Stove- box or cylinder

[TxTrapper]

I have and use both.
Only used the Cylinder one season.
So what's everybody's favorite for heat and boiling water and some minor cooking while in the back country?
I like the compactness of the cylinder but the top on the box along with durability is nice.
The oval look interesting, wonder how strong they are with the foil sidewalls?

 

[Backpack Hunter]

For straight heat I prefer a cylinder. For heating water and cooking the oval is my favorite.

 

[Bubblehide]

Sounds like the old age question, does size matter. With the cylinder you have light weight, and compact, but a fairly low volume/burn time. Some of the box stoves break down/fold down for some degree of compactness, but you don't get the weight reduction of say the Kifaru cylinder type stove. I think it all depends on how much volume and weight you can manage. I use my stoves for when I am in camp and active, i.e., not sleeping. It would be nice to be kept warm all night long by a burning fire in the stove, but the volume of fuel needed is just impractical for a hunt, as gathering that fuel and cutting it to size takes time and calories. But having a warm tent to cook in and warm up before heading out to hunt, and upon return to camp is priceless on those cold weather hunts. I've done the week long+ hunts with daytime highs in the sub freezing temperature range, came back 20 plus pounds lighter, but hey, once you experience a heated tent, it'll be about impossible to go back to an unheated tent in cold conditions.

 

[Beastmode]

One major benefit to a cylinder is the length. You don't have to break wood down as much. This takes a ton of time and can be quite the task. Saying all that I run a titanium xl box from seek outside. Works great and can handle descent size twigs.

 

[Kevin Dill]

Cylinder: If I'm severely weight restricted and/or have to backpack the stove far...or repeatedly. It's for heating space and nothing else.

Oval: If I'm more/less stationary and not repeatedly packing it. The few extra ounces are worth the flat top and cubic inches.

Box: Probably not. Strongest design, but slowest assembly. Warping affects fitment.

My current favorite stove (actually by a wide margin) is the TiGoat WiFi. Nobody is building a higher quality stove that I can determine, and I love the design/performance.

 

[Shrek]

I haven't had a cylinder stove but for a day and never fired it off before I returned it so I don't know their performance but I had a Kifaru medium ss box stove and now a large Ruta Locura WiFi. The large WiFi is hands down my favorite. For the weight it is large and strong . I am able to get some pretty lenghty burns in it without feeding ( hour plus ) and have started boiling water for coffee on it where I didn't on my box stove because it burned out so fast. I can highly recommend an oval type titanium stove. There are things I don't care for about the WiFi though. No way to control airflow into the stove , no screen to catch embers on the front , and the damper fit into the pipe has gotten rough with heating and handling so can be a PIA to adjust. It's a great stove I but it could be better.

 

[luke moffat]

Boiling water on a wood stove is a test of my patience and have done it on multiple backpacking stoves and always end up thinking "sure glad I brought my jetboil". I don't have the patience to cook in general let alone on a backpacking wood stove. The faster I can heat up the meal the better. So with that said a stove is strictly for heat and drying gear. And for that purpose, the pack down size and weight savings alone cylinder stoves win hands down.

 

[rbljack]

For those with the kifaru box stoves, whats typical of burn times when using the stove? I bought a medium (still saving up for a sawtooth to use with it), and bought the box stove just in case I wanted to cook or heat some water on the stove. sounds like it will be quicker and easier to just use the pocket rocket or jet boil for the water situation...LOL.

Once the stove is up and going with coals, and you choke down the dampers, can one expect a half hour of heat without adding wood, and then have enough coals to get it going again by adding wood? Or is it more like every 15 minutes? Im hoping to have my sawtooth by spring before we go back to NM for a mountain turkey hunt. Sounds like the cylinder stoves are much lighter, so it comes down what you want to do with the stove I guess. No practical experience with them yet, so im following this one to gather more info.

And just to be sure im not sidetracking the posters original question, my question about burn times with the box stove is meant to be somewhat relative to his question. If you constantly are adding wood to keep the fire going, that also implies to me that it may be hard to regulate temperatures while cooking. hot, then cooling....add wood, then hot again...etc.

 

[TxTrapper]

I don't use the wood stove in the morning just the pocket rocket to boil water for coffee and oatmeal if I choose.
If cold or damp really like to fire up the stove in the evening to boil water for my meal while warming the tipi for bed.
I can get 30-45 mins once the stove is going hot and then I just add wood to regulate the heat output.
Very low maintenance in my opinion with decent wood.

 

[Shrek]

Half hour is pretty easy for a medium ss box stove but it is very wood quality dependent. Thicker pieces of good burning wood will go 35 minutes but smaller lighter type of fuel will burn out in 15 minutes easy. I have my primus stove for cooking when I'm in a hurry but I have started setting my pot of water on the stove with the lid on it when I go to bed. I set the stove up before I go to sleep so I just need to light it in the morning. By the time the tent is warm and I'm ready to get dressed the coffee water is hot.

Edited the time as I was getting stoves crossed.

 

[luke moffat]

Man I guess I am using crappy Alaskan wood. There is no way I can leave my large Kifaru box stove unattended for 30 mins and expect it to keep going by just tossing more wood in it.

 

[Shrek]

Luke , the stuff I gathered in N Idaho practically vaporized as I put it in the stove three years ago despite being good sized but the stuff I gather in Central Montana is much heavier and good sized pieces will burn hot for quite a while. I've never set my stove up down here in N Florida but I would bet some white oak or hickory would burn for a long time. I don't think there is much energy dense hardwoods that far north. Thinking about it though 25 to 35 minutes is top end for my old ss box stove. I'm getting 45 minutes with my large WiFi with the wood I burned this fall in Montana. I had a couple of burns go over an hour in it.

 

[Beastmode]

I tried a compressed log one time and it kept going most of the night after I dampened it down. Not full tilt but was putting off enough heat the keep the 8 man fairly warm. Stove was hot to the tough in the morning.

 

[littlebrotherC]

I never would have thought to try a compressed log. I'm not sure I'd be willing to haul a weeks worth in but it sounds great for car camping.

 

[Beastmode]

I never would have thought to try a compressed log. I'm not sure I'd be willing to haul a weeks worth in but it sounds great for car camping.

I brought one just to try. Would consider putting one in each persons pack just because I hate spending time to get firewood when I could be hunting.

 

[rbljack]

I brought one just to try. Would consider putting one in each persons pack just because I hate spending time to get firewood when I could be hunting.

are you talking about those duraflame logs, stuff like that? If so, don't they give off a bad odor?

 

[Beastmode]

I get them from the local mill. 100% compressed wood. Nothing else added. These are pretty much what it is. http://www.homefirelogs.com

 

[Poser]

I tried a compressed log one time and it kept going most of the night after I dampened it down. Not full tilt but was putting off enough heat the keep the 8 man fairly warm. Stove was hot to the tough in the morning.

Might try experimenting with this. Maybe could cut a single log into disks and use it as fuel supplement.

 

[TxTrapper]

I have made my own stoves both cylinder and box since around 07'.beggining with paint cans to what ever. Some of you may remember some of those threads, remember Woodswalker he really got it all started, pre Rokslide though, really like visiting those old threads and see how far things have come.
For my style the box works really well but the cylinder craze hit and had to try. Really like the compactness and ease of assembly but not sold yet on the usefulness of heating water and cooking aspect, even though I don't do much cooking on it.
Kevin and shrek you have peaked my interest with the oval stoves and
Think that style may be as you both say the best of both worlds.
I have always been a stove nut as some of the most miserably hunts I had were pre stove hunts. I wouldnt think of packing in now days without my stove of some sort. Thanks for the replys enjoy hearing what others have to say!!!!

 

[Kevin Dill]

This thread has got me thinking. I might buy a half-dozen compressed logs and ask my pilot to air-drop them when he goes over my campsite. Wait....ouch.