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Feedback is important to providing accurate information, and as I have mentioned repeatedly, I don’t claim to know everything! Here are some readers’ comments on recent  posts:

 How to improve on the basic brick rocket stove

From Phil: I have been experimenting with stoves for the past 4 or 5 years. Everything from alcohol, to wood-gasifier, to rocket stoves. I am wondering if you added 2 or maybe 3 more layers of brick if the draw would be better and the stove burn hotter?

The first rocket stove I ever saw was when I lived in Rwanda. I worked for a Dental Clinic and we needed an incinerator. The African who built it for us said, “No problem” He started by digging a hole about 10 feet deep. Then he built a 3 foot by 3 foot chimney over the hole that stood about 12 feet tall. There was a door on one side with a grate where you piled your garbage. Just light the trash, close the door and the rest was automatic. When this incinerator got going it would literally howl. You could hear the air being drawn into the burn chamber. When finished the ashes would drop through the grate into the hole below.

From Donna: I built this little stove by following your video instructions and it only took a few minutes. I am amazed at how quickly it heats water to boiling and cooks food. I made dinner on it last night just for fun and it cooked just as fast as my electric stove! It uses such a small amount of wood but does burn it up fast. I am VERY impressed with this design and I think everyone should have one of these. Thank you!

From Leon: I think everyone should have one, too!

From Joe: BUT use real bricks! NOT those DANGEROUS concrete ones!!

From Leon: Real bricks would be better, since they would probably be the ones best salvaged during a disaster. The design engineer I asked (30 years of experience with construction materials) said there is no danger once the concrete in the blocks has cured for 30 days.

From Chad: For a long term build that isn’t going to be dismantled often, start out with a wider course for the base in cheap concrete brick, but line the fire box and chimney with fire brick standing on edge and end. Thus you have a concrete exterior and a fire brick interior. If it is a permanent build then mortar the firebrick with fire clay mortar. Keep the build covered with something to keep rain out. That build will last 50 year unless you knock it over. Fire brick will not explode, nor break down from high temps. Fire places are lined with yellow fire brick. Using concrete brick is that at first things go well, but with regular SHTF use it will fail and when it does, it will cause trouble in unpredictable ways.

From Albert: Agreed Chad, I did fireplaces and for long term,safety,or bigger fire brick is the way to go,or these will break down pretty quick.

From Leon: Sounds like you know your brickwork! Currently, my setup is portable, since I haven’t made up my mind where to permanently place it. I do cover it with a contractor’s trash bag whenever it is assembled somewhere.

From MsChickim: Do you think a piece of 1/2″ hardward cloth would work for the screen? I think I am going to have to give this a try. Thanks for the updated version.

From Leon: I just happened to find that scrap of steel mesh. I also got a stainless steel refrigerator shelf, and that would appear to work well also. I would think that 1/2″ hardware cloth would be about perfect. What I’m finding is that the stove burns so clean with the extra layer of bricks and added ventilation that there is very little ash produced. Let me know how you come out with the hardware cloth.

 

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From Dave: I spent a Saturday working on a similar project. I used petroleum jelly, wax, Chapstick and cotton balls. I soaked the cotton ball with PJ but didn’t open it up to expose the dry fibers. It didn’t work very well. I took some melted wax and dipped a cotton ball half way in and let the wax dry. That worked very well. I too the PJ and put it on half of the cotton ball and it worked the best having dry fibers available to catch the spark or flame. (I used a flint/mag stick and matches for all tests) I then tried Chapstick on half of a cotton ball and to my surprise it worked very well. I would say that most people carry Chapstick and some sort of cotton cloth on them at all times that will make a fire. What I carry in my bags are 3 methods of making a spark or flame, PJ in a small pill bottle and dry cotton balls. I put the small bottle of PJ inside of a larger pill bottle (or whatever you can find that is not too large to carry) and stuff the dry cotton balls around the small pill bottle. There is no Gee Whiz technology used, I can easily make a fire with one hand and most people carry Chapstick i guess.

From Leon: Whatever tools you choose for firemaking, practice is paramount. I am opposed to gee-whiz technology in many instances, because the more sophisticated a tool is, the more fragile and finicky it may be. That said, I encourage simple, basic methods for firemaking.
The cotton balls/petroleum jelly need to be fluffed up as much as possible to catch a spark or flame. Once ablaze, the cotton acts as a wick and the combination will burn for several minutes. I agree with carrying Chapstick – I prefer the type with sunscreen in it, in case you need sun protection.

 

How to Survive: Check out these winter survival kits to help you get through any emergency

(Editor’s note: In 2007, I took Robert Speik’s GPS and land navigation class in Bend, Ore., prior to writing the Bend Bulletin’s 2007 Winter Survival Guide. Subsequently, I DID NOT include Mr. Speik’s classes in the published guide, and didn’t ask him to be a source. This is the second time he has taken me to task on the editorial page of the Bulletin.)

Bulletin’s Winter survival recommendations don’t offer full picture
By Robert Speik
Bulletin Guest Columnist
Published in The Bulletin February 27, 2013

The Bulletin’s Winter Survival Skills series by writer Leon Pantenburg may be appropriate for a closely led pre-teen youth group but it fails to give hunters, hikers, snowshoers, skiers, snowmobile riders and other adults the basic information they need to mitigate in part, the inherent risks of outdoor adventures in the winter.

Indeed, Mr. Pantenburg contributes many of the myths, tips and tricks offered by a cottage industry of “survival experts”.

Clever Survival Kits take attention away from the common sense things each individual should have – to be able to avoid hypothermia (exposure) if forced to stay in place for hours or overnight when lost, injured, stranded by a breakdown or while helping an injured friend.

The Bulletin’s Winter Survival Skills series spends an entire page and six full-page columns on small Survival Kits, one sized to an Altoids tin, the other to a small fanny pack, and also Fire Starting and Emergency Shelter.

Outdoor Leadership traditions of major Outings Clubs – with total membership numbering in the many thousands, hold that each participant should dress for trip specific activity in the forecast weather and carry minimum extra clothing layers that provide protection from a drop in temperature and a possible rain or snow storm or an unexpected cold wet night out.

The series fails to note the real danger of wet clothing layers – hypothermia from heat conduction by water – and does not emphasize carrying a waterproof shell and pants. Leather gloves as illustrated, are sure to become wet in winter, causing terrible cold injuries.

Not emphasized in the Kits are high carbohydrate snacks, two quarts of water or Gatorade to delay dehydration leading to hypothermia and cold injuries.

Each person should carry these trip-specific elements of the traditional “Ten Essentials Systems”, including reliable insulation for resting on the wet ground or snow, in a simple day pack, sized to the season and trip and impossible to carry in a tiny Altoids tin.

None of Leon’s small “Winter Survival Kits” contain a map of the area. I did not find a topo map mentioned in the entire winter skills series. The tiny toy compasses illustrated, may point towards North but are just feel-good substitutes for the real thing, a simple declination adjusted clear base plate compass. It does little good to know which way is generally magnetic North if you do not stay found and know accurately where you are on your map showing the best way to safety.

No mention is made of GPS receivers. The simple accurate models cost about $100 and are easy to learn to use with a map. Today, many hunters, snow shoers and snowmobile riders always use a GPS. No, a smart phone is not a substitute for a hand held GPS.

No mention is made of the value of an ordinary digital cell phone. By FCC statute, mobile phone Providers, within ten minutes of a request from SAR, must provide by triangulation from cell tower pings, your accurate geographic location.

Part 2, Learning skills to make a fire, assumes a supply of dry wood on the dry ground, not wet wood under feet of melting snow. To my knowledge, the use of a warming fire has not has not been noted by SAR reports in the last 15 years, in our Central Oregon winter conditions.

Part 3, Learning how to make a shelter in deep snow, is dangerously misleading! A traditional “snow cave” provides insulation from a thick dome of snow, not a thin tarp blowing in the wind. The entrance to a real snow cave must be below an insulated sleeping bench, trapping warmed air. In the snow hole described, hypothermia is hastened by the transference of warmth from the seated (child) to the ice. Note that little “kits” do not include shovel(s) and thick insulating pads.

No mention is made of flagging the shelter, soon covered by drifting snow.

Robert Speik lives in Bend and offers “free basic to advanced mountain climbing instruction” on his website.

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