Emergency lighting and blackout preparedness - Part 1/3 - the keychain light (fenix e05ss and Nite Ize INOVA microlight)

In Singapore, power failures are exceptionally rare. The last time it happened, it affected only a small portion of Singapore it lasted at most 2 hours. That was more than a year ago. Blackouts are so rare and short in Singapore that there isn't much cause for worry even when it happens.

But it pays to have some standby lighting and torch lights around when blackouts occur. It is nice to be be able to carry on with life's daily activities during these scenarios. Most of the time, when a blackout occurs, it is due to some faulty equipment tripping the circuit breaker. This is an easy fix. Removing the culprit and resetting the circuit breaker would do the trick. However, if it was a bigger issue affecting the entire neighbourhood, the fault may only be rectified by the authorities, and you will be left with no choice but to wait while work is being done.

I would like to introduce you to the concept of having emergency lighting. When preparing torch lights and lanterns for this purpose, it is important to choose wisely as most batteries will fail even before the next blackout happens and torches will go missing or kept in places that are difficult to find in the dark. That would be terrible.

Keychain Light:

Firstly, it is important to have a small reliable torch with you or within easy reach. One of this example would be a keychain light. In other countries such as the USA, this type of lighting is often referred to as the Everyday Carry (EDC) light.

A good candidate for a keychain light should possess the following qualities:
- Small and light enough to keep on a keychain (either running on coin sized batteries or single AA/AAA)
- Some way of preventing accidentally turned on while in a bag or pocket (preferably uses a turning action to activate than a button)
- Can stay lighted without having to continuously press it (constant-on mode for hands-free operation)
- Uses batteries that have really long shelf life (lithium batteries are best as they have a shelf life of 10 years and more when left alone)

One good example is the Fenix E05SS. I've used it for many occasions for other purposes due to its high brightness of 85 lumens. Who cares even if it is specified to last only 45min on high setting. Most of the time, I only need it for a maximum of 5 mins.

Its performance exceeds what I require of such a light and it doubles up as a mini work light as I work on my car.

Given its small size, I am impressed that it has the ability to maintain the same brightness while the battery discharges. This extends its usable time on a single AAA battery. Personally, I rather the light remains constantly bright instead of leaving me with a long duration of low light as the battery is used up.

Another good option is the Nite Ize Inova Microlight. It meets all my requirements. You might point out that it uses a button and may get turned on accidentally. True enough, I had mine turn on in my bag and only noticed it when I took out my keychain later in the day. By then, the batteries are almost drained. I would recommend this only if you intend to hang in on your bag, or keep it somewhere visible so that it is easy to see if it was turned on.

The Inova Microlight is a small, flat LED light that has 3 modes - high, low and flashing (in that sequence). Practically, I use the high mode most of the time and I was really glad I carried this with me before I had my Fenix E05SS. Once, I had to walk through an unlit underpass in uber-urban Orchard road and needed some light to see the stairs. No one else used it other than my friend and I.

You'll never know when you need to be self-sufficient in this aspect. Lighting and electricity may be in abundance in the city state of Singapore, but you can never be too careful.


While the keychain light can be very useful, it is not the end all, be all light. The next lighting category I will discuss is the workhorse torch that is brighter, longer lasting and made for more light-intensive purposes.

Meguiars Lens Correction Kit review and 1 year update

My family's 9 year old Toyota Wish has headlamps that are turning rather yellowish and blurry due to its age. It seemed to be a common problem with most cars of this age as the clear plastic headlamps deteriorate due to exposure to heat, UV rays and contaminants from the years of usage.

At 9 years old, the car would have 1 year of life left before the expiration of its Certificate of Entitlement (COE), the dreaded expensive piece of paper that bestows the car a regulated lifespan in Singapore. With the COE and car prices going up and up in the recent years, it makes sense to extend your car's statutory lifespan rather than to buy a new car. I tested a few Japanese cars and frankly, it does not seem like much of an improvement from my 9 year old trusty Toyota Wish. In comparison, the new Toyota Wish is upwards of $130,000, that is a lot of money to part with for little noticeable improvement compared to an old car!

European cars have generally benefited from their fuel efficient turbo-mated engines, while Japanese cars have insisted on their humble Naturally Aspirated tradition, which translate to lower power and efficiency. So, my family decided to extend the car's COE.

One of the pressing issues was to restore the headlamps' usability as a blurry headlamp results in lower transmission of light and diffused focusing. We considered sending the car to a workshop to replace the entire headlamp assembly but it was expensive and the workshop was not confident in being able to procure the same headlamp for my car.

Instead, I bought the Meguiar's Lens Correction Kit. It is a small self contained do-it-yourself kit that is said to restore yellowish and blurry headlamps. It did not require any power tools, which meant that elbow grease was needed. Using the kit, it took me 1 hour to go through the 4 sanding pads provided. It was hard work, I tell ya.

But at least, it worked. It looked as though it was a new lens! Was gushing with pride as I took a before-and-after picture of my car.

Sadly, the joy lasted only a year. Now, my headlamps was starting to turn yellow and blurry from being exposed to the elements and I have to use the kit again. Honestly, 1 year is too fast to get blurry. The clean, sanded plastic had lacked a protective layer that seals it from the air.

The next time I will try out another method I saw on youtube, involving the use of cheap paint lacquer to help smooth out the lens and coat it with a protective layer.

Until next time!

Alternative fuels for the simple solid fuel stove (Charcoal firestarter)

I had a box of fire starters lying around and the thought occurred to me that this may serve as a good alternative fuel for my solid fuel stove. These are generic fire starters that can be easily obtained in most supermarkets and cost about $1.40 for a box of 40 cylindrical fire starters.

 

They are made out of two layers, the top consisting of a thin bedding of cotton fibers dyed with red (wax?) that catches fire easily while the bottom layer is made out of compressed fine wood shavings.

When used as a what is intended to, a single cylinder of fire starter will take about 10 minutes to properly light up enough charcoal for a small sized barbecue pit. The way you stack up the charcoal should allow enough air for effective combustion and to make sure most, if not all the charcoal are directly on top of the flame. I shall talk about stacking methods another time.

 

I like the fact that these generic fire starters light up easily with a match, unlike the solid fuel . Just hold the match near to the sides of the red tinder layer and off it goes! 

Using my Trangia 0.9l kettle, I wanted to test if a single fire starter is sufficient to boil the kettle of water. Unfortunately, it could not and I had to add another piece of fire starter. By then, almost 15min had elapsed. The flame also produced a very thick layer of soot underneath the kettle, in the same way solid fuel does.

 

Even the 2nd fire stater did not get the water to boil. By the time bubbles were forming at the bottom of the kettle, the fire starter was extinguished.

 

Hey, I still needed hot water, so I decided to supplemented the stove with some small chunks of solid fuel. After a short minute or two, the water reached a good rolling boil. The flame from the solid fuel is a lot less smokey and seemed to burn a lot hotter than the fire starter.

By now, the kettle is so sooty that I could scratch out my name on the sidewalls. Soot and smoke is an indication that the flame is not efficient, leaving behind fuel in the form of smoke and soot in the process.

 Not only that, the fire starters left behind a huge pile of ash, which is yet more unburnt fuel.
 

In a pinch, it is possible to use fire starters as an alternative to solid fuel, but be prepared to use more fire starters to accomplish the same task and be patient.

 

It is not an efficient burn. But it may be due to the fact that the composition of the fire starter may be more suitable for starting charcoal because as the charcoal heats up, it reflects heat back onto the fire starter, possibly reaching a high enough temperature to ignite the smoke from the fire starter, which is why the smoke from a fire starter disappears after a while when used to light up charcoal.

Price wise, solid fuel (sometimes known as hexamine blocks or Esbit cubes) can be rather expensive in other countries, which makes sense to use alternative fuels for lightweight camping needs. In Singapore, solid fuel is a very low cost camping fuel as it is a standard issue in the army ration pack. Given the economy of scale, a box of 8 large solid fuel blocks sells for as little as $1.40.

5 Must Have Items to Bring to Camp Growl - Ex Wallaby 2015

So, I returned from a 16-day reservist in Australia for Ex Wallaby this year. This was a rather different experience my previous trip there almost a decade ago since it was a really long time ago too!

Now that I am back in the comforts of my own home and writing my blog, it would be great for me to pen down my own thoughts about my accommodation in Camp Growl and share some thoughts about how to make your stay in this faraway camp a little more comfortable...

... Because the last time I was there, I did not expect myself to be heading there again in my entire life and did not write a small note to remind myself of how I could have made my stay better

Really, its the extra items aren't in the packing list that can greatly improve your experience in Camp Growl!

1. Pre-paid SIM card / Data Roaming Add-on

Being someone who checks emails, messages and social media umpteen times a day, it is quite difficult to truly put aside my mobile phone for 2-3 weeks. I suspect you'll feel the same too. There are several ways to stay connected to your loved ones at home.

Check your mobile provider for roaming data plans for Australia. For my trip, I found that Singtel had an offer for a monthly 1GB plan for a small price of $10. This 1GB is probably enough since there is limited time to surf data intensive apps such as youtube. Alternatively, you can choose to buy a prepaid mobile SIM card from Telstra or Optus.

But wait, you should know that you are in a forested area and mobile signal will be non-existent most of the time. You may need to ask around to know where are the best spots to receive the signals. Really then, the only time you will be able to use your phone is when you are out in town for R&R.

Some people would decide give up on using the mobile phone altogether during their time in Camp Growl. But fear not, that doesn't mean that all is lost. The camp has kindly provided an internet cafe or sorts, albeit with limited number of computers and slow internet speed, you may not always get a chance at the computers. There are more than adequate phones (wired ones, mind you) that allow the use of IDD calling cards and they are often vacant. I suspect that not many people would use the phones due to the lack of privacy and the fact that thats not how we roll anymore.

2. Power and Electricity - a big ass powerbank, multi head adapter and an Australian power adapter

Electrical energy is probably one of the most valued commodity by Camp Growl residents. Although electricity is abundant in the camp, they aren't available for your use!

Despite the lack of mobile signal, your phone or entertainment device is going to well used while you wait for time to pass. Unless you are extremely extroverted and can talk with your bunkmates for hours, it is seriously boring in Camp Growl!

A decent sized powerbank can let you charge your phone conveniently by your safari bedside as you would at home. Lying on the bed and playing games on your phone is one of the greatest luxuries you can have in the camp down under. For me, I brought my Xiaomi 16000mAh powerbeast. Its huge capacity means that I could charge my phone at least several times before the powerbank is depleted. Another nice feature is that it can pull in up to 2.0A of electrical current to charge up its huge ass batteries, making it possible to charge it back up in approximately 7 hours. It isn't exactly the fastest charging but it is rather fast for such a huge powerbank. Just make sure that your charger is capable of delivering such high current!

Whoa wait! Where do we charge our phones bruh? The only place to charge your devices is at the canteen. If you are lucky, you may get a free socket to charge from. Usually, it is full because the times when most people are free are also the times that you are free. One way to guarantee your access to a bring a multi head adapter or extension. It is worth the extra weight.

3. Daiso Heat Packs!

The daily temperature cycle in Camp Growl can be rather drastic. It can get really cold in the night and excruciatingly hot after sunrise. You'll need to prepare for that if you are going during Aug - early Oct. The temperature changes are less drastic as Australia approaches a full blown summer from early Nov-Dec.

Occasional drizzles and wind will add further chill factor to the already cold nights.

There is not much you can do if you were out in the forest for an exercise, however, if you are fortunate enough to be resting in camp, you can bring heat packs from Daiso to keep your sleeping bag warm and comfortable. These heat packs from Daiso come in 2 versions, one with an adhesive (body warmer) and another without (hand warmer).

I found them very value for money as no other brands so much as 6 hand warmer sachets for $2. They are said to last 8 hours and you can pause the heat production midway by simply putting the opened heat pack into a ziplock bag and wait till the remaining air inside the bag is used up.

To be safe, allocate 1 heat pack for every night. Having a heat pack inside your standard issue sleeping bag will keep you warm and toasty even in the coldest of Wallaby nights. 

4. Sunscreen lotion

This may or may not be inside your packing list. But sunscreen lotion is an absolute necessity in the UV bathed Australia. Unless you want to be on KFC's extra crispy meal, apply your sunscreen generously!

5. Detergent, clothes hangers and pegs

These are easily forgotten from most packing lists. Mine did not state the need to bring any! Luckily, the old birds were kind enough to inform us newbies to pack some. The need for detergent is self-explanatory. Washing clothes inside the toilet while being completely naked is a very normal thing. Having detergent helps to clean your clothes the way your parents expect them to be. But do refrain from using too much as the soap suds will form considerably and will require several rinses before your clothes are free from detergent.

It is easy to wash clothes and dry them quickly thanks to the extremely dry wind and strong mid-day heat. At the same time, it is also easy to lose your clothing to the wind if it is not properly secured. Having clothes hangers and pegs will prevent the need to be overly creative about where you can secure your clothes to.

Mosquito coil holder for camping and more

One of my pet peeves about going outdoors is the presence of mosquitoes. These pesky bloodsucker not only annoy and cause itch, they also carry diseases that can seriously ruin the picturesque vacation that you had been planning for so long.

There are many insect repellent products out there. So many brands of mosquito patches and sprays that promises hours of protection but they don't always seem to work well. Sometimes, a hot afternoon in the outdoors will have the spray washed off by your perspiration. Mosquito patches offer only a localized effect depending where exactly you stick them on.

There are times I wished I brought insecticide instead of the mild mosquito spray. To be fair, I really like the army insect repellent in the green tube. It had worked the best so far but it is quite harsh on the skin and gives a burning sensation when applied to more sensitive areas such as the neck. Hell, it even melted the plastic off my old Nokia phone. Definitely not something I will wanna use too often.

Yep, you can even hook it on your jeans

In comes mosquito coils. We generally picture these smouldering by a corner of a room or beside a tent to help drive away irritating bugs. No one will be daft enough to want to light one up and carry around with them. But wait, it is possible to carry a lighted mosquito coil around with you if you use a mosquito coil holder. It not only keeps the smouldering coil away from contact, it also stores the ash within the holder.

 

Just in case you didn't know how to use it

This is how it is. An inner mesh that keeps the smouldering coil from touching the metal parts of the holder.

 Many uses for this little thing

 To separate the the two pieces, you first unhinge the clip.

 And then turn the top piece till the arrow lines up with the notch to release the top piece

After you separate the pieces, the mosquito coil goes between the two nylon mesh which holds it in place. 

You will have to light it up before you place it between the mesh

 

Here is a close up of the nylon mesh. I presume they it should be able to resist disintegrating due to the heat from the smouldering coil.

 

Tada, an enclosure that keeps the hot part fairly secure. The locking mechanism is easy to use and sturdy. It won't pop loose and have the mosquito coil burn you.

Here is a simple hook that you can clip to your belt or hang it on another hook.

I can foresee using this mosquito coil in many instances and I will definitely bring it out on my next vacation.

My first encounter with the Feather Hi-Stainless shaving blade

I have heard much about the legendary Feather blade since I started shaving with a traditional safety razor.

The reason why I deviated from the typical cartridge razor in the first place was due the high cost of these typical multi-blade cartridge refills as well as the promise of a better shave from a traditional safety razor. These reasons still hold true today, especially with regards to the cost. While some people from online forums end up splurging on exquisite shaving gear, I have stuck to my very first $2 Rimei brand razor that I bought several years ago.

While razors itself can be expensive depending on what brand you go for, razor blades are typically rather cheap and they do not typically go beyond $2 for a pack of 5 blades. A single pack will last me 2.5months on the very least.

In Singapore, you can get a good selection of razor blades from several shopping centres and shops are Little India, which was what I had been doing for a while. But the Feather was not among these blades. According to local safety razor aficionados, the Feather is only available at Golden Mile shopping centre, which is not the most accessible of places because it was a distance from nearby MRT stations. I got mine for $1.80 for a pack of 5, which was pretty reasonable and comparable to the price of other blades in my possession.

Nevertheless, it was time to try out the legendary Japanese made Feather blade. Some say that beginners should avoid while some regular shavers lament about how unforgiving the blade is when complacency sets in.

When I took the blade out of the pack, it immediately felt higher quality than the other blades I have. Each blade was enclosed in a quality cellulose wrap and quite a bit of glue was used to stick keep the wrap from unwrapping itself. Moreover, the blade and its wrap seemed thinner than others, but I could be wrong.
  
On my first with-the-grain pass, I was weirdly surprised that it felt as if there was no blade inside my razor. Even the typical "shaving" sounds was eerily missing. But a quick check revealed that a significant amount of hair was removed on a single stroke, which was nice. Other than that, my subsequent cross-grain and against-the-grain passes experience was rather typical.

Honestly, I expected the blade to do wonders after hearing so much hype about it. Maybe my facial hair isn't thick enough to appreciate the full goodness of the Feather blade. After all, most 'low-end' blades considered by most forumers seemed to work rather well for me with little discernible differences between the more expensive blades.

Nevertheless, the Feather is a good blade and it relatively inexpensive too. But, will I purposely make the trip to Golden Mile to buy it? Not really, but if I see it, I will get it.

Edit: I just had my 2nd shave using the Feather and here is where it started to shine. It required lesser number of repeated strokes compared to other blades I have used and achieved almost no irritation at my neck area even with an alcohol aftershave. Having said that, I did take extra care and slowed down my pace during this shave.

A picnic at Lazarus Island

My first visit to the southern islands was several years ago and I had been yearning to to visit the southern islands of Singapore since then. The 3 most accessible islands are St. John's, Lazarus and Kusu island.

The special thing about these islands is that they are beautifully quiet and scenic without massive weekend crowds at most beaches in mainland Singapore.

Not many people go there because it is that it is not particularly convenient to get there. It is now a lot more convenient with the new Marina South Pier MRT station that leads right to the pier, but some planning is required as the ferries leave every 2 hourly takes some time to loop from mainland to St. John's, to Kusu and then back to mainland. A return trip ticket is slightly at the expensive side of $18.

In addition, there are no touristy shops or eateries at those islands as you although we did see a sign pointing to a cafeteria at St.John's island. After all, it is home to the Tropical Marine Science Institute and Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore's Marine Aquaculture Centre. In essence, you have to take along with you everything that you will need on your trip there.

Here's what I brought for my trip:

1) A picnic mat
2) A cooler box
3) Lunch - a packet of Swiss Deli Rosti, Norwegian smoked salmon, sour cream and some pepper
4) Tea - a mixture of lavender and chrysanthemum flowers
5) Some nice cold yoghurt
6) Pre-washed salad mix
7) Trangia 25-4 Alcohol stove kit
8) 500ml of Methanol fuel

There are several beaches to choose from. You can choose one that overlooks the city skyline or one that faces the vast ocean. It is amazing to see yachts coming close to the shoreline and partying. Talk about exclusivity man.

We chose to sit at one that overlooked the vast openness and started boiling ourselves some tea using the Trangia. It was windy and the fuel usage was a lot more than what I am used to when playing with the stove at home. Thankfully, I brought more than enough fuel and the integrated windshield worked well in giving me usable heat for boiling the water. Honestly, while tea was good, I couldn't help feel that an ice cold beer would satisfy me so much more in such intense heat.

Unfortunately, we did not take too many pictures while we were there. Here is a nice aerial video that someone has uploaded to youtube. It really is a beautiful place.

Cooking rice with the Trangia 25-4 using solid fuel (hexi / esbit tablets)

Ok, this blog post is sort of a two in one post where I will talk about cooking rice using the Trangia 25-4 as well as the use of solid fuel instead of the regular alcohol burner.

Most outdoor people use their camping stove to cook food that is easy to prepare and fast. They do so for good reasons such as to beat an intense hunger from a long day's hike and daylight is diminishing fast. In Singapore, there is hardly any need to do so because scenic outdoor spots are a stone's throw away from delicious eateries, with the exception of places like Pulau Ubin and the southern islands.

The impetus of this write up is due the fact that my girlfriend dislikes eating canned food, but I like the idea of having a meal while watching a beautiful sunset surrounded by nature. To harmonize these two conditions, I have been trying out cooking proper food using my outdoor equipment while still in the comforts of my own home.

I read much about the cooking ability of the Trangia and wanted to try out cooking something proper. Being Chinese, rice is a staple food for us and it provides a good amount of carbohydrate. However, cooking rice properly without turning it into mush or burning it can be quite an art that not all dedicated rice cookers can attain.

The Trangia, with its ability to simmer to a near boil, comes in very helpful in helping the rice cook and absorb water without burning it. The simmer ring and its functions had been tried and tested many times by the good people of the interwebs. So, I wanted to give myself a little more of challenge and tried out using an alternative fuel.

I brought out the ubiquitous solid fuel (otherwise known as "esbit" or "hexi" tablets in the western world) that we use in the army. Unlike methanol, it is easy to obtain solid fuel at most army surplus or camping shops. The standard 8-tablet box that the Singapore Army uses and it is cheap to buy at about $1.40 per box.

Being solid, the fuel is easy to store and carry around. In addition, it is easy to distinguish between fuel and food. Methanol, or denatured alcohols are toxic but not unpleasant enough to warn people of it by itself. Moreover, it is not easy to obtain cheap denatured alcohols in Singapore anyway.

Ok, enough introduction. Let's get down to using solid fuel on a Trangia to cook plain rice!

A standard sized jelly mound for holding solid fuel

Firstly, Trangia sells an attachment for gel and solid fuel. I thought it would be strange to insist on buying an original cup just so it fits in the holder. So instead, I bought a cheap aluminum jelly mound from NTUC Fairprice to hold the solid fuel.

There is no special instruction to cooking rice. This would be the amount of water I mix with my rice if it was to be cooked in a rice cooker.

 

The Trangia cooking rice in complete silence. Note that the bowl was left open only for picture taking. I covered the bowl with the included frying pan soon after taking the picture.

Once the water starts boiling, I lowered the heat output by restricting air flow to the solid fuel. For simplicity, I used a piece of aluminum foil and it worked perfectly. It was able to slow down the burn of the solid fuel, keep the rice at near boiling point.

 

After about 30mins, the rice was cooked. One of my testers commented that it tasted normal. This was high praise for the Trangia.

 

The rice was slightly burnt at the spot where the flame is present. Thinking back, I should have taken the bowl off the flame once the rice had fluffed up but still slightly wet.

 

In simmer mode, the burn of the solid fuel was slow and efficient. I used less than 1 piece of solid fuel, leaving about 1/4 to spare for my next use. I was extremely skeptical when someone claimed that it was possible for a solid fuel cube to burn 30-40mins as previous experience suggest that it lasts 15-20mins per cube but looks like it is possible.

 

As expected, solid fuel does burn dirtily. In simmer mode, the amount of soot is noticeably lesser than a tablet exposed fully to air.

So, yes it is possible to use solid fuel to a high degree of control just like alcohol in a Trangia. The fully integrated windscreen design also makes it very efficient. The cost of cooking rice for 3 persons works out to be about 20cents (I bought a packet of 8 cubes for $1.40).

This will be a great addition to my picnic outings.

Have fun!

My Trangia 25-4 Camping Stove Kit

 The Trangia when fully deployed

I took a long time to consider buying this cooking stove set because, at $130, it is significantly more expensive than the other backpacking stoves I've got. My Campingaz Bluet was $25 and my solid fuel stove was a very affordable $2. To me, if an equipment is too expensive, I tend not to bring it out with me as I do not want to damage a beautifully designed and well made item.

The Trangia 25-4 is the bigger of the 3 sets and meant for cooking for 3-4 persons. The 27 series is for 1-2 persons while the Mini is adequate for 1.

Mmm... Cooking instant noodles is a breeze and you can fit the entire block of noodles inside without having to break it into smaller chunks. This packet of Korean Kimchi noodles is one of the bigger instant noodle packets and require longer time to cook to soften the noodles adequately.

The Trangia makes short work of this. I thought that it would turn this instant supper into a long wait but it was just as fast as my kitchen stove (any faster and its just wastefully boiling the soup away). Its easy to eat directly out of the pot, reducing the number of bowls to wash.

Well, unlike my other stoves, the Trangia 25-4 is a full self-contained set compete with a non-stick pan, bowls, kettle, windshield and alcohol stove. Being a set, it all nests together into the size of a bowl and fits well in a backpack. Being a non-pressurized alcohol stove, it is a little disadvantaged in terms of heating power compared to gas stoves and petroleum based (e.g. kerosene, white gas, petrol, etc.) liquid fuel stoves. Nevertheless, the designers have taken care of many aspects to overcomes its shortcomings and made it a particularly efficient and reliable stove.


The stove itself is a brass container to hold and burn the fuel. It burns methanol, ethanol (most recommended) and propanol (not recommended due to its sooty burn). Methanol and ethanol burns very cleanly and quietly. Its simple design means that there are very little that can go wrong with it when you are out in the wilderness. Despite its simplicity, it is still possible to control the flame up via a simmer ring which limits the rate of burn. Opening up the possibility of cooking more complex and delicious meals while you enjoy the sunset

For efficiency, the stove has little holes near its circumference. When the burner is hot enough, alcohol evaporates through those holes, forming a fire "bloom" similar to kitchen stoves, allowing of a better mixing of air and fuel for a leaner, more efficient burn. A blue flame is a hot flame. Yellow flame, not so good.

For reliability, the windshield is part of the whole stove set, greatly reducing loss of heat from the wind. In addition, it keeps the wind from blowing out the stove and forces hot air to travel up the sides of the pot before it escapes the stove. Another nice feature is that the stove itself is kept off the ground, minimizing heat loss and, lowers the chances of melting the snow beneath should it be used during winter time.

Just for fun, I used a tealight candle to heat up water, which explains the warm glow from the sides. It too was really slow, but I was surprised that it got hot enough for making coffee. Reaffirming the setup's high efficiency.

All these add up to form a very versatile, reliable and efficient stove for outdoor recreational use. For me, firing it up at a picnic would really open up a whole of food choices beyond prepacked sandwiches and pastries. The last time I went for a picnic, we had nice cakes, sandwiches and a thermos flask of mushroom soup. While it was nice, we couldn't help but envy the neighbouring picnickers who had a small disposable barbeque pit going on.

Unfortunately, like all things, it too has its weaknesses. First off, the stove is not particularly light and it can be an overkill for short hikes. Secondly, denatured alcohols or methanol is not easy to find in Singapore as people here have very little use for these. Pharmacies sell a small palm sized bottles for around $5 and some Home-Fix outlets sells a 500ml bottle for $3.50.

A small bottle of methanol that I bring along my stove. I have not tested how many meals I can get out of this.

About the fuel, methanol or denatured alcohol (methanol mixed with ethanol) is very unlike other obnoxious fuels such as kerosene or petrol. Alcohols typically smell pleasant and is said to taste sweet but it is just as poisonous as other fuels when consumed. Always use suitable containers and make sure that it is labelled clearly so that you and others do not mistake it as your booze stash. Consuming a small amount of methanol can cause blindness and subsequent death. If used correctly, its an extremely clean burning fuel that is easy to light up and dependable enough to work even in very low temperatures.

Making Chrysanthemum tea

Chrysanthemum tea is probably one of the most common drink available at most Chinese restaurants. It is a light drink enjoyed over long hearty meals or simply over a conversation at tea time.

Preparation of Chrysanthemum tea requires about 45minutes of boiling dried Chrysanthemum flowers, sweetened to taste at the last phase of the boiling.

Also, its great fun to fire up the old school kerosene stove for this purpose. I rarely have any use for the kerosene stove due to the hassle of priming the generator tube, to vaporize kerosene fluid into gas as it leaves the nozzle, for an efficient, controllable burn. Otherwise, if its not hot enough, kerosene will shoot out as a liquid and create a fireball until the generator is finally up to temperature.

It turns out that I used 50ml of kerosene for this task and I find that it is easier to control the flame on this old school kerosene stove than a typical kitchen stove as the burner head is smaller. The flame will easily go off on a bigger kitchen stove if it is turned down too low.

It cost me 35 cents of fuel to make about 5 cups of home made Chrysanthemum tea. I did some math and found that using my home LPG gas will cost me 1/3 the price. Nevertheless, I like the fact that the kerosene stove can reasonably cook up something in the outdoors.

A Tommy Stove (a simple solid fuel stove)

  My $2.00 "Tommy" Stove and solid fuel

I've got this little lightweight fold-out stove from a neighborhood outdoor supplies shop at a very affordable price of $2.00.

Now, I've been fairly used to the fact that most quality camping equipment are on the expensive side due to the amount of thought put in to make it fit for the purpose of camping. On the other hand, cheaper products tend to disappoint me when its put to the test and would likely last a few uses before breaking. I once bought a brandless headlamp to use for a camping trip thinking that I should not be spending too much since I rarely camped. The cheap headlamp was dim to start out with and broke even before the trip itself, while my old Fenix L2D worked just fine.

The question is, will the inexpensive Tommy Stove actually be useful outdoors or is it just a novelty?

The stove can accommodate small mess mugs with this setting. Note that, at this angle, the metal tabs may bend under stress if the weight is too much to take.

The stove is a simple stamped metal that unfolds to form the supports for a pot stand and a place to put the solid fuel. By doing so, it gives a gap between the solid fuel and the stove such that it is near enough to absorb the heat produced while being far enough to let the fuel burn sufficiently before it hits and cool down at the pot surface, forming excessive amount of soot and residue. The elegance of this kind of outdoor stove and fuel is that it is so simple that there is hardly any way for it to malfunction, unlike other more sophisticated gas and pressurized liquid fuel stoves.

Use this setting for maximum support for bigger and heavier pots.

About the fuel itself, it is a white crumbly solid that comes in small cubes. In Singapore, it is prevalent and cheap as it is used by the local army. I first came across solid fuel during my national service days as part of our outfield ration package. A stove, however, was not provided.

The army style of using those solid fuel tablets is by digging a small hole in the ground, light up a piece of fuel and put our mess tin above the hole. Honestly, I had never once used solid fuel during my outfield days because the ration packs were good to eat cold and no one could be bothered with the extra step of cooking. After all, we were then in Basic Military Training and the most coveted luxury was sleep.

The size of the stove can keep a standard "BIC' type lighter and a maximum of 8 army-size solid fuel tablets. This is convenient to as this is all you need to start the stove up and it is one complete package and this will easily fit inside a army style mess tin set together with a packet of instant noodles. 

While a stove was not always necessary for solid fuel usage, it is a really convenient thing to have should you not want to dig holes and it keeps the fuel tablet from the ground that may be wet.


Oh yes, I've found this splendid online shop selling these at Army Market:
Tommy Cooker Stove @ $1.40
8x solid fuel tablets @ $1.40