Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Kni-Co stoves.

WW.. the pipe actually taper small end at the bottom to the top, where my 4 inch roll pipe fits inside the Ti pipe.
Prewar, you are correct about more mass of the steel stove to hold heat, but the whole idea of a Ti stove is to save weight . I use mine to fly-in to remote rivers.Load limits are usually 750 lbs. total weight , that gets tight for 2 hunters, raft and gear. There is always a trade off with gear, that's why there's so much to choose from. My 12 man tipi with stove heat weights only 18 lbs.

Sorry to hi-jack, but I'm striking out with Google.
Does anyone remember the company that makes two man wall tents with a stove. I think I remember them looking like a hybrid pyramid with short walls. The company only offered that one model, and is somewhere back east. I remember it was heavy, and didn't like it at the time (last year?), but would like to have another look. Ring any bells?

I think that you mean www.empirecanvasworks.com.

I have spoken with the owner and he is a super guy, I was going to buy one of his rigs, however, I have no place to properly dry a canvas tent.

IF, I had this ability, I would have one of his "Snowtrekker" tents for my 1-2 person base camp over anything else on the market and would choose a Kni-Co "Alaskan Junior" stove to heat it with.

I would prefer this to any tipi due to headroom issues and to anything else available that I would have to heat with propane, such as the "Atlas" tent by Hilleberg. But, you MUST dry a tent like this thoroughly after each use and this requires a lot of space.....maybe someday!

Bud.

Yea it tapers small to large. I think the bottom stove port is less than 3 inches unless I am wrong. So you put the Roll pipe inside the TI pipe? Great idea.

WW
I got the idea from you. I wanted the pipe to clear the top of my tipi about 3 ft. because of the holes I got from sparks. Rolled stainless is the best for a compactable pipe.

WW,

No problem with sparks or embers escaping so far with the stack robber, even in high winds.

222rem,

Montana Canvas makes a nice 10x10 pyramid with 3' walls. When it is made out Relite, the tent, poles, and fly weigh 35#. This company made my Alaknak for Cabelas back in 93 and I have used it a lot sense. The current Cabelas Alaknak are made overseas <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />. The Relite is tough, and doesn't get heavy like canvas when wet and drys fast.

http://www.montanacanvas.com/spiketents.cfm

The other tent to consider would be a EENA from Beckel Canves. It is a modified pyramid with canvas roof and Relite side walls.

http://www.beckelcanvas.com/Tents.htm

For the greatest weight savings you have to with Ti goat or Kifaru tipis but for truck camps these others work fine. 10x10 usually means 9'6"x9'6" actual. Two guys hunting in cold weather work great, 3 is crowded, 4 can squeeze in but one person needs an asbestos sleeping bag in case they roll into the stove.

Those look like some good tents, I haven't seen them before. Do you have one of those Dry lite tents Dudlie? I added a vent to the peak of my Alaknak my self after using it the first year. The vent became standard on the factory tents the next year. If that Dry Lite really does let moisture vapor through without condensation in cold weather it would be great. A 10x12 wall tent that weighs just 13 pounds is really tempting. Sorry to hijack WW's thread.

Bud.

The high pipe helps big time with sparks and adds more draft to the system. My system of a Damper, Robber and spark screens and high pipe has so far been 100% spark proof.




Once had a super heated fire from some good black Birch. The whole stove and robber was almost white. Flames shot 3 feet out of the pipe. The draft was so strong that sparks got blasted though everything. But the High pipe tossed them away from the tent. Don't know how the long pipe has helped you but it worked great for me.

Even use a longer pipe on the little paratipi.



Phasmid.

Any topic that has stoves or tents is welcome.

In general I am thinking that the Packer Jr is perfect for my needs. Glad to hear others liked the quality of Kni-co stoves. The take down stoves are great but they don�t work like the more Airtight jobs. Just the price I pay for a 3-4 lbs stove system that packs down to nothing compared to a 10-11 lbs system that takes up more room. The homemade stove is great as it too packs down to fit in a Molle side pocket and comes in at 6.5 lbs for the whole system as seen above but the max burn time for a 7x10 cylinder even with damper and robber is 40 minutes with good hardwood. I think the Kni-co could be pushed to 2 hours in sub zero heating a small shelter like a Kifaru 4-man tipi with liner. That is one thing I like about the 4-man tipi. Even with the smaller stoves 6 sticks can heat it for � hour. The stand up room is like zero and it is tight for being snowed in however I tend to walk around outside any tent in any weather just to get out regardless of size so for me the smaller shelter�s ease of heat, small foot print and tinny weight/pack size fits the bill. I liked the other tents shown but they are all too heavy for my needs. 89 bucks makes it look even better.

Phasmid

I don't have one. I met these folks at the RMEC in Reno. He is an old elk hunter who started to make his own gear as a sideline years ago. I bought a horse blanket and some saddle bags from them. They make quality gear. I have a custom made wall tent I use for a base camp. I have two Kifaru Tipis I use for packing in and backpacking. I was thinking of one of his pyramid tents for a drive in base camp. Easier to set up one man. Quality material will handle a snow load, it breathes no condensation.

Thanks for the links Phasmid.

The closest I'd found with Google was the MT. Canvas product you mentioned. It looks good, but I'd like it w/o a floor, and with a single center pole. The Dry Lite tents look like the ticket (thanks for the link Dudley), I didn't see prices listed, but would be just as happy having the same product made from good canvas instead if it kept the cost down at the expense of weight.

I've got a Kifaru Paratipi and small stove, for the light and fast solo trips. I've also got a 14x16 wall tent for truck camping. I'm looking for something in between that sets up faster and easier than the wall tent, but with some stand up room. I'd like to get my wife interested in winter camping, and know that a heated shelter is a must. The Paratipi would be very romantic, but a little cramped after a while. An 8man Kif tipi would be nice for sure, but I'm looking to short cut that expense for now. The Miner/Pyramid tent should be fast and simple for quick weekend trips.

The Beckel Canvas hybrid tent looks interesting, but more complicated than the standard Miner. I've got a true Whelen lean-to coming next week from Beckel. I've wanted one since about '84, so I'm excited to see how it drives. If I can get a pard over some time to show me how to work Photobucket I'll share some images once I get 'em.
222

Kute, I missed your Snowtrekker link the first time. Yeah, that's the company I was thinking of. Those are pretty skookum tents.

Right now I'm leaning towards the Beckel "eena", a hybrid miner with 5' walls. They're too heavy for backpacking, but have the fast setup of a miner with a lot more space.

Placed my Order for the Packer Jr. The guy from Kni-co is a real class act. He even called me back to ask if I wanted the Float legs added special on my Packer Jr for a small extra charge. I went with it. Will report back on the stove after I get it.

Thats nice to know he'll put snow legs on that model. Thanks Woodsy, I eagerly await your report.

David

I think you will like the kni-co. A friend has the smallest one and it is very well constructed.

I am to cheap myself and so build my own out of stove pipe metal. A side benefit is that for 40.00 a shot I can make a custom design sized perfectly for a particular tent. I can also use lighter metal and get a weight reduction knowing that I might have to replace the burnt out body a bit more often.

Ole Wik's book is a great starter.

Here is my latest creation sized for our snhow trekker tent and able to keep heat 3 hours or so. Uses the Kni-Co 4-5" pipe and a few design features stolen from their web-site. This one also has an internal baffle which gives greater efficiency of heat forced across and onto the stove top instead of up the pipe.



Here is the Snowtrekker in action. This is the three man model which my family of four can squeeze into ( We are a huggy bunch)

A baffle plate is a very good thing to have. I made a tinny one for my small Kifaru take down stove. Darn good spark arrestor too as the chucks doesn�t get blown up the pipe.





Oh nice stove you made. Great looking tent too.

Nice shots.... here is my Mark II baffle reduces boiling time to 1/3, throws more heat and keeps the chimney cooler. What's not to love. Sorry about the picture quality but you get the idea.

North61.

I found that a baffle plate is a nice spark killer as the pipe does not suck up larger chunks of wood. I see your tent has the pipe out the side so sparks may not be an issue but what have you seen with your larger stove. How much wider than the pipe port is the baffle plate? I know there is a formula some place for size of the plate but I just guessed.

I figured that my 5" pipe has a cross section of about 17" and ensured that the baffle plate allowed more than this so that there was no restriction of draft.

Seemed to work.

The baffle plate does seem to reduce the ammount of large sparks..the ones that would give trouble falling back on the tent and making spark holes or worse. My Spark arrestor at the end of the pipe seems to clog much less with this stove with the baffle.

Just got the Kni-co Packer Jr with snow float legs. It looks great and seems well made. Was a bit heavier than the web sit stated. The weight for the Body is 8 lbs 1.8 oz. This is not a real problem for a base camp/pulk sled stove. With pipe, Damper and homemade robber the stove is 10 lbs 13 oz. Only less than a pound over my target weight for a more airtight base camp stove system. Maybe the snow legs added some extra weight. May just get a cargo chair to strap the thing on my pack or toss it inside my large POD. The construction is first rate. The door has a very nice air intake system with an internal plate off the door. I am guessing this heats the incoming air but don't know. I will take photos of the stove and post them in a few days. Going out this weekend for a test run. I am very pleased by the looks of the stove so far.