I have been camping since I was a kid and have a box full of different camp stoves from over the years. All have pros and cons but this Toaks is by far the best. I use it with the Toaks alcohol stove as a backup when dry wood is scarce. A 4oz Nalgene bottle with fuel (enough for 3-4 uses) and the alcohol stove fit inside the small Toaks wood burner and all nest in a 750ml pot with bail. Very small profile but everything needed to solo camp. When packing for two, the above nests in the Toaks 1100ml pot. I agree with your recommendations, pack the bottom burn chamber solid with sticks (cut to length and standing up), use an ignition starter (I use cotton makeup pads soaked in candle wax, 1/2 at a use), and smaller twigs on top to get a coal bed going. The stove will stop smoking quickly and gasify the lower burn chamber. One fuel load boils 2 cups of water for rehydrating food and warms another 2 cups for clean up while I eat. Just about the perfect system, IMHO.
Good to see someone using a larger pot. People seem to be obsessed with the size of whatever they put into their packs, probably not realizing that, if the stove and pot are both stuffed with other equipment, there isn't really a loss of space in the pack. Wider pots collect up the broad flame pattern of a wood or alcohol stove better than narrow pots. The concentrated flame pattern of a pressurized gas stove makes a broader pot unnecessary for an efficient boil. I bought the larger stove for stability and the larger burn chamber. It's still very light and effective, and can take more fuel, extending the burn time with less fiddling. It's more stable, too, though not as stable as a shorter stove. The height, though, makes it essentially a rocket gasification stove.
I REALLY want to try this because I often fly to my backpacking destinations and you can’t fly with fuel. Also, I haven’t worked out a lot and a lighter back is ultra appealing!
Judging the height of it I was worried about the stability of it. Then you showed how you covered that so I must of not been the only one worried about the stability. Since yours is the small I would be scared of the larger one. Picking up the fuel around camp makes the wood burners nice stoves. I like to think of them as personal ( small ) campfires that I can cook over or just enjoy. I have several different wood burners but they are a lot shorter then the Toaks.
Chuck, yes I was worried about the stability but two shortened stakes fixed that as you mentioned. A few things I really like about this stove: 1) uses the fuel on the ground around camp so cleans things up a bit for mother nature and doesn’t require fuel carry weight, 2) is very efficient in how it uses the wood fuel and can get very hot, 3) the gasifier works very well so it eliminates smoke. 4) the wonderful ambiance of a little fire. I don’t use this stove regularly but when I do, I really enjoy it. Thanks for your comments.
Tale of two cities . . . I just watched another video where the fire kept going out on the poor guy. and he never did get his pot to boil. Yours, however, did extremely well. So I'm thinking its all in the technique of the operator. Thanks for the video.
William, I've had the opposite (poor) experience also that's why I wanted to share when I actual saw some great results. Dry wood, space for good oxygen flow (critical) and this baby zings. It's the age old principles that go into making a good fire...:-). Thanks for your comment! Dan
Great tip on using the titanium stakes to brace this stove. I have not considered this stove due to some bad performance videos and the top heavy nature of the stove with something on it, but your stakes suggestion would work where you have something to anchor into. I saw another video where someone drilled a hole on either side and put a cross piece that makes the base wider once you inserted a rod through the bottom of the stove. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Dan, nice video. I just bought one of those stoves myself. Looking foreward to nest it in the toaks 750 ml cup! What knife are you using there? It looks awesome. Greets from Germany.
Yes, Kleerauber it's a fun little camp tool. The knife is a smaller machete called the Camillus "Titanium Bonded" Carnivore Series. I really like it. Great grip, multi function, serrated edge as well, very sharp and maintains it's sharpness; only ~ $19 USD at Cabelas in the US. It has a perfect 90degree spine for striking on a flint ferro rod and great for batoning/chopping wood.
Thanks a bunch for the info. Your kid seems to like stove a lot aswell! I really enjoy you teaching him how to act around it rather than keeping him away.
Nice review. Well done, sir! Question. Are you up for a challenge? While I love upside down fires, and most users of wood gas stoves INSIST these stoves MUST be ignited is this manner I find this to be questionable. Try placing the tender/fire starter in the bottom and load the fuel wood on top. THEN lift the stove and lite it from the bottom. The 'ash pan' (this is the lower chamber of the 'fire box') is filled with holes and is perfect got putting the heat source (FLAME generated from whichever method) next to the tender. Indeed the upside down fire method is all the rage these days. Even the manufactures of these types of wood burning stoves try to entice would be buyers to buy their product by “selling” them on the idea that one may overcome basic fire building skills simply by purchasing their stove. As I said, this is simply a challenge. I dare you to try this method. I submit that it is important to understand the concept of convection and how it relates to fire building. The gentleman in this video demonstrates the idea very nicely. Keep in mind the 'PLATFORM' is built into the stove you are using. ua-cam.com/video/Ma6VqwIuI24/v-deo.html
I have to disagree. This is a TLUD stove meaning top lit up draft which burns the smoke. With my small solo stove i can fill it up to the jet holes, ligh the top and and it only takes a few minutes before it starts burning smokeless and that will last for 7 to 10 minutes. Easily long enough to burn 2 cups of water.
Also there is nothing inherently wrong with lighting a fire from the top. The coals from the kindling will drop down into the fuel and ignite it. And easier to light a fire this way too.
I did that with my son, Julian, and he ended up getting a golf ball sized blister on his foot, after he ran through hot coals... he was your son's age at the time... just be careful, is all I'm saying!
I taught my son from a very early age how to respect fire, (before he could walk), and he never ever got burned. He was allowed to put sticks on the fire as well - same thing, education and experience. 😊 Now I do the same style of life/outdoors education with my two small grandchildren, and their Dad does with them exactly what I did with him - teaches them early with supervision and safety instructions. ❤️
I have been camping since I was a kid and have a box full of different camp stoves from over the years. All have pros and cons but this Toaks is by far the best. I use it with the Toaks alcohol stove as a backup when dry wood is scarce. A 4oz Nalgene bottle with fuel (enough for 3-4 uses) and the alcohol stove fit inside the small Toaks wood burner and all nest in a 750ml pot with bail. Very small profile but everything needed to solo camp. When packing for two, the above nests in the Toaks 1100ml pot. I agree with your recommendations, pack the bottom burn chamber solid with sticks (cut to length and standing up), use an ignition starter (I use cotton makeup pads soaked in candle wax, 1/2 at a use), and smaller twigs on top to get a coal bed going. The stove will stop smoking quickly and gasify the lower burn chamber. One fuel load boils 2 cups of water for rehydrating food and warms another 2 cups for clean up while I eat. Just about the perfect system, IMHO.
Good to see someone using a larger pot. People seem to be obsessed with the size of whatever they put into their packs, probably not realizing that, if the stove and pot are both stuffed with other equipment, there isn't really a loss of space in the pack.
Wider pots collect up the broad flame pattern of a wood or alcohol stove better than narrow pots. The concentrated flame pattern of a pressurized gas stove makes a broader pot unnecessary for an efficient boil.
I bought the larger stove for stability and the larger burn chamber. It's still very light and effective, and can take more fuel, extending the burn time with less fiddling. It's more stable, too, though not as stable as a shorter stove. The height, though, makes it essentially a rocket gasification stove.
I REALLY want to try this because I often fly to my backpacking destinations and you can’t fly with fuel. Also, I haven’t worked out a lot and a lighter back is ultra appealing!
Yep, it’s a neat little tool!
Thanks for the video. Adding the stakes helps stabilize, I appreciate this tip.
Judging the height of it I was worried about the stability of it. Then you showed how you covered that so I must of not been the only one worried about the stability. Since yours is the small I would be scared of the larger one. Picking up the fuel around camp makes the wood burners nice stoves. I like to think of them as personal ( small ) campfires that I can cook over or just enjoy. I have several different wood burners but they are a lot shorter then the Toaks.
Chuck, yes I was worried about the stability but two shortened stakes fixed that as you mentioned. A few things I really like about this stove: 1) uses the fuel on the ground around camp so cleans things up a bit for mother nature and doesn’t require fuel carry weight, 2) is very efficient in how it uses the wood fuel and can get very hot, 3) the gasifier works very well so it eliminates smoke. 4) the wonderful ambiance of a little fire. I don’t use this stove regularly but when I do, I really enjoy it. Thanks for your comments.
Tale of two cities . . . I just watched another video where the fire kept going out on the poor guy. and he never did get his pot to boil. Yours, however, did extremely well. So I'm thinking its all in the technique of the operator. Thanks for the video.
William, I've had the opposite (poor) experience also that's why I wanted to share when I actual saw some great results. Dry wood, space for good oxygen flow (critical) and this baby zings. It's the age old principles that go into making a good fire...:-). Thanks for your comment! Dan
Great review!
Thank you
Great tip on using the titanium stakes to brace this stove. I have not considered this stove due to some bad performance videos and the top heavy nature of the stove with something on it, but your stakes suggestion would work where you have something to anchor into. I saw another video where someone drilled a hole on either side and put a cross piece that makes the base wider once you inserted a rod through the bottom of the stove. Thanks for sharing.
All about using the right ground and it isn't an issue even with a 2L pot, wide at that. These are the best stoves made.
Hi Dan, nice video. I just bought one of those stoves myself. Looking foreward to nest it in the toaks 750 ml cup!
What knife are you using there? It looks awesome. Greets from Germany.
Yes, Kleerauber it's a fun little camp tool. The knife is a smaller machete called the Camillus "Titanium Bonded" Carnivore Series. I really like it. Great grip, multi function, serrated edge as well, very sharp and maintains it's sharpness; only ~ $19 USD at Cabelas in the US. It has a perfect 90degree spine for striking on a flint ferro rod and great for batoning/chopping wood.
Thanks a bunch for the info.
Your kid seems to like stove a lot aswell!
I really enjoy you teaching him how to act around it rather than keeping him away.
Kleeräuber, I love him being right there with me and actually he's telling me not to get burned. 😁
Nice review. Well done, sir!
Question. Are you up for a challenge?
While I love upside down fires, and most users of wood gas stoves INSIST these stoves MUST be ignited is this manner I find this to be questionable.
Try placing the tender/fire starter in the bottom and load the fuel wood on top. THEN lift the stove and lite it from the bottom. The 'ash pan' (this is the lower chamber of the 'fire box') is filled with holes and is perfect got putting the heat source (FLAME generated from whichever method) next to the tender.
Indeed the upside down fire method is all the rage these days. Even the manufactures of these types of wood burning stoves try to entice would be buyers to buy their product by “selling” them on the idea that one may overcome basic fire building skills simply by purchasing their stove.
As I said, this is simply a challenge. I dare you to try this method. I submit that it is important to understand the concept of convection and how it relates to fire building.
The gentleman in this video demonstrates the idea very nicely.
Keep in mind the 'PLATFORM' is built into the stove you are using.
ua-cam.com/video/Ma6VqwIuI24/v-deo.html
Walter, you’re described way is the right way. Basic fire starting physics. 😁.
I have to disagree. This is a TLUD stove meaning top lit up draft which burns the smoke. With my small solo stove i can fill it up to the jet holes, ligh the top and and it only takes a few minutes before it starts burning smokeless and that will last for 7 to 10 minutes. Easily long enough to burn 2 cups of water.
Also there is nothing inherently wrong with lighting a fire from the top. The coals from the kindling will drop down into the fuel and ignite it. And easier to light a fire this way too.
@@lifthearth Thank you. Indeed it is basic fire starting physics.
Thanks for posting. Just remember, that boiling water will take skin off hands, feet, and face. No lol
Johann W. Coltrane , yes not to be taken lightly. Thank you for the response and care.
Kids and boiling water - - not a good combination.
Why are you letting your kid stick sticks into the stove?
Aaron Freeman , education and experience.
I did that with my son, Julian, and he ended up getting a golf ball sized blister on his foot, after he ran through hot coals... he was your son's age at the time... just be careful, is all I'm saying!
Aaron Freeman, thanks.
I taught my son from a very early age how to respect fire, (before he could walk), and he never ever got burned.
He was allowed to put sticks on the fire as well - same thing, education and experience. 😊
Now I do the same style of life/outdoors education with my two small grandchildren, and their Dad does with them exactly what I did with him - teaches them early with supervision and safety instructions. ❤️