How to Choose a Stove part 1

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I don’t even know how many stoves there are out there, perhaps a hundred  in North America, then add Europe to the mix and go from there. Surely there are many hundreds of them. It can be dizzying trying to evaluate them all, especially if you get into all the reviews and the specs for each.

Years ago when I was in the electronic security business at times a problem would crop up in some large commercial building that could be daunting to pin down. I found that by dividing the system and seeing if the problem was in front of or behind that point, then dividing again and so forth, it was not so hard to isolate the problem. We can apply the same type of thinking in deciding what stove to buy.

In reality, there are many stoves that can satisfy your needs, it’s more a matter of preferences based on how you will use it. I have many stoves, I don’t know how many, lots. Some for family camping, some used in truck camping, some for winter inside a shelter, some for emergency only, and so on.

Start by asking, what is the next stove needed for? With the purpose being defined the field can easily be pared down by at least three quarters. I’m all about multi-purposing, but that can only go so far in practical terms. It will certainly be the case that you will need a few stoves. For my home preparedness, I like to have stoves that operate on different fuels, just in case. Propane, white gas, wood, butane, alcohol, etc.

A  CAUTION– don’t get sucked in too deeply by the, “how fast can it boil two cups of water,” argument. Originally it served as a reference to what the stove could do in performance (BTU’s), it has become obsessive to some degree these days. Many, not all, of the high output stoves will guzzle lots of fuel, so be aware of that. For me it’s nice to know, but really is it going to kill me if it takes another minute or two to boil some water? If I’m out camping I could care less, I want to relax and I don’t care that much. The other thing for me is I’m not a huge fan of pasta based meals, I prefer to do a little cooking, and so I’m not a “water boiler.” Many stoves for example will not throttle down to a simmer, if you can’t do that, you can’t cook.

Obviously it’s going to take more than this little blog to really evaluate stoves, so we’ll do some follow up posts. For now below is a list of things to consider in selecting a stove to fit your purpose.

  • Portability – stationary kitchen stove or fireplace, BBQ grill, ultra lite backpack stove
  • Size of cooking task – Family meal, a couple people, just yourself, also average pot size used
  • Compactness – does the stove break down small for storage? If not can things be stored in it?
  • Fuel – type of fuel or multi-fuel, fuel availability, temperature considerations, energy output
  • Adjustable heat output, can it go down to a simmer?
  • Fuel consumption – this can be crucial in how much fuel to take or store
  • Weight – this is mostly for mobility in a backpack, 72 hour kit, or Bug Out Bag where weight is a big factor
  • Quality – how well made the stove is, ease of use, durability, movable parts secure
  • Cost  – look for value, weigh feature value to cost, some features may not be worth it

Finally don’t get too stressed out, there are lots of great stoves out there that will work just fine for you, buy a stove that meets the purpose you need it for and chances are you’ll be happy. Ideally if you can see stoves in use at a campout or such that will help greatly, ask a few friends. Watch here for the next installment where I’ll cover some details about the above items.

FYI stove in picture: back row l-r, Canadian Coleman Propane 2 burner; Generic Butane; MSR white gas; Pocket Stove for Trangia Spirit burner, twigs, or Esbit Tabs; Mojo Stand for Spirit Burner, Emberlit Mini Titanium for twigs or Spirit Burner: Front row l-r, Firebox Folding Stove for twigs, Spirit Burner, Esbit tabs, Granular and Pellet fuels, Charcoal Briquets, etc; Svea 123 Stove, white gas; Wilderness Innovation turbo’d Hobo style twig stove for twigs.

Until next time, this is Perry Peacock, Simplifying Survival

Is Shelter the Most Important Survival Item?

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Fire seems to get a lot of credit as the most import thing there is in survival, perhaps too much. If you have spent a good deal of time outdoors, you know there are times when fire is not possible or practical. There may be a storm or high winds or on the other hand it may be that there is excessive heat and blazing sun that we need protection from.

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We consider that there are six basic elements necessary for us to survive, the loss of any one of which may result in death, not in particular order they are; Shelter, Fire, Water, Medical, Food, Social/Rescue.

We should ask ourselves, what is shelter? We are not like the animals that inhabit this planet and are naturally equipped to live in the environment without any accessories. Shelter is whatever items that may be useful to protect our bodies from the elements.  Shelter is a shield from sun, rain, snow, wind, sand, bugs, creatures, heat, and cold. It starts with the clothing that touches our skin and goes out from there, besides clothing it includes, tarps, tents, huts, caves, cabins, campers, trailers, and homes.

In my experience a good bit of the time the most needed thing a shelter must provide is protection from the wind. We’ve all been out when the temperature is not all that cold, but the wind just saps the heat from our bodies. In that case a windbreak can make things tolerable. It is important to note that people have commonly perished in temperatures in the 50° F range (10° C).  The core temperature of our bodies cannot deviate more than a few degrees above or below 98.6° F (37° C) without detrimental results. Food processors use a combination of cold and wind to quickly chill foods, wind removes heat very rapidly.

We can live for days without water, weeks without food, but if the body temperature changes too much it can be over for us quickly. I read a few months ago a tragic story of a man and his two sons that all died in less than a day to exposure, hypothermia in this case. The family had been staying in a lodge in the Midwestern US, the father took his boys on a hike in the surrounding countryside. A rainstorm came up they were not prepared for, the temperatures dropped, trying to get back they took a wrong turn on the trail, they were found by searchers the next morning soaking wet, the father was dead, the sons could not be revived. A rain poncho may have been enough to have saved them. It made me sick to read the story and to think of the tragedy for that family; a mother, her two daughters and a young son left to mourn the loss.MVI_0405

So many times I see people out with minimal gear, some with nothing but shorts and a T shirt above 9000 feet elevation, most of the time things turn out just fine, but all too often some turn of events leaves the unprepared fighting for their lives. I know it is fashionable to take as little as possible, there is a thrill to that, but it does not come without some risk. Our PSS or Personal Survival Shelter is a Poncho, a Tarp, and can also be a hammock or chair. It weighs less than 2 pounds in its sturdy Cordura bag, why not take one with you, just to be safe. Watch this video to see how you can even connect two or more PSS to make a larger shelter.

Until next time, this is Perry Peacock, “Simplifying Survival”

Show Me Event Next Week New PSS Features

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We are starting up our Show Me Event Series again after taking the winter off. We still went camping, but the logistics of doing the Show Me during the winter did not permit it this past season, we are planning to remedy that for this coming year and do the Show Me year round, once per month. IMG_1432

Originally scheduled for the last weekend of the month we’ve needed to move it up a week this time. If you can please come out. We are showing some new ideas on how to use the PSS, our Poncho based shelter system. Also we have some additional accessories for the PSS that we will show you.

Also on display will be our new 1 person and 2 person cooksets, we have been working on these during the last year and are adding them to our website for sale. See them them first at the Show Me. As usual you will be able to try all our gear in the field, learn about it, set up yourself, get familiar.IMG_1593

We will be doing supper on Friday evening 4/19/13 for all attendees, and breakfast in the morning Saturday 4/20. Campfire waffles will be served using a Revolutionary War period replica camp waffle iron, it’s really cool.

No charge for the event, unless you stay overnight, then we ask just $5 per car to cover camp charges. It will be a blast so come on out. You can come just Friday or Saturday or stay for both, it’s up to you. So it’s Friday afternoon through Saturday afternoon.

Please let us know you are coming and how many you anticipate bringing so we have an idea. Click the contact link below and put “Show Me” in the subject line.

RSVP Show Me

See ya there

What is Our PST Anyway?

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Some History –

Many years ago we did a lot with foam insulated sub-zero winter gear, a few years ago we re-booted the company and started off building a fire starter kit based on what I had refined over the years and now our FSK is a premium fire starting kit, one of the worlds finest and most dependable pieces of gear for starting fire. Next we started on our survival kit which was called the WI Real Survival Kit, with the word “real” to emphasize the quality of the components, not a pile of junk called a survival kit, but pieces you could count on. It was altered to a cylindrical shape to accommodate a stainless steel cup and Nalgene bottle and the bag made to allow mounting to handle bars or roll bars in addition to being in a pack compartment. It was renamed the “Offroad Real Survival Kit” we are now converting to the name CSK for Core Survival Kit, to match up with our developing training program.  In the end all our gear was fitted with our own version of MOLLE mounting, at the suggestion of our partner Beau Graves. With those items out of the way so to speak, taking care of fire and core survival needs, we turned our attention to shelter beyond clothing, and that meant a tent or tarp.

PST development – I spent the better part of a year studying shelter, the current offerings as well as scouring old books looking at what people used to use. Most of the old tents were hardly more than modified tarps. As I looked at all the different tent set ups, I made notes of the pluses and minuses of each, there were a number of them that I liked equally well. In the end I went in the direction of versatility, having always had a desire for multi-functional  gear, so I decided to make a tarp. A rectangular shape is generally considered best for a tarp, but for what I was after I found the square shape could give me most of the configuration styles that I liked, and by using diagonal setups I could use a much smaller and lighter tarp. These diagonal setups were my adaptations of some tent styles of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

PST – what is it?

PST stands for Personal Survival Tarp. We wanted to emphasize that this was intended to be sized for individual use in a survival situation to provide essential shelter. After a lot of testing and experimenting I settled on the size of 7 x 7 feet. I see now that perhaps it has never been explained to people the value and versatility of this size. We sell far more of the PSTL which is 10 x 10, probably because in normal thinking 7 x 7 is too small for most people, well I’ve never been called normal. For most people a tarp would be set up as an awning, a lean to, a cover, or ground cloth, and I grant that at 7 feet long it is minimally acceptable in these configurations. Although we’ve had a lot of success even at that.  When you start setting up with the many variations of diagonal styles it can be found that the standard PST is adequate for two persons generally, not bad for that small of a tarp! The PSTL can accommodate 4 – 6 adults easily.  Recently I tried to see how many configurations I could come up with for each, and I’m at 30 for the PSTL, and about 25 for the PST.

What are the features of the PST?

  • Tough light weight ripstop nylon fabric
  • Corner gussets for reinforcing
  • Webbing tabs rather than grommets for lashing
  • Center tabs from center diagonal to one corner
  • Velcro on center tabs and on stake bag for pole mounting
  • Five 20 foot hanks of 550 parachute cord
  • Three varied length shock cords with cordloc adjustment
  • Six 9″ poly tent stakes with shock cord loops
  • Cordura tarp bag with MOLLE and 2 D Rings for attachments

I’ll have to do another blog or perhaps even better a podcast detailing more information than this. Our PST’s are certainly among the worlds best value in survival tarps. There are so many more things for me to say about the PST, but for now it’s a start at least. Check out our new video featuring the diagonal setup called the “Stingray” that uses a PST over a PSS made into a hammock, amazingly roomy for a 7 x 7 tarp over a hammock, and another new video making the PTSL into a “Super Shelter” suitable for 4-6 adults for winter camping without sleeping bags.

EVENTS:

Still looking for a “Show Me” location in the Roosevelt area for August, or Sept.

Until next time this is Perry Peacock, “Simplifying Survival”

 

 

 

Next Show Me Features Crab Boil Dinner and Pancake Breakfast

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This coming Friday and Saturday, June 15,16 at Maple Lake again, up Payson Canyon. Come on up for however long you want, stay the night, whatever. We’ll be doing the same type of thing as last time. Showing all our gear, letting you use it, ask questions, etc. You can build the Yukon Chair if you want also, just like in our latest video. It’s a time to relax and to do some hands on with our cool gear.

To make it even more fun we have planned a dinner Friday night featuring Zatarain’s Louisiana Crab boil. We’ll be doing a big pot of potatoes, carrots, onions, corn on the cob, and shrimp, it will be fantastic! Make this your Friday night dinner, date night if you want to. We do ask for an RSVP so we can get a count, because we don’t want anyone going hungry, you can do it via comment here, or our contact page, just give us the number of people, and do it before Friday, haha. Serving all night or until out of food 🙂 For the dinner we ask a $2 donation per person on arrival (remember to RSVP).

Saturday morning will be pancake breakfast just like last time, featuring  Buchanan’s Old Mill pancake mix, famous from the Uintah Basin. Serving between 8 and 10 am. No charge for the breakfast.

We’re going to introduce a few new things also, so be the first to see them.

Other Events –

June 23rd we will be in the Uintah Basin at Altamont showing off all our gear and speaking a little about our philosophy and training that we are working on. The location will be the LDS church on Main Street. We cannot sell anything on the church property but can meet offsite afterwords. We will have to some new products with us as well so come and see them.

We’d also like to do a “Show Me” like we’ve started doing around here, but in the Uintah Basin area. If any of you know of an available location please contact me perry@wildernessinnovation.com The ideal spot would have some trees spaced nicely for putting up tarps and hammocks and other shelter. We would like to do a dinner and a breakfast as well. So let us know.

Also we would like to do a “Show Me” in Southern Utah and in Southern Idaho, so any of you there, let us know about locations.

Remember to check the event calendar on the website to keep up with dates. Just so you know we are planning to have an event each month all year round, fun for all seasons.

The next Show Me is scheduled for July 27th and 28th, location to be determined, start voting, contact us here

For Wilderness Innovation, this is Perry Peacock, bringing “Simplifying Survival” to your neck of the woods!

 

We Have MultiCam Gear Available Now!!

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Everyone has been asking us for the past year if we are going do the PSS and PST in MultiCam, well we finally decided to go for it. We did a brief introduction at a recent show, and promptly sold out of everything we had, we’ve been making inventory since then and are now going to put it officially for sale. The camo pattern is great for just kicking around or hunting. The fabric is fantastic and top quality, very sturdy, yet reasonably light. We use the Ripstop for the PSS and PST, and the Cordura 1000d for all the bags and the FSK.  If you are a fan of Multicam you already know about it, regardless here’s a little info.

MultiCam was developed by Crye Precision for the purpose of making a camo that is more suited for all kinds of climates, terrain and conditions. The process was very intensive, involving checking out factors all over the world, looking at how light affects it, and how the brain works to process images. Eventually they started putting all these things together and came up with a complex image involving over 100 layers. It has been tested successfully since then all over the world.

According to Crye the objective for “the MultiCam® pattern was developed as an experiment to determine whether a single camouflage pattern could be effective in limiting the visual and near-IR signature of a person across a wider range of environments and seasons…. we decided good camouflage for where you are might be better than perfect camouflage for somewhere else.”

Several of the Key Points with MultiCam  are:

  • Takes on the Shades of the Surrounding Environment. We noticed when we got some fabric to start testing that when we used green trims the fabric looked more green and when we used tan or brown trims, the fabric took on those colors. It also tends to adapt well to varying lighting scenes.
  • Disguises Volume and Shape. Crye did a lot of research into the way the eye sees things and how the brain processes these images. The brain fills in lots of details not necessarily discerned by the eye. Taking advantage of these factors helped them produce a design that is able to blend into most surroundings. MultiCam tricks the brain into making the camo pattern seem like it is naturally part of the surroundings. And even though an object may be seen, it becomes somewhat indistinguishable and uninteresting to the observer and so it is not noticed readily.
  • Balances Scale and Contrast. Many patterns work well at a distance, MultiCam also works well close up, incredibly well in fact. Crye accomplished this by using more of a blending effect than the contrast used in many other camo patterns. The art of camouflage is mostly the ability to break up the look of persons or objects and to blur the outlines to make it less distinguishable. One of the significant problems is many times what works well at at distance is terribly obvious closer up. MultiCam uses smaller, low contrast, blended elements to vastly expand its effective range.

We will also have some additional products featuring the wonderful MultiCam pattern, so keep watching for more announcements.

Until next time this is Perry Peacock, for Wilderness Innovation, “Simplifying Survival”

Note: Bottom 4 pictures are courtesy of Crye Precision LLC

 

Our Show Me is today and Tomorrow

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MEMORIAL DAY HOLIDAY-remembering our dads who served our country, love you guys!!

Free Pancakes to all Saturday Morning

Don’t forget if you want to get out for a bit and are in or near Utah county, come to our Show Me event. We will have lots of our PST Tarps  set up in various ways as well as the multipurpose PSS set up as tarp, hammock and some to try on. Also practice making fire with our FSK featuring the Doan Magnesium fire starting tool. So if you would like just drop in this afternoon or evening, or tomorrow. You can see the gear in use, work with it yourself trying various configurations. This event is designed to allow people hands on in the outdoors trying out the gear.

You can come by for an hour or overnight if you want to.  Same deal both days.

Also Saturday morning we are serving pancakes to all comers, with Maple syrup or our Elderberry syrup.  The pancakes are the best ever, the treasured recipe from Buchanan Mills in Roosevelt Utah, those in the Uintah Basin all know this mix.

Time: 4 pm Today through 2 pm Tomorrow

Location: Maple Lake Campground, site #1 in Payson Canyon

RAIN or SHINE  why would weather be a factor?

To me this is a bit of a memorial to my dad Perry Dell Peacock who passed away in the past year, who all my life encouraged me to use my imagination and to do things, and was a great example to me, he served our great country as a pilot in the Air Force, in the FAA, and as a Beekeeper. Also a memorial of Shauna’s dad John Rollin Buchanan, who also served our country and was very active in his later years honoring the veterans. He and his brother owned a Feed Mill in Roosevelt, Utah, and as an offshoot business made and marketed their own pancake mix, made of the finest ingredients, thus the pancakes Saturday morning.

Until next time this is Perry Peacock, saluting our veterans and and fore-bearers this Memorial Day Holiday

 

Try all Our Gear and have Pancakes too!!

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This is a sort of spontaneous announcement, since it’s coming up this coming Friday and Saturday, but what the heck, if you have a few hours or even an overnight, come up and join us.

Here’s what’s going on; every piece of gear we have will be on display so you can see it, try it, play with it, etc. Wear the Poncho, set it up as a tarp or a hammock. Take a look at what you can do with both sizes of our PST’s (tarps), there are 29 set ups that we have come up with. Make fires with our FSK, the best fire starting kit anywhere!! See the bug net attachment for the PSS, even see some prototype stuff no one has seen yet. AND play with all of it.

Location: Maple Lake Campground up Payson Canyon, you can’t miss us.

Time: We’ll be there by 4 pm Friday and and will stay until about 2 pm Saturday. Come for all of it and camp over or come for a couple hours if you want to either day.

Meals: dinner is on your own, bring what you want. Breakfast – we will serve the best pancakes on the planet, from Buchanan Old Mill, my wife’s family started this many years ago at the foot of the Uintah mountains in Roosevelt, Utah, and some other complimentary items as well. Also I will steam up some nice fresh cattails from the lake for you to try if you would like to.

Activities: As mentioned above this is an opportunity to actually use all our gear, and ask questions, check it out fully, compare sizes, test different setups. Mainly we plan to have a blast!! So come on up. Also if you want and have your fishing license try your luck in the lake.

Until next time or until I see you at the “Show Me” this weekend, this is Perry Peacock, “Simplifying Survival”

PS look at our calendar of events on the web page, we’ve started roughing in an event every month for the next 12 months. You can even link the calendar to your own, so you automatically get all the updates, additions and changes.

News Update Radio Show Wed May 16

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Hey just a quick note and reminder, we are going to be on KHQN 1480 in Provo, UT tomorrow Wednesday May 16 at 12:00 noon. It is also available on the internet live, and is recorded for later viewing. The link below allows you to also ask questions live via the chat window.

www.Lawrence.UtahValleyLive.com (No longer Available)

We will have a special offer to those listening to the show tomorrow.

We will be talking about our philosophy, a training program, and a little in detail on some of our gear. Hope you can join live, and if not just listen later online.

Also Upcoming for those of you in the Uintah Basin we will be near Roosevelt in Altamont on Saturday June 23rd at 10am. I will be talking on my article “Circles of Priority” which is about common sense Survival and Preparedness, and a method of integrating the two in a simple manner. More info in a couple of weeks.

OH, one other note, we are now, soooo close to launching our Multicam gear, keep watching.

AND, OK here’s another thing, we will have the bug net add on for the PSS (Hammock, Poncho) shortly and some other fun add on’s as well.

Until next time this is Perry Peacock, “Simplifying Survival”

The Fire Starter

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This is a short story I wrote about my picture shown here. There is also a link at the end for a little “the rest of the story” information and personal thoughts. 

It was a cold day with signs of snow off in the distance. He wanders the frozen creek bottom looking for shelter and for materials to build a fire. He knows he needs a fire soon, having lost his gloves earlier after an accidental fall in an open area of the creek, which fall also partially soaked him.

This part of the country is pretty sparse for vegetation; some clumps of dry grass, a smattering of sage brush, and some trees dotting here and there.

The chill now penetrates him as an icy breeze begins to flow like an invisible river.  Urgently he seeks shelter along an eroded bank.

Quickly he collects some grass, a big handful of fine twigs, and a little strip of bark from some sage brush to make a fire starting bundle. There’s been a very light misty rain off and on most of the day, now though it is starting to freeze. Continuing he gathers small sticks, some branches, and other wood for the fire. Sensing the impending weather he decides to get the fire established at once, only then he will gather fuel for the night.

By now the velocity of the wind has increased somewhat, his hands now cold, fortune smiles as his fingers are not yet numb, his mind racing, he knows he must move quickly and efficiently. His fire lay is complete, twigs, sticks, and branches carefully stacked, with a cavity in the middle to allow him to insert his burning bundle when ready.

Taking out his Fire Starter Kit, he removes his Doan magnesium bar and some Concentrator Paper, five scrapes of magnesium onto the “C paper” square, he places this into the center of his tinder bundle, then turning his bar over to the spark rod he shaves a hot shower of sparks, the tiny magnesium shavings instantly turn white hot, igniting the C paper square, which in turn starts the bundle afire. When solidly burning he places the bundle in the cavity in the fire lay. Fire spreads quickly into the whole pile, but something is amiss, it begins to die out as rapidly as it began. The finer kindling had burned away before the sticks could start; a gnashing thought, he knows if he had just 15 more seconds it would have caught.

Feeling a bit disappointed he figures it’s time to start over. His mind wanders for a moment, imagining his cold fingers being warmed by the fire. Just as he’s about to leave and go gathering more starter materials, his eye catches hold on a tiny flicker way down in the kindling.

He immediately focuses all his attention, knowing there’s not much time, and that he must be gentle. He remembers a wad of dry hair roots in a baggie in his pocket collected earlier in the day. Placing these near the flame, but not so close as to smother it, he now fixes his eyes on the flame to monitor it, he lets it warm and heat the wad of roots till it bursts into flame, as it becomes fully engulfed he pulls sticks and twigs over, soon he has an engaging fire roaring.

Feeling the warmth of the blaze on his thawing fingers, nose and cheeks, a strange satisfaction comes as he notes the air has now filled with snowflakes falling gently to the earth, the sky has darkened with the setting sun, the fire now illuminates his surroundings.

He gathers a nice pile of fuel stacking it close by. He fashions a sort of windbreak around him of sage brush, then settles down in the midst of it all, cozy for the night. He is after all, “The Fire Starter.”

Click for “The Rest of this Story”

Thanks for reading this story, a compilation of my experiences.

Until next time this is Perry Peacock, “Simplifying Survival”

 

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