 There is a separate thread on the Bush Buddy stove, and a couple of the regular fellas on the forum will likely be able to tell you more on that, as they test it out this coming year! 
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http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/forum/forummessages.asp?dt=&UTN=21019&last=1&V=8&SP= This is a link to take you to that earlier OM Bush Buddy stove chat thread! Just resurrect the thread by posting any new questions you might have on the stove there, and the fellas that have one will surely see it and let you know the answer. As they are like that! Which is why I call the longer standing regulars on here the "OM Heroes" after all!
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| Edited: 10/03/08 23:01 |
Jerry, if it is all wet out-by which I take it you mean that all the wood for possible potential fire use all around you is wet through-and you want to use the wood burnng options for stoves, or Kelly Kettles, then it is just the same as if you are lighting a campfire outdoors in the wet, essentially! Keep a good survival fire lighting kit with you on your person, with dry tinder material to catch a spark or a flame. Also if most other things are just too wet to light you can usually find something in the wilds that will catch alight first, to allow you to light a fire. eg sheeps wool caught on a fence maybe, or even the bark of the "woodsman's friend" tree, the Silver Birch, too is most effective a firelighter even in wet conditions.I always carry though a bit of burnable tinder material in addition to all of that other kit. Or try a puncture repair kit for a bike like a lot of folks use in really wet jungle type conditions, the whole world over. Either ignite the puncture repair glue itself squeezed onto your tinder; or else use the rubber bits in the tin/or bits of cut up car tyre inner tubing etc as do often soldiers on jungle courses. A messy but popular bushcrafter's easier option is cotton wool balls, pre-prepared in a plastic bag with liberal coatings of basic vaseline as well too! They catch a flame from a lighter or lit candle, or a fire-lighter type flint spark really well!
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| Edited: 10/03/08 23:16 |
 A messy but popular bushcrafter's easier option is cotton wool balls, pre-prepared in a plastic bag with liberal coatings of basic vaseline as well too! They catch a flame from a lighter or lit candle, or a fire-lighter type flint spark really well! I use tumble drier fluff and vaseline - works a treat with a Swedish Scout firesteel.
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The greenheat stuff is great, you can scoop it out of the big tin into an empty vasaline tin (the little flat ones) and it works great. Also alot cheaper than buying it in small sachets/tins. I regularly use the French version of meths - alcool e brulea - and have not had any problems, plus its cheaper than our meths. Another thing used by some is a form of Methanol, sold as an antifreeze for DERV fuel-lines. One such product is "HEET gas-line anti-freeze" use the yellow bottle not the red bottle. The following people bring it into the UK and they will tell you your nearest supplier: JRP distribution Ltd, Worthing (or Shoreham) Tel:01903 234015 The following page makes for good reading on stove fuels: http://www.lightweightcampers.org.uk/technical/fuelnames/index.html
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| Edited: 11/03/08 14:22 |
Yeah, a very good little direct link too that one there aa! I think that is either the same or similar to one we had in the "white gas" thread too, posted then by captain paranoia. http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/forum/forummessages.asp?dt=&UTN=21070&last=1&V=8&SP= I have repeated that link to the older OM chat thread so others can get there more quickly from here; as again much of the good info on there is of interest too to us here, in this actual thread discussion of current. Some excellent other points, and indeed some new info as well, you do mention in your post there above aa, so well done and thank you for posting it all.
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| Edited: 12/03/08 03:17 |
Greenheat gel for refilling tins etc with, is too readily available in refill bottles from varous suppliers-I get mine from Tamarack Outdoors-so there is really no need to go moving it from tin to tin for firelighting use really. That just means less for your stove use next time basically otherwise!I think it costs much the same for a bottle of 500ml as for the big refill cans for use on the larger Greenheat Base Camp Cooker gel stove version in fact. About four quid or so. There is a bigger 1ltr bottle available too though, for much the same price I think. http://www.tamarackoutdoors.co.uk/dispprod.pl?filtera=Outdoor%20Equipment&filterb=Green%20Heat&filterc=Green%20Heat Having said I buy mine there usually, I must point out that other places may be offering a better deal if you are just buying one or two items in a smaller purchase though! Simply Hike seem to do good competitive prices on most bits of the Greenheat range, but they sadly are not a stockist it seems of the refill bottles as well! http://www.simplyhike.co.uk/SearchResults.aspx?Reset=1&Loopback=1&Manufacturer=1356
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| Edited: 12/03/08 04:08 |
And I must add that the cheaper prices at the Simply Hike.com online outdoors store, for buying but a few of the Greenheat products there in a small purchase, overall is indeed with the postal costs included/factored in to the equation there too.
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| Edited: 12/03/08 04:14 |
 Hi there, I have cooked using surgical spirits in an alcohol stove. In Oman it was the only fuel I could find - ban on alcohol! I have been three times and used it backpacking. The only problem is the castor oil doesn't burn and leaves an oily mess at the bottom - easily cleaned up with TP. It does make it smell nice. I was staying in a town one night with no restaurant and I cooked up in the hotel room and nobody knew... David How do you carry your cone? It is great, but takes up way too much space. My previous set-up all fit iside a MSR titan pot (Brasslite and low windscreen with titan mug).
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 Hi David Nice to hear from someone with practical experience of using alcohol fuels other than meths. Though it is not clear to me why meths would be banned but not surgical spirit which is 95% ethyl alcohol. do you have any feel for whether the S/S was more or less efficient at heating, compared to meths? My caldera cone was delivered tucked into a plastic drinking cup and I kept it in that. Now that has finally disintegrated I just roll it up around the meths fuel bottle and secure it with an elastic band. Provided you wrap it around something else that you need, it takes up almost no space. Anyway personally I am more concerned about weight than volume
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 Used lab alcohol quite extensively (a former housemate worked in a lab...). It's clean, doesn't smell, and burns well with very little soot compared to meths. So if you know someone that works in a lab... Still has relatively low energy content though. Pete.
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 David: off-topic, but do you have any web links for backpacking in Oman? Any quick feedback on what it's like? Is solo backpacking practical? (I worked in Saudi many years ago and always thought it'd be interesting to return to the Arabian peninsula to explore; I loved the Asir mountains.)
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Hi there, I don't think there was particularly an advantage with using S/S, it was just that was available. The pure alcohol you can buy in the States is superior to our meths or on the continent. My Caldera cone also came with that cup, but it gets squashed easily. At the moment I have it in a cut off bleach bottle with the pot separately - takes up loads of space! Oman is a great place to walk. There are two books for walking that I know of: Adventure Trekking in Oman and the newer Explorer guide. There are no maps, other than those in the two books! Adventure trekking has GPS points for the walks. On the Musandam (very nice) there is a famous climb called the Stairway to heaven. It is rather remote and I haven't managed to get to that part of the peninsula - 4WD and access issues. Supposedly it is a 1km near vertical ascent! Bivvy out up on Jebel Shams, the views are great! David
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http://www.climber.org/gear/FuelNames.htmlA different older 1996 dated international stove fuels list article here from a US climbing website. Still interesting though, and not much of the detail has essentially really altered I feel there, I reckon.
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| Edited: 06/10/08 02:42 |
 Starting Fires. Im new to this blog business, but in answer to the fire and tinder suggestions Ihave for years saved old duraglit wadding and carried in screw top container, it catches with the weakest spark costs nothing,together with a bit of candle will start a fire in gale.
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 I personally don't like the green heat stuff, after a friend had some once while camping and it completely failed to work during an unexpected cold snap. I guess it didn't vaporise or something like that.
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I saw on the online shop of some bushcraft schools a sachet based environmental gel fuel for the meths burning type of stoves. They come in a kind of tablet style foil packetbasically two layers of foil sealed in square edges with gel in the resultant void. Cant' remember much more than that so guess you'd have to research it with google. Alcohol a brulee is french for burning alcohol or meths as we call it, denatured alcohol, etc.
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I don't recognise the sachets described. But the Green Heat stuff comes in little sachets too, and they are sold in many bushcraft places for firelighting outdoors. The only other sachet stuff I can recall is the Wet Fire stuff sold for use with the US Blast Match style firelighter.
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| Edited: 24/10/08 20:56 |
