Volcano 2 Cookstoves

Multi-Faceted Outdoor and Emergency Cook Stove

Volcano II Cook Stove

The Volcano II Collapsible Cook Stove is a multi-functional stove and grill that can be fueled by three different sources.  This stove and grill can be heated using wood, charcoal, or an optional propane burner.  There are many unique designs that have led to this stove being extremely versatile, efficient and useful for outdoor and emergency use.

The grill itself has double wall construction.  This means that the inner liner is in contact more with the heat from the fuel source, but an air space between the inner wall and outer wall improves the effieciency of the stove and maintains a lower temperature on the outer wall.  The stove then has three bottom legs that provide support and stability, while maintaining air flow under the unit itself.  The outer wall has air ventilation holes that help to feed air through the bottom of the inner liner and focus the heat up.  The stove has a ventillation control that allows you to bank the coals with little air flow or stoke the coals with increased air flow.

At the bottom of the stove the coals or wood are supported by a steel grate.  This grate allows ash to spill off of the coals and allow improved coal efficiency.  A few inches above the grate a heat plate fits in.  This heat plate helps transfer heat around the stove or helps hold the coals closer to the grill.  The heat plate can also be moved up to the top of the stove to support a pot or pan.  The top has a removable grill top that can be left in place to grill meat or vegetables, or removed to provide a place for a pot, wok or dutch oven.

As you can see, the Volcano II Cook Stove works well with dutch ovens.  A 10" dutch oven will fit fully inside of the Volcano II Cook Stove.  When using the 12" dutch oven, insert the heat plate and the dutch oven will protrude slightly from the stove.  Dutch ovens ranging from 14" to 16" will sit on top of the stove.  You still use coals on the top of the dutch oven, but you now have a dutch oven stand for your dutch oven.  You can even light your briquettes in the stove and then remove the necessary coals and place them on the lid.

Volcano II Cook Stove with Propane Burner

The Volcano can also be fueled by an optional propane burner.  This burner provides you with another option for cooking everyday or in the outdoors.  The limitation with the burner is that it is not very wide, and so the heat is focused in a small area.  This limits the food you cook to a small area on the grill itself.  It does however provide a very hot cooking surface for pots, pans and woks.

The stove collapses down to about 5 inches high and comes with a carry case.  Volcano now makes a Volcano lid for the stove.  This Kevlar lid makes the stove even more efficient and improves cooking time.  The lid packs down nicely and fits in the pouch inside of the bag for easy store.

 

The video review above helps you get a good look at the Volcano II Cook Stove and provides information on how to use the Volcano as a stove or grill.  Hope you enjoy.

Esbit Pocket Stoves

Quality Solid Fuel Stoves Made in Germany

Esbit Pocket Stove

For nearly 75 years, the German company Esbit has been making quality stoves, fuel tablets, cookware and cooking supplies.  These are high quality fold-up pocket stoves that are built to last and have been used all over the world for camping, outdoor cooking and emergency preparedness.  Esbit makes pocket stoves, wing stoves, cookset combos, titanium stoves and mugs, windscreens, pots, pans, solid fuel tablets and other outdoor cookware.

Titanium Mug on Esbit Pocket Stove

As a young boy scout, we used solid fuel tablet stoves, but they were not Esbit Stoves.  I felt like they were more of a gimmick than anything.  I really didn't see how we could use them and they were of rather poor quality.  I wish I would have had an Esbit Stove!  Esbit Stoves are sturdy and compact, while the fuel tablets burn hot and clean.

Esbit Complete Cookset

With an Esbit Stove you can heat water for rehydrating MountainHouse Meals, you can cook small meals and you can boil water for water purification.  You can even use the fuel tablets for starting a fire.  These tablets burn at over 1300 degrees and last for over 12 minutes!  These tablets can help you get a fire going or dry out wet tinder.  An Esbit Stove and a good supply of Esbit Fuel Tablets make a great addition to your 72 hour kit or personal backpacking assembly.

Volcano Stoves

Here is a picture of our Volcano II in action.  On a recent campout we used the Volcano Stove and dutch oven to cook a delicious spicy chili at night, and then in the morning we had a wonderful omlet.  Notice how this 12 inch 6 quart dutch oven fits perfectly inside of the stove?  Do you have a larger dutch oven?  NO Problem!  The dutch oven will sit on the rim of the stove.  Just below the dutch oven is a bed of charcoal supported by a heat plate.  Don't have a dutch oven?  Just raise the heat plate to the top and cook with a frying pan or pot.  We have even kept the heat plate in place and put a pan on the grill itself.  We have also used a Wok in the Volcano.  Our Wok nestled nicely down in the upper bowl of the Volcano.  The Volcano is incredibly efficient and draws the heat upward.  You can even put this stove on a plastic table and the table won't melt!

The next picture is of one of the part owners of the Volcano II Stove.  He loves the Volcano and looks for excuses to use it!  The Volcano II Collapsible Cook Stove is by far the most enjoyable and practical fuel based cooking stove that we have ever purchased.  It is our second favorite stove behind the Sun Oven.  We purchased the Volcano II Stove with the Propane Grill, but rarely use the propane attachment.  We enjoy using charcoal and feel better about storing charcoal than propane.  When you combine the Sun Oven and the Volcano Stove you can pretty much cook anything at anytime that you would normally cook in your kitchen.

We have taken our Volcano Stove out camping, to friends houses, to picnics, to Stake and Ward Preparedness Fairs and even on a Stake Youth Trek.  It is amazingly efficient.  When we lived in Utah we became acquainted with the first version of the Volcano Stove, which is now called the Volcano Sr.  One lady even talked about the stove in church!  I was amazed and found out that you could cook 1 meal a day for a year with 300 pounds of charcoal.  That sounds like a lot of charcoal, but it is really only equivalent to 15 of the 20 pound bags.

The way we see it, you could combine the Volcano with the Sun Oven to cook meals not only in an emergency, but on a daily basis as well!