Review: King's Adventure Stove

 During the opening rounds of Covid lockdowns in the summer months of 2020 it occurred to me that disruptions might linger on till at least winter. Though I live in a temperate city, which rarely dips below freezing, I wanted to ensure I had a source of heating for both warmth and cooking that was off-grid. I have a variety of BBQ's both charcoal and LPG (I also acquired spare LPG cylinders). At the time
I even had a cast iron wood-stove I was restoring. I had seen portable wood stoves for ages and even camped near some on occasion and thought they would suit my projected need quite nicely. Bigger than a backpack pot-stove but not as big as one of my kettle BBQ's or the cast iron one. I wanted something I could use to burn household and reclaimed timber if needs be, more so than logs and branches that an open-fire pit might be used for. Portability was also an important consideration.  

The ads I'd been seeing pointed me towards https://www.4wdsupacentre.com.au/ which seemed to be a reliable source for robust camping kit. Kings Premium Camp Oven Stove | Wood-Fired BBQ | Enclosed Firepit | Steel Construction | For Camping or Backyard Use - 4WD Supacentre

It seems the particular model I chose is out of production and the current models are square sided, rather than rounded, but this plays very little part in its utility as a camp-stove. 

The curved sides of the stove feature a welded bar on one side, acting as a hanger for tea-towels, tongs of what have-you, for drying and keeping out of the dirt and off the stove itself. It also acts as a barrir to stop things touching the hot sides of the stove. 

 

Stove pipe sections all fit inside the stove for transport and storage. 

On the other side of the stove a similar bar forms a hinged handle for carryig the stove, briefcase style (before setting up). It could also be used for hanging things, but more care needs to bwe taken as its stand-off distance from the belly of the tove is far less than the fixed bar on the other side.  

The three legs of the stove are hinged and fold flush to the belly when in transit, held in place with pins, each with their own retaining chain. The legs each have a round foot, each with a couple of holes drilled through for tent pegs to secure the stove in place. 

The legs, once unfolded, are held in place by those same retaining pins as used for storage. The rigid stove-pipe sections are easily fitted to the stove-body, which features a small section proud of the cook-top for ease of mounting. Its worth noting that one section of pipe features a flue control valve, just a simple spinning disk on a rod that can be angled to choke down the fire as needed.  The five stove-pipe sections do not feature a spark arrestor, or an end-cap, but it has been easy enough to make one with a re-purposed soup-can and a couple of tent pegs. With all five pipes connected the whole stove tops out at 2.45m (~8'), which puts smoke well out of the way, but well worth staking the feet to avoid any tippage. The stove top measures  45 x 24 cm (1'5" x 9 3/4") and has a trio of divots pressed in for rigidity, as well as a 15 cm (3") diameter removable burner lid, with retaining notches and a recess for a hook to pull it off the fire. 

The door is a simple circle, hinged on one side, with a notched latch to secure the fire closed, or cracked open for air-flow. 

The door is also 15 cm (3") diameter, which along with the internal length of the stove at 43cm (17") or so, limits the sice of the wood it is loaded with, but not unreasonably so. A small curved ash-lip is also provided, and slots in under the door to catch and embers that spill whilst filling or stoking the fire. It also provides a nice rest for roasting foods on a stick, in the stove. 

With the burner lid off you can get quite a a roarimg fire going, especially good once the fuel has all caught and the flue is drawing any smoke through. This lets you build a good bed of coals to cook with. You - could- cook directly on the stove top as the bare metal gets quite hot, but I prefer to put a pan or pot on, to assist with cleaning. I've found that the surface does rust if left in the open so have taken to oiling it, as I would to season a cast iron pan which has helped protect it. Obviously this can lead to a bit of smoke as it burns on, but well worth it to keep the stove in good condition and leaves a great finish.

 

A piece of good fortune came in the form of the thick walled cast iron pot that I salvaged and restored fits perfectly into the burner lid opening, which both speeds the hating process but eliminates any smoke escaping. Its important to keep an eye on the cooking progress as with any wood fired stove, it can develop hot spots. 

Whilst obviously not a hiking stove, all together in its canvas carry bag the stove is quite portable, with space inside to carry the stove sections as well as a couple of fire poker tools. 

I dont have a hot-tent, nor much desire to do much cold -weather camping, but if I did, i'm certain this stove would make a fine addition to camp. My famly certainly enjoy the occasional fire-side, back-yard gather, without the concerns of smoke in the face or embers blowing that an open fire would bring. 

Whether its kranskies on-a-stick, a pot of beans, that old classic marshmallows, or a simple pot of tea, there is somehing magical about having your own fire. 

Easy enough for littlest-coyote to set up on their own, compact enough to throw in the back of the bug-out vehicle. 

Review: Cast iron pots

Following on from my article on cast-iron frypans, I thought I'd cover my collection of cast-iron pots as well.

Sharing the same qualities that make the cast iron pans attractive to apocalyptic cooking an preparedness, namely their ruggedness, good thermal transfer and thermal retention properties that is part and parcel with cast iron products. I have quite the collection of cast-iron pots, which get more use in regular rotation in our regular cooking, beside we like to cook a lot of long and slow.


The down-sides are the same too, its heavy, a touch brittle and can rust if not maintained. There is also quite a variety of sizes and styles of pots as well, but the key points to look for are the combinations of lips, handles and hangers. Lids are of course highly desirable, and also have some variety. I have a range of pots, from the massive 20L, through to the tiny 150mL ones.

As I've been collecting these for some years, I've come by them in several different ways. The biggest pop cam by way of Omega and her own reenacting past, the lipped large pot can from a disposal store, where as the two mid sized pots came from second-hand shops, and didn't come with lids. The littlest ones came from a cookware shop, for fancy sizzle cooking, but cast-iron is cast-iron!

I'm most pleased with my legged Dutch Oven, with its tripod feet allowing it to be placed over coals and cook in ashes without needing a standalone tripod, and settling on uneven ground without spilling. It also comes with a lipped lid, with a solid handle. The lipped lid lets you stack coals on top allowing you to cook evenly on all sides.

A wire handle lets you hang it from a tripod, and collect it from the fire easily, essential when cooking over an open fire.


For those screaming at me for the rusty look of my pots, giving them a good clean and re-season is usually as easy as a bit of a scrub, heating it till good and hot to burn off any stuck food and water, then re-oiling. I use spray-on vegetable oil from a can to get a even thin layer, and it works really well, as you can see here, following camping for 6 days over Easter.

I bake cakes and bread in mine (for cakes I tend to nest one pot in the other as seen here, with spacers between the pots to distribute the heat a bit). Delicious and magical for all the ramen-noodle and sachet cooking crowd.


I also cook directly in them, both stews, chili and roasts.  They also serve to keep hot food hot, as different dishes are prepared, and as well-sealing serving containers, keeping both germs, bugs and critters out, especially if closed when its sizzling.

The other thing I look for in cast-iron pots is nesting for storage and transport. Cast-iron is be necessity, heavy, and sometimes difficult to pack, store and transport, so having all that in one place can be an advantage (or not, depending). I like mine to nest.

I take them away with me on almost every camping trip, which I'm not hiking all my own gear, which is when I'd use my lightweight gear, like the Optimus: Terra-solo cook or the Power Practical: Power-Pot. For old-timey camping or homesteading, you really can't go past the rugged and robust charm of cast-iron though. It takes a lot of abuse, cooks delicious food and lasts a long, long time.

Review: cast iron pans

I thought it might be time to look at some more rustic side of both camping and survival. I've covered some light-weight cookware  before which is just the thing if you are humping a pack into the back country, or making a roost half way up a mountain, but they just don't have the feel of home cooked cookware, nor do they have the feel that comes of more solid construction.

Modern pans, with ceramic, teflon or even enamel coating, with a variety of metals as the base, aluminium, steel, sandwiched copper, but some are delicate, some warp and some don't do well in open flame.

However, cast iron is a tried and true material, in common use for pans from 200BC until the 1970's.

Cast iron has the ability to withstand and maintain very high cooking temperatures, and its excellent heat retention makes it a good option for long-cooking stews or braising. A well seasoned pan will have a layer protecting the cookware from rusting, providing a non-stick surface for cooking, preventing food from interacting with the iron of the pan. This forms essentially a renewable "non-stick" surface.

Frequent use of acidic foods such as tomato sauce or the harsh cleaning of the pans will remove the seasoning and the cookware will need to be re-seasoned frequently.  This is one of the reasons cast-iron has fallen out of favour, it requires attention. They can also rust, when neglected.

It's also heavy. The 9" all-iron pan weighs 1050g (2.3lbs), the
10" wooden handled pan 2000g (4.4lbs), where as the teflon coated red handled 10" pan under these
weighs half that.  That said cast-iron pans are bomb-proof. The wooden handled one I picked up in New Zealand, and brought home rather than discarding, the all iron pan, I found at an op-shop.

I heartily recommend anyone who spends time outdoors, and can hump a bit of extra weight, to pick up a cast iron pan. They cook really well without burning, warping or leaching nasties into your food. They can take a fair bit of abuse and, with some very easy maintenance they'll last a lifetime.