Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting First burn with Ed T's mini can stove

Went out over this last weekend to do some backpacking with a friend of mine. We decided to hike up the N Fork Coeur d'Alene river and spend a couple days. For this trip I took my Seek Outside BCS and Ed T's mini canister stove with 7 ft ti pipe.

Made a base camp at about 7 mile for two nights, got over 30 miles in over 3 days and seen zero people. Amazing for a holiday weekend in such an awesome area.

Was a little hard getting the pipe rolled up for the first time since it is a small diameter. Put in some cotton balls, hit them with a striker and piled on some old mans beard. The little thing took off great, no fiddling around. Large door opening makes it easy to load wood.

Also another thing about fiddling around. That is why I bought this stove, easy setup and take down. All you have to do is screw on the legs and put in the pipe insert with damper and screen. I wanted something that would setup fast for backcountry ski trips with the BCS. Do not want to mess around when there are runs to get in! I love my 22" Ti roll up stove from Ed too, but it takes some time to setup. Plus it is just to big for my new SO BCS, IMO.

So the stove performed great. Could not get an idea about the heat output because the weather was mild and I had to leave the BCS door staked open. Once you get a hot bed of coals in it it will burn some good sized stuff. Not really things you need to split, just big branches. That also helps with the time and prep to keep it running. I loaded it up full, let it take off and then closed the damper. I got about 15 minutes out of it before it look like I needed to add fuel. Will play with this more and update but pretty good for a stove of this size. No problems keeping it going or with any smoke leaking out. On my scale with the 7 ft pipe made for the BCS the whole package weighs 1 lb 12 oz's. Not bad, you have to sacrifice weight saving when you want an easy to setup canister stove thats strong enough not to get smashed while in your pack.

I was also worried at first about being able to cook/boil water on this stove. If you setup the stove at an angle by screwing the legs in on one side my Snow Peak solo pot fits perfect and very stable. The back of the pot is also right against the pipe so the water boiled faster than I would of thought.

Here are a few pictures. I might add some more details and photos from our trip if there is interest.

That's a slick looking little stove. I wish I had a setup with a stove. With just a SL3 and not much opportunity in cold weather just doesn't make much sense. Maybe someday.

Thanks for the photos. Looks and sounds like a good trip!

Big W, sweet setup and nice trip. I live only a few miles from the North Fork Coeur d Alene and spend tons of time here, grew up in it.

The nephew and I are going to do a trip when I get back home. Probably around the Independence/Magee end of the drainage.

I thought that you lived up around that area, but I didnt know for sure. Was going to send you a pm to see if you had any extra info about the area for me but I forgot. It is a really nice area, I can't believe we did not see any people out. Heard a few four wheelers on the road and a few mushroom hunters about 100 yards from the trailhead but that was it. You have some grizzly bear in that area don't you or is that farther north?

Oh, we did have a little bear problem on our trip. Never did see it, sounded big enough to be a griz. Had the food bag hung about 20 ft from my SO BCS and at 7:00 am in the morning heard something trying to get into my cuben fiber food bag. I know the sound it makes, kinda like crumpling news paper. The food bag was at least 9 ft off the ground, had to be a big black or griz. After my buddy said "Hey, I think there is a bear outside" it let out a huge roar, got tangled up in the line and crashed around. I was a little nervous when I stuck my head out of the tent, gun barrel first of coarse but it was gone. The food bag was still swinging in the tree. I have some holes in my rock bag(used to toss the rope) from its teeth.

Other wildlife included deer, a moose, grouse, bald eagles and a weasel I seen dragging a dead squirrel out of a hole that was bigger than it was.

I really do like that design. No springs on that one! I made a larger canister stove, scaled it up. The bolt legs were just too damn heavy so I threaded some aluminum rods. I haven't tried it yet with the aluminum legs. Hope the threads hold up to the heat.

Wes,

The no fiddle factor is exactly the reason for the Mini-Canister. There will likely be a larger canister stove soon as well. Still small enough to pack inside a backpack or pulk but enough heat output for a 4-6 man size shelter.

Cool trip Wes!

Nice trip report and product review Big W. I'm really digging that second pic in your second post. Bear was a nice "Class B" bonus encounter.

I've been following Evan's review of the BCS on the HPG forum with some interest. Do you (or anyone else for that matter) have a close-up of the flap for the stove jack? Is there a means to keep it off the stove pipe that actually works?

Wes,

I know the North Fork well, I recognize that rock face. I live in Coeur d'Alene.

Yes there are grizzlies up there, I ran into one down off of Marble creek a few years back and a lot of black bear too.

Smart move having your food bag up in a tree instead of in your tent.

What trail did you hit?

Great pictures. Nice Recon Kit Bag! How do you like it? Just ordered a Runners Kit Bag as I wanted something slim and low profile. Hoping to put it to use this fall in the bow stand and while rifle deer hunting.

Looks like I'm going to have to send more money to Ed. I suspect the mini would be a better stove for me then the 12". Just doesn't get cold enough around here to really run the bigger stove.

Hiked in from the start of trail #20 at the south end.We setup just down from Jordan camp because that was the first place you could after the first couple miles, trail stayed high on the hill side. We did not know what was beyond the road for camps. I thought it was going to suck camping that close to a road but like I said we seen nobody.

Day hiked on the second day upriver again to Alden creek and went way up that trail until we decided to turn around because the trail went off my map. Could not cross Alden creek on the main trail without taking our boots off so we did go any farther up.

Thats my buddy in the picture with the Recon Kit Bag. I have 4 Kit Bags including all 3 models, Recon, Runners and regular Kit bag. I let my friends use them or send them out for people to try. FWIW, I have been using a Runners KB for the last 6 months and I am loving it. You dont even notice you are wearing it. You are right its slim and low profile, perfect for bowhunting. I will go back to a regular sized KB when its rifle season or for long backpacks. I have used the KB's for over a year now and never go anywhere with out one. Still the best peice of gear I have bought, atleast until my McHale gets here. I need to play with the Recon a bit more and buy some PAL accessories for my tacticool setup. Everyone needs an open combat rig come Dec. 2012!

I told you the wrong name earlier, I was on Steamboat when I seen the griz. Likely you had a blackie trying to raid you though, people get real careless with food up there.

As far north as you were can be hit and miss, some years there is still snow or sometimes roads will be wiped out still and havent gotten fixed yet, it can get really bad once you pass Magee. So local campers tend to go to areas they know will be open and available, plus thats a long drive that far up too.

Usually the little north fork is camped harder and the more established campgrounds like Bumblebee, Big Hank and Devils Elbow if its open.

Usually the river bottom is thick with whitetails this time of year, can see 5 - 10 at a time or more.

didn't see that stove on Ed's site,what are it's dimensions ?
Tim

Fantastic. I debated for quite a while between the regular kit bag or the Runners Kit, and after doing all the reading I decided I wanted to go slim. I keep plenty of crap in my hip belt pockets and pant pockets, so I don't need much room. Just a place to keep things close to the chest when hunting/hiking. I do think it will be great while on the bow stand. No more reaching down and around on my fanny pack. Its all right there in the runners kit.

Tim,

It is 4.75" diameter x 6 3/4" long. Truely a mini but puts out a suprising amount of heat for the size.

Is it possible to turn this stove on end and use it as a hobo stove?

Thanks for the pics and review.

Ed - how would this stove do in an SL5? Its hard for me to judge these small stoves in these little shelters.

Also, what is the price? I couldn't find it on your site.

Thanks,

Jason

Jason,

The Mini Canister would do fine in an SL-5 as long as you weren't looking at really cold temperatures.

The stove complete with 6' of titanium pipe, stove bag, damper and all accessories would run $225.