Your extensive experience and knowledge of twig stoves and how they burn is very apparent in this video. It is evident that you KNOW what you are talking about.

I have watched this before and just as a refresher, I've watched it again. Good stuff here.

Thanks for the great video - lots of good tips inside. I especially like the reference about adding too much wood too soon; that's one I see alot. One tip related to that is: when you add a larger stick of wood, place a smaller stick ( 1/4 to 1/10th the diameter of the larger) in first and then add the larger on top. This will dramitically improve performance and decrease smoke. Keep it up, the new camera is working well and you can tell you are hitting your stride.

What actually burns are the gases released from the wood when heated. To reduce the amount of smoke, start the fire from the top of the pile, and if possible, feed wood into the bottom of the fire so that the gases released from the added wood will combust as they rise through the fire. Doing this will also make the fire burn hotter.

Thanks for sharing your experience on these stoves, Mark. Very well explained. I've been using a combination of hickory and aspen for a hot, "clean" fire with great coals. Plus, I learned to love that hickory flavor in just about everything.

Thank you Mark as always very informative. You leave no questions unanswered in your videos. Keep em coming

Excellent as always Mark, much appreciated 👍 I will only add, where possibly remove the bark, it’s the ‘sponge’ that holds the moisture. ATB from deepest Dorset England 👍

So many dynamics to fire-making...and keeping! Thanks for this educational video, Mark 👍🏼

Excellent tips. There is an art and science to using a wood stove

Very concise and complete explanation, Mark. I might be able to thinking of something to add if I took some time, but nothing right now. Well done! 👍

Good advice,thank you. May I add if your using a very small stove a higher trivet is very beneficial as is using a blow tube to keep the fire hot.A wood gasifying stove produces very little smoke once going so that’s a good option as is a rocket stove eg.Kelly Kettle (though maybe not as good for cooking over) I know it’s obvious but I think it’s fair to say that apart from good fuel it’s air flow that’s key to all wood stoves and if you control that you have control over your stove.

👍👍👍 .. a good refresher .. thanks. Somewhat off piste, I keep a small stock of compressed Charcoal Briquettes on hand for when I need a gentle constant 'simmer' heat. 'Cheating' perhaps 😏, but then, the outcome justifies it 😊.

Hi Mark, another great review with awesome tips.....i was told by an old timer before that IF you have to burn green wood, use Ash wood, IF its available. It burns the best. He himself pretty much lived & worked in woods himself so i just took him as right. I often wondered if the Siege Stove trivits would work on the Bushbox XL. Now i know. Thanks. 💯👍🤝

At the risk of sounding like an arrogant old geezer, I'm thinking this topic would not have been necessary 30 years ago. I remember the first breakfast I cooked over a wood fire 50 plus years ago. What a great learning experience that was. Though very small wood stoves were pretty much unheard of, our homes and cabins had a variety of stoves. Our society has certainly changed, but it's comforting to know that there are enough young people cooking over wood nowadays that you needed to make this video. Thanks for explaining the mystery to the next generation. And I hope there bringing there children into the woods with them. Sometimes I think I'm an old dinosaur on the verge of extinction.😀

Good advice.

Thanks Mark for another fantastic video. I hope your health is going well, haven't seen any updates for a while.

Great tips, Mark!

Great information Mark, thanks for posting it! I'm still enjoying my Firebox Titanium G2 stove!!

Fantastic, you sorted a couple of issues I was having, Great information

Excellent !👍

Tried the Lixada gassifier with hickory and oak pellet product today at over 6000k+ elevation. Once it was going it didn't smoke after the burn started going good and I didn't overload the burn pot chamber. Mark, I didn't have the issue you had of super hot temp with pellets in the Lixada gassifier. I could easily and properly cook a steak on it or use a skillet. Maybe it's my brand of pellets or maybe the 6000-7000k elevation made a difference. I noticed it took a bit more to boil water in my Ti 1100ml pot. It's all conifers we're I'm at so pellets are better for cooking and not leaving b nasty resin on the pot.

Thanks for sharing your experience - there's one thing you missed: out in the wild even the dryest wood will contain some 15-20% moisture, less than that can only be found inside a shed or house. Every liter of water turns into 1.700 liters of steam when boiling, cooling the fire and driving off the oxygen - that's why a top-lit-down-draft fire is superior, only the top layer will get dried out at a time, so less cooling and more oxygen for the fire. Additional tip for people that don't like sooty pots: treat the pot with soap before you put it on a stove, cleaning up later will be quite a bit easier, though most of the soap will burn off.

Excellent suggestions. I confess to being frequently guilty of number 4. I need to learn patience, but I need to learn it quickly. 😁

Excellently explained!!!

Another great video Mark. And all great tips, thanks for sharing them. Cheers my friend!

Bonus tips #2. Get a firebox stove and practice a little 😀 Mark, speaking of stoves, I’m not sure if the whole world knows this alcohol stove trick and no one talks about it, or if it’s something not many people know, but I’ve known this for years and years, and until this week, I have never heard anyone talk about it. Do you know how to make an alcohol stove's flame more visible? Take about 90% pure methyl-hydrate and 10% water Add a pinch is salt to the water and dissolve it, then add the water to the alcohol. The exact amounts can be played with to get optimum performance. The sodium, when burned, give off a very yellow flame, and it’s much easier to see. Adding 5 or even 10% water doesn’t affect the performance much, but in an extended burn there may be traces of salt on the jets, but they just wipe off. So there you go. If it’s something no one knows, I’ve just given you my "secret" stove trick that I learned from working in a lab, and not any bushcraft channel. Either you owe me, or I just typed a lot for nothing. One thing is I generally don’t feel the need with my Trangia, but when I used one with a smaller flame, I found it quite helpful.

A very valuable observation, especially the heat loss in the pot stand. Sir, why not we incorporate the wick mechanism of the oil lamps to fine tune the optimum performance of the flame with ideal amount of secondsry air for boiling and simmering with a very light pot stand to reduce heat loss? With lot of respect for your analytical treasure of experience with your age. Thank you 🙏

Very informative as usual. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us 😉

Great tips. Love your videos. Thank you.

Good info thanks for sharing.

Nice one . Great tips there very knowledgeable. Take care mate

Thanks! Still learning and you always share cool info!:)

Another great video as always Mark.

Mark , good video , tips and presentation , thanks for sharing , God bless !

Great info. Thanks for sharing.

Great Video

Great Tips As Always, Thanks For This Mark Hi Gina ! ATB T God Bless

Great advice!

I did get a bunch of burnt sappy residue because all I had was pine in the forest I was in. I wonder if using a pinecone would have been a better choice? After camping and returning home, I use an Brillo pad to scrub down the bottom of my titanium pot. Really great information Mark!

Very helpful information Mark, thanks for sharing! :) :)

I just put up a stove first-use review on Friday. I'd have loved to have dropped a mention and a link to this vid if hte timing had been better aligned. Also, that XL stove is definitely my bucket-list twig stove.

Another man of a certain age in agreement with the previous comment posted by Bill Heckman.

I also find removing the bark helps as well.

Mark, do you know if the Wikatech or Seige cross stands fit on the Bushbox LF ? Great video, as usual!

Hi Mark I was just watching an old video of your's where you used 2 dog bowls to make an oven. Have you ever done an update video on this?

I have problems to start a good fire and to keep it. I have to blow air all the time. I'm thinking to get a little battery fan and let it blow air for me.....I need to boil water at night time and there's no wind at night time....

The driest wood gives less smoke Like oak,chestnut,etc is what I was always told

Will the WIKA fit cross ways like your hand made ones did?

I usually take away my stoves cigarettes and give it a stern warning. Never works, though. ..sorry, couldn't resist 😖

Mark, I have the Lixada Titanium clone of the Uberleben Stoker. And I am pretty sure it's a direct clone of the Stoker, it has the "dent detail" in the tower ridges (which the smaller Emberlit you compared a while back does not). Anyway, the crossbars sit IN not over the tower ridges. So my question is, if you have time and can find your Stoker, what crossbars if any fit nicely to give a bit of extra height? They'd make a real improvement for me.

👍👍

Quite simply as ever, no stone left unturned. No conceivable scenario ignored. Have you ever thought of writing a dummies guide to twig stoves. I'm sure you would get just as much of a kick out of writing it as people would reading it.

That's simple just use DRY wood easy fix.

A good supply of oxygen is the key.

I can appreciate you’re being so methodical, however, in real life you just need to to work and fast…..

Smoking kill