just found a few paperback book sized sheets of 1/8 balsa wood in the basement and with a bit of ducttape fashioned them into a 2oz stovebard for my old styal XKG - is this a terrible idea, not sure of the properties of Balsa wood but was planning on covering the top with reflective heat resistant tape

Robert, that is about what I was trying to do 30 years ago. The duct tape may scorch. The weight of all of those tapes may add up.

For really light weight, I used cardboard covered with aluminum foil and tiny pieces of duct tape. That works for a while. A piece of Masonite works pretty good, also.

It kind of depends on what you are trying to accomplish. For summer use, you probably don't really need any board underneath the burner, or a piece of aluminum foil at most. For winter snow, the Masonite works, but you only need about 6"x6", and then cover it with aluminum foil. Basically, that is just to keep the burner from melting its way down into the snow.

--B.G.--

thanks, the tape melted a little under a layer of tin foil. I think I'm going to cover the top in a layer of Al tape and call it good with the bottom windscreen - looking for something for when I'm camping in deep snow this winter.
weight is 2oz with the ductape and foil and fold up to the size of a paperback

Edited by nanookofthenorth on 09/05/2010 23:28:08 MDT.

What is it that you are calling the bottom windscreen?

I don't know if your stove is exactly the same as mine (I've had about a half-dozen MSRs). The heavy foil piece that goes all the way around the cook pot is the windscreen, and its job is to keep most of the wind off, and to keep most of the heat close to the cook pot. The smaller circular piece with the circular hole in the center is a heat reflector, and it goes just below the cook pot support wires and just a little down on the burner. Its job is to keep most of the burner heat going up against the cook pot, and not going down into the ground or the snow or the Masonite. Without it, the stove is slightly less efficient, and it tends to either catch grass on fire or melt its way down into winter snow.

--B.G.--

sorry that should read heat reflector

Yes, definitely a 'stove board'.
I use a bit of thin 3-ply, well-varnished. Big enough to support the stove legs, but not much bigger. Weight: 45 g (1.59z). Lasts for years (due to the PU varnish).


Cheers

Edited by rcaffin on 09/06/2010 04:04:04 MDT.

I use a small piece of 2mm thick plywood and use strips to secure the legs on my Omnifuel. Here is how it looked like when it was new:

Edited by osaether on 09/06/2010 05:28:02 MDT.

Ole, great stove board. Now I'd round off those corners a lot to prtotect other gear,stuffsacks and your pack.

I used to use a similar but much smaller board for my SVEA 123. It had aluinum tabs to hold the stovein place.

Now I use a commercial plastic "board" by MSR for my Dragonfly in winter camping (the only time I use the Dragonfly). It uses two elastic bands to secure the fuel bottle but I prefer your Velcro strap solution.

Hi folks,

My apologies for doing a "Lazarus" on this thread but I just stumbled across this thread and was wondering is this something folks normally carry when Winter camping.

I have never come across them before except on TV where folk where using them to cook in tents.

Cheers,

Stephen

When using my alcohol stove, I just make a platform with thumb-sized sticks laid side-by-side. I cover that with my usual 2-layer aluminum foil reflector.

Edited by AndyF on 12/04/2011 13:00:29 MST.

Cheers Andy,

I usually just use a square of closed cell foam. I wrap the foam in duct tape. Yeah, you could melt the duct tape, but I've had very few problems. The only real problem was when I overprimed a stove and some fuel got into the foam. Had to replace that square.

HJ
Adventures in Stoving