Your extensive experience and knowledge of twig stoves and how they burn is very apparent in this video. It is evident that you KNOW what you are talking about.
Hi Lonnie. Thank you for your kind words. This is truly just traditional wisdom that can be applied to open fires as well. Although, they can be a bit more forgiving than a small wood stove
What actually burns are the gases released from the wood when heated. To reduce the amount of smoke, start the fire from the top of the pile, and if possible, feed wood into the bottom of the fire so that the gases released from the added wood will combust as they rise through the fire. Doing this will also make the fire burn hotter.
Thanks for the great video - lots of good tips inside. I especially like the reference about adding too much wood too soon; that's one I see alot. One tip related to that is: when you add a larger stick of wood, place a smaller stick ( 1/4 to 1/10th the diameter of the larger) in first and then add the larger on top. This will dramitically improve performance and decrease smoke. Keep it up, the new camera is working well and you can tell you are hitting your stride.
Thanks for sharing your experience on these stoves, Mark. Very well explained. I've been using a combination of hickory and aspen for a hot, "clean" fire with great coals. Plus, I learned to love that hickory flavor in just about everything.
Excellent as always Mark, much appreciated 👍 I will only add, where possibly remove the bark, it’s the ‘sponge’ that holds the moisture. ATB from deepest Dorset England 👍
At the risk of sounding like an arrogant old geezer, I'm thinking this topic would not have been necessary 30 years ago. I remember the first breakfast I cooked over a wood fire 50 plus years ago. What a great learning experience that was. Though very small wood stoves were pretty much unheard of, our homes and cabins had a variety of stoves. Our society has certainly changed, but it's comforting to know that there are enough young people cooking over wood nowadays that you needed to make this video. Thanks for explaining the mystery to the next generation. And I hope there bringing there children into the woods with them. Sometimes I think I'm an old dinosaur on the verge of extinction.😀
👍👍👍 .. a good refresher .. thanks. Somewhat off piste, I keep a small stock of compressed Charcoal Briquettes on hand for when I need a gentle constant 'simmer' heat. 'Cheating' perhaps 😏, but then, the outcome justifies it 😊.
Hi Mark, another great review with awesome tips.....i was told by an old timer before that IF you have to burn green wood, use Ash wood, IF its available. It burns the best. He himself pretty much lived & worked in woods himself so i just took him as right. I often wondered if the Siege Stove trivits would work on the Bushbox XL. Now i know. Thanks. 💯👍🤝
Good advice,thank you. May I add if your using a very small stove a higher trivet is very beneficial as is using a blow tube to keep the fire hot.A wood gasifying stove produces very little smoke once going so that’s a good option as is a rocket stove eg.Kelly Kettle (though maybe not as good for cooking over) I know it’s obvious but I think it’s fair to say that apart from good fuel it’s air flow that’s key to all wood stoves and if you control that you have control over your stove.
Tried the Lixada gassifier with hickory and oak pellet product today at over 6000k+ elevation. Once it was going it didn't smoke after the burn started going good and I didn't overload the burn pot chamber. Mark, I didn't have the issue you had of super hot temp with pellets in the Lixada gassifier. I could easily and properly cook a steak on it or use a skillet. Maybe it's my brand of pellets or maybe the 6000-7000k elevation made a difference. I noticed it took a bit more to boil water in my Ti 1100ml pot. It's all conifers we're I'm at so pellets are better for cooking and not leaving b nasty resin on the pot.
Pellets are always a great choice, especially when hardwoods (or any wood) are not available. I would think the lower O2 would slow the burn a bit. Thanks for commenting
Bonus tips #2. Get a firebox stove and practice a little 😀 Mark, speaking of stoves, I’m not sure if the whole world knows this alcohol stove trick and no one talks about it, or if it’s something not many people know, but I’ve known this for years and years, and until this week, I have never heard anyone talk about it. Do you know how to make an alcohol stove's flame more visible? Take about 90% pure methyl-hydrate and 10% water Add a pinch is salt to the water and dissolve it, then add the water to the alcohol. The exact amounts can be played with to get optimum performance. The sodium, when burned, give off a very yellow flame, and it’s much easier to see. Adding 5 or even 10% water doesn’t affect the performance much, but in an extended burn there may be traces of salt on the jets, but they just wipe off. So there you go. If it’s something no one knows, I’ve just given you my "secret" stove trick that I learned from working in a lab, and not any bushcraft channel. Either you owe me, or I just typed a lot for nothing. One thing is I generally don’t feel the need with my Trangia, but when I used one with a smaller flame, I found it quite helpful.
Interesting Jim. While our UK brothers are trying to get rid of soot and yellow flame caused by their "meths", we have clean, clear burning methyl alcohols we can't see. Oh, I have four Firebox stoves and have yet to make a full video on them...why is that🤔
@@MarkYoungBushcraft Most likely it’s because they’re perfect, and there is no need? Or perhaps you know it irks me, and you’re just doing it to keep me commenting?…….or perhaps I’m just a little paranoid. 😊
Thanks for sharing your experience - there's one thing you missed: out in the wild even the dryest wood will contain some 15-20% moisture, less than that can only be found inside a shed or house. Every liter of water turns into 1.700 liters of steam when boiling, cooling the fire and driving off the oxygen - that's why a top-lit-down-draft fire is superior, only the top layer will get dried out at a time, so less cooling and more oxygen for the fire. Additional tip for people that don't like sooty pots: treat the pot with soap before you put it on a stove, cleaning up later will be quite a bit easier, though most of the soap will burn off.
A very valuable observation, especially the heat loss in the pot stand. Sir, why not we incorporate the wick mechanism of the oil lamps to fine tune the optimum performance of the flame with ideal amount of secondsry air for boiling and simmering with a very light pot stand to reduce heat loss? With lot of respect for your analytical treasure of experience with your age. Thank you 🙏
I did get a bunch of burnt sappy residue because all I had was pine in the forest I was in. I wonder if using a pinecone would have been a better choice? After camping and returning home, I use an Brillo pad to scrub down the bottom of my titanium pot. Really great information Mark!
I just checked and unfortunately no. They are the correct thickness but the slots are off. I also checked the Siege Stove cross members. They would fit but the slots in the LF are not wide enough. Hope this helps
Not with the two dog bowls. We (Gina and I) bought a Coleman Camp Oven and use that or the reflector oven more often when car camping. I have used other pots to bake with on the trail and will be using the reflector oven in a video soon but I could dig out the dog bowls and bake something with them. Thanks for commenting
Mark, I have the Lixada Titanium clone of the Uberleben Stoker. And I am pretty sure it's a direct clone of the Stoker, it has the "dent detail" in the tower ridges (which the smaller Emberlit you compared a while back does not). Anyway, the crossbars sit IN not over the tower ridges. So my question is, if you have time and can find your Stoker, what crossbars if any fit nicely to give a bit of extra height? They'd make a real improvement for me.
I believe the Uberleben followed the Lixada/Tomshoo stoves (same maker) which closely copied the Emberlit. I have a video showing how I drilled holes in the peaks to allow greater exhaust flow. I just checked and neither the Siege Stove and Wika cross bars will work in the Lixada stove. Best bet would be a DIY set made from a stainless steel ruler. Hope this helps
@@MarkYoungBushcraft thanks for checking! I was hoping to get away with buying something, being urban and in a flat my "tool shed" is a couple of screwdrivers and some paint brushes!
I just put up a stove first-use review on Friday. I'd have loved to have dropped a mention and a link to this vid if hte timing had been better aligned. Also, that XL stove is definitely my bucket-list twig stove.
Bark if dry will generally burn well, if not better than the inner core wood. But can be damper, from recent rain and dew, being the exposed surface (#1). It contains more oils than the inner core wood, which when starting a fire, much as the resin in softwoods, leads to more smoke. However, once the fire is established the oils in the bark adds to the heat and burn cleanly.
@@mrwes100 My comment was about non-resinous wood. Hardwoods will have oil in their bark. Birch is a good example, the oil in the birch bark is what makes it an excellent firestarter. Because the oil-rich bark is such a small percentage of total combustible material in hardwoods, when the fire is fully established and hot it burns cleanly.
I have problems to start a good fire and to keep it. I have to blow air all the time. I'm thinking to get a little battery fan and let it blow air for me.....I need to boil water at night time and there's no wind at night time....
@@MarkYoungBushcraft Maybe dead wood wasn't completely dry. Maybe there was too much wood. I will try again following your instructions. I saw a model with integrated fan and it seems to work so great but it's expensive and only on Kickstarter. Maybe also it's because I tried on the kitchen stove with the hut at max speed to not smoke the house. Unpleasantly cold outside so I tried indoor. All this trouble because I want to mix hot water into the watercell x and have a nice shower when traveling and camping. I would camp more often if I could get a shower.... Thanks
Quite simply as ever, no stone left unturned. No conceivable scenario ignored. Have you ever thought of writing a dummies guide to twig stoves. I'm sure you would get just as much of a kick out of writing it as people would reading it.
![[Live] : ONE FIGHT NIGHT 24 “จาร์เร็ด vs กุสตาโว”](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ENNA-fsT67c/mqdefault.jpg)
![A FIRE TRICK NO ONE KNOWS [ Amazing! ]](/img/n.gif)
Your extensive experience and knowledge of twig stoves and how they burn is very apparent in this video. It is evident that you KNOW what you are talking about.
Hi Lonnie. Thank you for your kind words. This is truly just traditional wisdom that can be applied to open fires as well. Although, they can be a bit more forgiving than a small wood stove
I have watched this before and just as a refresher, I've watched it again. Good stuff here.
Glad you are continuing to get something from the video. Thanks for commenting David
What actually burns are the gases released from the wood when heated.
To reduce the amount of smoke, start the fire from the top of the pile, and if possible, feed wood into the bottom of the fire so that the gases released from the added wood will combust as they rise through the fire.
Doing this will also make the fire burn hotter.
Thanks for commenting
Thanks for the great video - lots of good tips inside. I especially like the reference about adding too much wood too soon; that's one I see alot. One tip related to that is: when you add a larger stick of wood, place a smaller stick ( 1/4 to 1/10th the diameter of the larger) in first and then add the larger on top. This will dramitically improve performance and decrease smoke. Keep it up, the new camera is working well and you can tell you are hitting your stride.
Hello Chris. Glad you liked the video. Your tip on working up in sizes of wood is spot on, of course. Thanks for commenting
Thank you Mark as
always very informative. You leave no questions unanswered in your videos. Keep em coming
Glad you found it helpful. More to come. Thanks for commenting
So many dynamics to fire-making...and keeping! Thanks for this educational video, Mark 👍🏼
Glad you found it helpful. Thanks for commenting
Thanks for sharing your experience on these stoves, Mark. Very well explained. I've been using a combination of hickory and aspen for a hot, "clean" fire with great coals. Plus, I learned to love that hickory flavor in just about everything.
Glad you found it helpful. I always try to use hardwoods as well. Thanks for commenting
Excellent as always Mark, much appreciated 👍 I will only add, where possibly remove the bark, it’s the ‘sponge’ that holds the moisture. ATB from deepest Dorset England 👍
Yes, good point. Some trees more so than others. Thanks for commenting
Excellent tips. There is an art and science to using a wood stove
Yes there really is. Plus, experience helps a lot. Thanks for commenting
Very concise and complete explanation, Mark. I might be able to thinking of something to add if I took some time, but nothing right now. Well done! 👍
Please add anything you can thing of. Thanks for commenting
Another great video Mark. And all great tips, thanks for sharing them. Cheers my friend!
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for commenting
Fantastic, you sorted a couple of issues I was having, Great information
Glad it helped. Thanks for commenting
Great tips, Mark!
Glad it was helpful!
Great information Mark, thanks for posting it!
I'm still enjoying my Firebox Titanium G2 stove!!
Glad you enjoyed the video. I am hoping to do make a review of the SS and Ti Firebox soon. Thanks for commenting
Very informative as usual. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us 😉
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for commenting
At the risk of sounding like an arrogant old geezer, I'm thinking this topic would not have been necessary 30 years ago. I remember the first breakfast I cooked over a wood fire 50 plus years ago. What a great learning experience that was. Though very small wood stoves were pretty much unheard of, our homes and cabins had a variety of stoves. Our society has certainly changed, but it's comforting to know that there are enough young people cooking over wood nowadays that you needed to make this video. Thanks for explaining the mystery to the next generation. And I hope there bringing there children into the woods with them. Sometimes I think I'm an old dinosaur on the verge of extinction.😀
The wisdom of you "old timers" is always welcome😊. I think I qualify for that description as well. Thanks for commenting
I hear you Bill, I'm approaching 70 and our "civilalized" society has changed so much!
Great tips. Love your videos. Thank you.
Thank you for your kind words
Excellently explained!!!
Hello my friend. Glad you liked the video
Thanks Mark for another fantastic video. I hope your health is going well, haven't seen any updates for a while.
Glad you enjoyed the video. Cancer free and feeling great on the low-carb, ketogenic diet. Thanks for commenting
👍👍👍 .. a good refresher .. thanks.
Somewhat off piste, I keep a small stock of compressed Charcoal Briquettes on hand for when I need a gentle constant 'simmer' heat. 'Cheating' perhaps 😏, but then, the outcome justifies it 😊.
Absolutely. I use charcoal often. Especially during a fire ban as we are permitted to do so. Thanks for commenting
Mark , good video , tips and presentation , thanks for sharing , God bless !
You are most welcome. Thanks for commenting
Hi Mark, another great review with awesome tips.....i was told by an old timer before that IF you have to burn green wood, use Ash wood, IF its available.
It burns the best.
He himself pretty much lived & worked in woods himself so i just took him as right.
I often wondered if the Siege Stove trivits would work on the Bushbox XL.
Now i know.
Thanks.
💯👍🤝
Interesting Derek. The old timers have wisdom. Thanks for commenting
Thanks! Still learning and you always share cool info!:)
Glad you found it interesting. Thanks for commenting
Another great video as always Mark.
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for commenting
@@MarkYoungBushcraft No problem. Are you still enjoying your coffee?
@@kevinobrien6714 Absolutely. Just made a shoutout video I will release soon
Good advice,thank you.
May I add if your using a very small stove a higher trivet is very beneficial as is using a blow tube to keep the fire hot.A wood gasifying stove produces very little smoke once going so that’s a good option as is a rocket stove eg.Kelly Kettle (though maybe not as good for cooking over)
I know it’s obvious but I think it’s fair to say that apart from good fuel it’s air flow that’s key to all wood stoves and if you control that you have control over your stove.
I agree. Your suggestions are spot on. Thanks for commenting
Very helpful information Mark, thanks for sharing! :) :)
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for commenting
Great info. Thanks for sharing.
Most welcome. Thanks for commenting
Tried the Lixada gassifier with hickory and oak pellet product today at over 6000k+ elevation. Once it was going it didn't smoke after the burn started going good and I didn't overload the burn pot chamber.
Mark, I didn't have the issue you had of super hot temp with pellets in the Lixada gassifier. I could easily and properly cook a steak on it or use a skillet. Maybe it's my brand of pellets or maybe the 6000-7000k elevation made a difference. I noticed it took a bit more to boil water in my Ti 1100ml pot.
It's all conifers we're I'm at so pellets are better for cooking and not leaving b nasty resin on the pot.
Pellets are always a great choice, especially when hardwoods (or any wood) are not available. I would think the lower O2 would slow the burn a bit. Thanks for commenting
Great Tips As Always, Thanks For This Mark Hi Gina ! ATB T God Bless
Hi Terry. Glad you liked the video. Thanks
Excellent !👍
Many thanks!
Nice one . Great tips there very knowledgeable. Take care mate
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for commenting
No worries 👍
Excellent suggestions. I confess to being frequently guilty of number 4. I need to learn patience, but I need to learn it quickly. 😁
We can all be a little impatient at times. I thought getting older would teach me that but I am not so sure it has😉 Thanks for commenting
Good info thanks for sharing.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for commenting
Great advice!
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for commenting
Bonus tips #2. Get a firebox stove and practice a little 😀
Mark, speaking of stoves, I’m not sure if the whole world knows this alcohol stove trick and no one talks about it, or if it’s something not many people know, but I’ve known this for years and years, and until this week, I have never heard anyone talk about it. Do you know how to make an alcohol stove's flame more visible?
Take about 90% pure methyl-hydrate and 10% water Add a pinch is salt to the water and dissolve it, then add the water to the alcohol. The exact amounts can be played with to get optimum performance. The sodium, when burned, give off a very yellow flame, and it’s much easier to see. Adding 5 or even 10% water doesn’t affect the performance much, but in an extended burn there may be traces of salt on the jets, but they just wipe off. So there you go. If it’s something no one knows, I’ve just given you my "secret" stove trick that I learned from working in a lab, and not any bushcraft channel. Either you owe me, or I just typed a lot for nothing. One thing is I generally don’t feel the need with my Trangia, but when I used one with a smaller flame, I found it quite helpful.
Interesting Jim. While our UK brothers are trying to get rid of soot and yellow flame caused by their "meths", we have clean, clear burning methyl alcohols we can't see. Oh, I have four Firebox stoves and have yet to make a full video on them...why is that🤔
@@MarkYoungBushcraft Most likely it’s because they’re perfect, and there is no need? Or perhaps you know it irks me, and you’re just doing it to keep me commenting?…….or perhaps I’m just a little paranoid. 😊
Thanks Jim. I'm near 68, and I never heard about adding salt.
Good advice.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for commenting
Great Video
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for commenting
Thanks for sharing your experience - there's one thing you missed: out in the wild even the dryest wood will contain some 15-20% moisture, less than that can only be found inside a shed or house. Every liter of water turns into 1.700 liters of steam when boiling, cooling the fire and driving off the oxygen - that's why a top-lit-down-draft fire is superior, only the top layer will get dried out at a time, so less cooling and more oxygen for the fire.
Additional tip for people that don't like sooty pots: treat the pot with soap before you put it on a stove, cleaning up later will be quite a bit easier, though most of the soap will burn off.
Thanks for commenting
A very valuable observation, especially the heat loss in the pot stand. Sir, why not we incorporate the wick mechanism of the oil lamps to fine tune the optimum performance of the flame with ideal amount of secondsry air for boiling and simmering with a very light pot stand to reduce heat loss? With lot of respect for your analytical treasure of experience with your age. Thank you 🙏
Worth considering. Thanks for commenting
@@MarkYoungBushcraft Thank you Sir
I did get a bunch of burnt sappy residue because all I had was pine in the forest I was in. I wonder if using a pinecone would have been a better choice?
After camping and returning home, I use an Brillo pad to scrub down the bottom of my titanium pot.
Really great information Mark!
Even pine cones will be resinous. Sometimes it is hard to avoid. Thanks for commenting
Oven cleaner will make it much easier to remove tar and greasy soot from a cup or pot.
Another man of a certain age in agreement with the previous comment posted by Bill Heckman.
I know what you are saying. Experience is a teacher better than any other. Thanks or commenting
Mark, do you know if the Wikatech or Seige cross stands fit on the Bushbox LF ? Great video, as usual!
I just checked and unfortunately no. They are the correct thickness but the slots are off. I also checked the Siege Stove cross members. They would fit but the slots in the LF are not wide enough. Hope this helps
Hi Mark I was just watching an old video of your's where you used 2 dog bowls to make an oven. Have you ever done an update video on this?
Not with the two dog bowls. We (Gina and I) bought a Coleman Camp Oven and use that or the reflector oven more often when car camping. I have used other pots to bake with on the trail and will be using the reflector oven in a video soon but I could dig out the dog bowls and bake something with them. Thanks for commenting
Will the WIKA fit cross ways like your hand made ones did?
Yes, they do fit the XL in X fashion but with very little overhang at the corners. Thanks for commenting
Mark, I have the Lixada Titanium clone of the Uberleben Stoker. And I am pretty sure it's a direct clone of the Stoker, it has the "dent detail" in the tower ridges (which the smaller Emberlit you compared a while back does not). Anyway, the crossbars sit IN not over the tower ridges. So my question is, if you have time and can find your Stoker, what crossbars if any fit nicely to give a bit of extra height? They'd make a real improvement for me.
I believe the Uberleben followed the Lixada/Tomshoo stoves (same maker) which closely copied the Emberlit. I have a video showing how I drilled holes in the peaks to allow greater exhaust flow. I just checked and neither the Siege Stove and Wika cross bars will work in the Lixada stove. Best bet would be a DIY set made from a stainless steel ruler. Hope this helps
@@MarkYoungBushcraft thanks for checking! I was hoping to get away with buying something, being urban and in a flat my "tool shed" is a couple of screwdrivers and some paint brushes!
I just put up a stove first-use review on Friday. I'd have loved to have dropped a mention and a link to this vid if hte timing had been better aligned.
Also, that XL stove is definitely my bucket-list twig stove.
Hi Jess. Just watched your video and left a comment. Thanks
I also find removing the bark helps as well.
Yes, good point. Bark often does not burn as well. Unless it is birch bark. Thanks for commenting
Bark if dry will generally burn well, if not better than the inner core wood. But can be damper, from recent rain and dew, being the exposed surface (#1). It contains more oils than the inner core wood, which when starting a fire, much as the resin in softwoods, leads to more smoke. However, once the fire is established the oils in the bark adds to the heat and burn cleanly.
@@partytagger good point. I was referring to non-resinous wood
@@mrwes100 My comment was about non-resinous wood. Hardwoods will have oil in their bark. Birch is a good example, the oil in the birch bark is what makes it an excellent firestarter. Because the oil-rich bark is such a small percentage of total combustible material in hardwoods, when the fire is fully established and hot it burns cleanly.
@@partytagger I’m well aware. My fire making skills are sound Sensei
The driest wood gives less smoke
Like oak,chestnut,etc is what I was always told
Right on. Little chestnut around here and not the edible kind. Thanks for commenting Steve
👍👍
😊 Thanks for commenting
I have problems to start a good fire and to keep it. I have to blow air all the time. I'm thinking to get a little battery fan and let it blow air for me.....I need to boil water at night time and there's no wind at night time....
A small fan may help as would a bellows. However, dry wood split small will help as well. Thanks for commenting
@@MarkYoungBushcraft Maybe dead wood wasn't completely dry. Maybe there was too much wood. I will try again following your instructions. I saw a model with integrated fan and it seems to work so great but it's expensive and only on Kickstarter. Maybe also it's because I tried on the kitchen stove with the hut at max speed to not smoke the house. Unpleasantly cold outside so I tried indoor. All this trouble because I want to mix hot water into the watercell x and have a nice shower when traveling and camping. I would camp more often if I could get a shower.... Thanks
@@MarkYoungBushcraft Problem solved with.....artificial fire starter stick.......
I usually take away my stoves cigarettes and give it a stern warning.
Never works, though.
..sorry, couldn't resist 😖
Good call, who know what they will get up to otherwise😉 Thanks for commenting
Quite simply as ever, no stone left unturned. No conceivable scenario ignored. Have you ever thought of writing a dummies guide to twig stoves. I'm sure you would get just as much of a kick out of writing it as people would reading it.
Your right, it might be fun. Maybe some day. Thanks for commenting
A good supply of oxygen is the key.
Yes, most of the time, unless you want a slow burn. Then it is a balance between air in and air out. Thanks for commenting
That's simple just use DRY wood easy fix.
Thanks for commenting
I can appreciate you’re being so methodical, however, in real life you just need to to work and fast…..
Thanks for commenting
Smoking kill
Thanks for commenting