Solo Stove Campfire, anyone tried it?

[kudzu]

Just wondering if anyone has or has seen a Campfire by Solo Stove. I don't like making or maintaining the traditional campfires. Those are larger & smokier than I want. I don't want to use much wood. Plus, I want something that burns out comparatively quickly if untended. Likely wouldn't use it as a stove, only a campfire. Basically, I'd like something like a propane campfire without the propane & with some wood fire smell. (If that makes any sense.) And I like the fun of tossing in little sticks, pine cones, sweetgum balls, rolled up card board or paper plates, dried leaves, etc. As a kid, that's what I liked about campfires, to the annoyance of the adults. The Solo Stove Campfire looks just big enough but still quite compact. It appeals but I've not used one so don't know if I should risk ordering one.

http://www.solostove.com/solo-stove-campfire/

[lrrowe]

See this earlier post.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=64815&p=1153007&hilit=Solo#p1153007

I might be interested if it were not so small and did not cost as much.

[Alan_H]

I would suggest that if you just want it for the camp-fire and not for cooking, find an old 5- gallon metal pail and make one yourself. Still quite portable, but big enough to give off a good amount of heat for a cold evening and not $110 bucks.

[GuitarPhotog]

Seven by nine inches, $100, and only top loading of fuel. I'd say save your money and build one out of an old propane cylinder or piece of steel pipe.

My $0.02 worth

<Chas>

[dexstrom]

For what you want a rocket stove will work great. I've built two, a large one out of a 3 gallon can and a small one in a clean, new 1 gallon paint can. Here is one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQyU4lokVe4
Rocket stoves use very little fuel for high heat, my paint bucket one hits 975 deg. F. internally on two small pieces of kindling. I used Vermiculite Soil Amendment for insulation, fireproof and good insulator.

[Brushy_Bill]

They circulate heated air back into the burn chamber/firebox.
This is what help it produce less smoke.

Rocket stoves work great. They produce a good amount of concentrated heat from a very small fire.
They can heat soup or water for a coffee press in a hurry.

It sounds more like you just want a small fire to look at. I am the same way, I have always preferred what we
called as kids, "A red man fire"
("red man builds small fire, stands real close. white man builds big fire, stands far away")

Just as you can build a rocket stove, you can also easily build a a wood gasifier stove.
I built one like the one in this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R6mGvXZTu0

I have used it on many canoe/camping trips. I cook on it, then sit and enjoy a small fire
while I am eating. Have been known to cook a country style rib or two on a stick over it also.
It is nice to just sit and feed it small stuff to burn, especially when there is some hardwood trees
around. Nice dry small branches lying around that makes a nice fire.

Pay close attention to this part,
You will see the guy building this stove beat the bottom of the large can in before he cuts the hole
for the smaller can.
Once he places the smaller can in the hole, he flips it over and using a long file or a wooden rod, you flatten
that steel back out as much as it will allow you to. This makes the hole that the small can fits in get smaller creating
a tight fit on the small can.

Just find larger cans to work with, and you will have a nice little portable fire pit.
You may consider looking at local tag sales and goodwill stores for large metal canisters
to work with if you cannot find access to cans larger than a paint and soup/bean cans.

[rebapuck]

I watched two videos. One larger. One smaller. Both said "How to make a wood gas stove". I didn't see the gas part. But the wood part looked easy and portable.

[booyah]

I watched two videos. One larger. One smaller. Both said "How to make a wood gas stove". I didn't see the gas part. But the wood part looked easy and portable.

When they sat wood gas, they are refering to "wood gas" not wood/gas

Really its the wood gas that gives you the higher flames in a hot fire, not the wood itself, the wood releases the gas as it burns and heats and the wood gases give you the higher hotter, less smoke flame.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas

[jstrubberg]

Why not just build a smaller campfire?

[kudzu]

See this earlier post.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=64815&p=1153007&hilit=Solo#p1153007

I might be interested if it were not so small and did not cost as much.

Yes, that was me. Just thought putting it in it's own thread might dredge up someone who'd used one. You're correct on the cost, though it's comparable to initial outlay for the propane campfires. Thanks to some of the posts in this thread, I've found the terms I needed for a good search on making one. Will try to build a small wood gas stove in a 1 gallon can to see how it works. If I like that & still want a nicer stainless steel version then the Solo Stove Campfire would be worth the investment.

Thanks everyone for your contributions. It's much appreciated.

[kudzu]

Why not just build a smaller campfire?

In some circumstances that seems reasonable & have done that. However, I find it harder to keep a little campfire going, it doesn't generate much heat & produces more smoke than I want. As a consequence, I've essentially given up campfires unless I'm vising another person's campsite. Which is rare. Am hoping the wood gas stoves will do the trick & with less fuel, but since I've only seen videos & read descriptions I do not yet know that with any certainty. Will try building one to see how it goes.

[kirkman]

I used one hiking the AT it worked great! For cooking and as a small camp fire!!!
You cant go wrong!!!!!!

[Alan_H]

@kudzu

Here's an alternative, it folds flat, and it's a bit less pricey...

5" Folding Firebox

[Hardryder56]

Not sure if you would want to carry a log from the house but I have seen several examples of fires where people drilled a vertical hole down the center of a log about 3/4 through the log then drilled a horizontal hole to intersect the other hole. The vertical hole needs to be larger in diameter then the horizontal, small kindling is placed in the vertical hole and then the fire started. The log burns from the inside out and burns itself up in the end.

This is way over board from what I described but you will get the general idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNeOyoJK5EE

Tom