Honey Stove - review

[rualexander]

Just back at the weekend from a week's tour of the Isle of Mull, same week as I was there last year and again I got great weather more like June than March!
I had my new Honey Stove for its first full test.
This stove is great, it burns wood twigs so no problem with finding, buying, or running out of fuel.
It packs up flat into the supplied case about 7 or 8 inches square.
Also it can be used in conjunction with the Trangia burner (or other alcohol burner) or solid fuel tablets.
A couple of handfulls of twigs is enough to boil 0.75 litres of water in around 7-9 minutes so about the same speed as a normal Trangia stove.
I was able to do all my week's cooking by burning wood although I did try it with the Trangia burner as well just to see how it fared.
You need to be more or less continuously feeding the twigs into the fire so you can't leave it unattended but it is quite good entertainment too!
Downsides might be the blackening of your pans if it bothers you, also need to keep it well away from anything flammable such as tent fabric so in bad weather this might be an issue (use Trangia burner instead) and if camping in areas at risk of forest or bush fires it would also be wise to use the Trangia burner instead.
It can be used in a compact mode with only four sides but I found that with wood it couldn't really get hot enough in that format, perhaps with a narrower base pan it would work as I think the wind was removing too much heat from my pan.
With the Trangia, the compact mode worked fine.
Also available is an extension kit to make it bigger.

First photo shows use with wood, second photo shows use with Trangia burner including compact mode.

[Danneaux]

Thanks for the review, Rual! It's always great to hear firsthand how these things work, and to share the experience.

I've long been intrigued by these "alternative" stoves, and have been teetering at times on the verge of getting one that is a mini-forge with a small electric fan to keep the tiny twigs and grasses and pine cones that power it going. What makes this Honey Stove unique in my experience is its multi-modal capability. It holds the Trangia, it'll burn tabs, and it does wood. I sure do like the versatility, and it looks like the configurations can be changed pretty quickly.   I hadn't known about this particular model, and really appreciate your bringing it to light.

I kinda wish it didn't blacken the pots, but that's part of having the ability to burn wood, so it's a reasonable tradeoff.

Let us know how it works long-term, as it sounds like just the ticket for many sorts of adventures in a variety of places. Looking forward to your pictures of it in use.

All the best,

Dan.

[Danneaux]

Oh! Truly excellent photos, Rual!  Well done!

A question or two...
1) Is it messy to put away after use? Is there a lot of soot on the stove housing and such? Do you need to keep it in a sleeve of some sort?
2) Are the edges sharp, or pretty well-rounded?
3) Looks very stable in use. Do the pieces themselves lock in place pretty securely?

Thanks!

Best,

Dan.

[rualexander]

Not particularly messy to put away and the stove does not get sooty, more just ash than soot, but its not a totally clean operation.
The edges are not sharp, its a well made piece of kit.
 The panels all fit together firmly, in fact, initially it is quite tight but it gets easier after a few uses, the instructions tell you about this.
It comes supplied with a nylon sleeve for storage.

Incidentally, your mention earlier of a stove that has a fan to increase airflow, reminded me about the Biolite stove which generates electricity from the heat to power USB devices.

[AndrewC]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmjnUEbXv4c&feature=player_embedded

A video here from it's designer.  It's also available in Titanium if you are feeling rich.