping season in full stride, this little beast is the real deal. It’s tough, efficient, yet super simple to use. If you’re not the biggest fan of taking out a gas burning mini-stove but still like to cook yourself, then get your hands on the Hot Ash Stove and prepare the finest of camping feasts.
http://thechive.com/2016/04/20/shut-up-and-take-my-money-13-photos-23/
The Hot Ash stove is a unique metal stove that packs down to 3 inches square and 9 inches tall. It’s a small piece of hardware that resembles a pizza oven. You put your burning material in the front slot. The venting system creates a draft that pushes the flame sideways, creating a “secondary burn” that will last longer than a normal flame.
The Hot Ash stove is travel sized and durable, weighing only 3 pounds. It is made to be taken on all your adventures with the ease of carrying bag. It’s safe to use, quick to assemble and disassemble, and makes a strong flame suitable for all cooking.
Any camper knows the difficulties of starting a campfire. When you’re lighting a fire for food, the Hot Ash Outdoor Stove has all others beat with its compact and durable design, as well as how easy it is to keep a lit fire.
Alan Trujillo
http://www.sellingtothemasses.com/2015/12/hot-ash-camp-stove-itty-bitty-stove-with-a-long-hot-burn/
]]>For starters, this is not an ultralight wood stove. This is a portable Rocket Stove. This means it follows a different dynamic in the way it utilizes fuel, heats food, and acts. According to Wikipedia,
A rocket stove is an efficient cooking stove using small diameter wood fuel which is burned in a simple combustion chamber containing a vertical chimney, which ensures almost complete combustion prior to the flames reaching the cooking surface.
This allows the user to pickup small deadfall and have a way to heat food, boil water, or create a meal, all on the go and very easily.
It is, in my opinion, lightweight and we discussed ideas and ways to make it lighter. For those worried about ounces in your pack, it is still a viable option versus something like a Whisperlite or other gas-fuel fed, backpacking, stove. At the moment, it is less than 3 pounds according to measurement but again, they are dropping weight by using a lighter gauge metal without compromising the integrity and durability of the product.
I tested durability by dropping it onto rocks from a 3-foot and 4-foot height. I then tested it by throwing it onto the rocks from 6-foot away. Other than a couple of scratches, I saw no damage. This is comforting if you were to drop it off a picnic table or if it fell out of your pack. I do not have a cliff to try and drop it off more than 50-feet. My thought is if this were to happen, you probably would not retrieve it anyway.
Another test was the typical water boil test. According to their claims it is around 12 minutes for 4 cups of water at 45-degrees. I was able to boil two cups, standard for most quick meals, in 6 minutes 32 seconds in 53-degree weather plus wind at about 9 mph. This seems to line up with what they are saying and if someone is willing to do the math and extrapolate, then more power to you.
Two of the biggest factors that I like about the stove is the fact is it is made here in the U.S.A. and it has a Lifetime Warranty. Yes, you heard me right, L I F E T I M E! That is all I need to say about that since you know how I feel about both of those factors.
I think the Hot Ash Stove will be useful to many campers. While I understand some car campers want their grills and full size Coleman stoves, I think this is useful when cooking for 2-4 folks. An 8″ Cast Iron skillet is used in their video and with the legs in place, it holds the weight with no wobble. Keep in mind, my tests were done with no legs or fuel chute. Which means I was using just the fuel chamber and chimney for these tests and it passed boldly including my 12″ Cast Iron Skillet. Not too bad, if I say so myself.
Finally, I think one of the best targets for the product is bushcrafters and survivalists. I know preppers fall into these categories as well but the reason I say those targets is the product is simple and easy to use as well as compact. From a survival perspective, if you are bugging out or in a situation that warrants low profile, the Hot Ash Stove produces minimal smoke due its design and separate air flow chamber. This simulates a Dakota Fire Hole and helps when you need a quick water boil or bite to eat but still need to keep moving. I stress this fact as it was one of the first things I noticed once the stove was lit. Keep in mind, wood type and dryness also play a factor in keeping the smoke at a minimum and having low ash residue at the outset.
Do me a favor, at minimum, go check out their Kickstarter page here and consider backing them. They are good folks that I have spoken with often and the Hot Ash Stove is a great product. Besides, the intro video shows Duffy cooking BACON in a Cast Iron Skillet and after speaking to them, he considered cooking a potato on the heat shaft. I did just that but was grilling meat on the shaft as opposed to the potato. Bacon! Cast Iron! Cooked Meat! Either way, it was a win!
Until then,
Use your instincts to survive
http://instinctsurvivalist.com/that-is-a-hot-ash-stove-gear-review/
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Really great product form Hot Ash.
https://pinewoodoutdoors.wordpress.com/2015/12/08/hot-ash-stove-wood-burning-rocket-stove/
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