Wednesday 12th November, 2008

Bob’s Honey Stove – first thoughts

Posted by at 6:57 pm in My reviews, Shiny new kit.
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Podcast Bob's been kind enough to let a select group of folk have test-samples of his new Honey Stove, and I'm one of the lucky ones. These are my first thoughts, and the results of my first attempt at testing it. What's in the kit? A set of interlocking flat stainless-steel panels, comprising six side-panels (one of which has an aperture for accessing the interior), three grill panels (top, middle and bottom), a foil ash-tray, a cloth pouch and an A4 instruction sheet. How much does it all weigh? The stove panels add up to 356g, the ash-tray is 10g and the pouch is 44g. How much pack-space does it take up? Packed in the pouch provided, it's roughly 200mm x 140mm x 10mm. And when it's assembled? 125mm high, 125mm A/F. What's it look like? A bit like this:

Is it fiddly to assemble? Not really, I just slotted together the five standard side bits and held then in an open arc while slotting in the three grill panels. After that, I just slotted in the front panel to lock it all together. It takes 2 minutes tops, but I'd imagine that after it's been bent and dented a bit it would take a bit longer. If you can't figure it out, give it to some primary-school kids and be prepared to be embarrassed. What about stability? Very good on a flat surface, not a hint of it wanting to come apart. So, what fuels will this baby burn? It's primarily a wood-burner, but it's said to be versatile enough to work with a veritable plethora of fuels, see the product description for more details. What's the difference between the three grill panels? The bottom one has small vent-holes and is primarily for supporting sticks etc. when using it as a wood-burner, but can be used for other solid fuels. The top one is a pan/mug support, so has plenty of holes to let the heat get through. The middle one is similar to the top one, but has the central section removed to allow a Trangia™ burner to sit inside. The three grill panels are interchangeable, as they each use that same tab/slot fitting. It's possible to get away with using just one grill panel if you wanted to go all minimalist, but if that sort of thing floats yer boat I suspect that you'll already have other options in your kit-stash. This stove is aimed at versatility rather than speciality. That sixth side panel - does the aperture have to be at the bottom? No, just build the thing upside-down and you'll end up with the aperture at the top. What about cleaning it? Eh? You clean your kit? Oh dear! Seriously, a wipe with a damp rag or through some wet grass ought to suffice. Of course, you'll have let it cool first, won't you? So, what about that first test? I wanted to try it with my Trangia™ burner and Alpkit MytiMug, so I set it up like this:

So, how did it go? Not well. The front aperture's nowhere near big enough to admit the Trangia™ burner.  Bob's site has pics and a video where the burner's been put in from the top, and where the top grill is omitted. Fine for pans and large pots which would sit on the top edges of the side-panels, but a mug needs a support. I suppose the mug could be supported by two tent-pegs passed through some of the holes along the top edge, but I'm not in the habit of carrying extra pegs as part of a stove kit. The way around it might be to build the stove around the burner, but that's a faff which throws up more hard choices - sealing-cap off and risk spilling the meths, or sealing-cap on and be unable to reach in to take it off. Either way, if you want to use the Trangia™ simmer-ring, you'd be hard-pressed to access it through the aperture and you'd be at risk of getting blistered fingers.

What next? I was going to try it as a wood-burner next, but I want to get the Trangia™ issues sorted first.  Looks like my chosen test combi is a no-no at the moment. I'll post again when there's progress. Now, who's 'alf-inched me tinsnips?

Tuesday 11th November, 2008

Remembrance

Posted by at 11:55 pm in Rambling on....
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For a small village, the turnout for Sunday's Remembrance Day Service was impressive. The gathered parade participants marched with a mixture of pride and sorrow through the old centre of the village to the Memorial Garden, where a band played and the crowd gathered.

A local Minister gave a moving service which brought tears to many eyes, mine included. Remembered were not just the casualties and fatalities of the two World Wars and the many other conflicts since 1914, but also the broken lives of the families that lost loved ones, and the survivors, many of whom bore or will bear the physical and often mental scars of conflict to the ends of their days. All of the Services were remembered, military and civilian.

Looking around the many ex-Servicemen and ex-Servicewomen present, I lost count of the number of different insignia, but I noted a significant number of Paras, Royal Artillery, Royal Marines and at least one from the Special Air Service. Sobering stuff. Enough to make me think twice about the elderly folk I meet around the village in the course of a normal week.

I didn't take any pictures at the ceremony, as it would have been disrespectful, but I'll go back to the Memorial Garden in a few days to get a photo for Anna to remember the occasion. She did a fine job of bearing the Standard for her Brownie pack in the leading group of the parade. We are very proud of her.

 

 

Monday 10th November, 2008

Die, Fledermaus

Posted by at 12:20 am in Rambling on....
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Take one pack of bread-mix, a selection of cheeses, some bacon, some peperoni, some tomato, a wing of bat, one school cookery lesson and one teenager with bit of imagination, mix together, cook for a bit and this is what you get:

Thursday 6th November, 2008

UMapper updated

Posted by at 4:16 pm in Great Escapes, Maps, Plugins.
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UMapper's now got quite a few more features, the best one is the (beta) ability to import data in GPX, KML and geoRSS formats. Preliminary mucking-about has resulted in me importing a whole load of my Lake District walking routes from the Memory-Map installation on my lappy. Be warned - it takes a while to load. Later on, I'll get around to adding some notes/markers/lines etc., but for now, WYSIWYG.

 

Wednesday 5th November, 2008

Centurion

Posted by at 10:31 am in Congratulations!, Just for fun.
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Congratulations go to Scott, our most regular provider of (often-irregular) comments.

Not content with consistently topping the leaderboard, last night he upped his tally to the 100 mark, thus earning himself this special mention.

I've not got a picture of him, so I dredged the interweb and came up with this alternative that I thought would be suitable. Just look at this bloke, all dressed up in his outdoors gear, standing there in such splendid isolation...

Image by Luc Viatour, reproduced under the terms and conditions stated here.

Monday 3rd November, 2008

Red & yellow & pink & green, purple & orange & blue…

Posted by at 1:00 pm in Blast from the Past, Just for fun, Lakes Escapes, Pics.
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Sorting through a pile of miscellaneous papers, we found a couple of prints that brought back happy memories. I whizzed them through the scanner to preserve copies of the images for posterity. They are from way back when the camera used film (Olympus OM10), outdoors gear was somewhat more colourful and the NT campsite at Wasdale was comparatively tree-less. I'll wager you can tell which is our tent...

 

 

 

Some of you older dyed-in-the-wool gear-heads might even be able to guess the identity of the colourful kit that's on display. To give you a clue, we're talking early 90s here. There'll be no prizes, mind - I'm not as generous as Weird Darren :mrgreen:

You want more clues? OK... Wild Country, Berghaus, Karrimor, Lowe Alpine, Taunton Leisure, Tilley, Heinz...
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