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Frontier Stove

Bushcraft Rob

Bushcraft Rob

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Have been thinking about getting the Frontier Stove for quite sometime, so read quite a few reviews on it then ordered from good old Amazon at a cost of £138.00 with free postage. Two reasons for ordering one I wanted a lightweight stove and the other was to see how it was made then make one:)


Matt and myself decided to have a sneaky overnighter to do some pest control at one of our permissions, so I used this chance to give the stove a good test, well my first impression when I unpacked it was not very impressed :( however I got the stove set up gave it a good look over and set to on getting the fire light and the kettle on. Once light I was quite surprised on how much wood could be got in it, within 30 mins or so we had eight pints of boiling water, by adjusting the door opening and the flue damper I was able to keep the water in the kettle at a gentle boil, the fire itself didn't need a lot of attending once stoked you were able to leave it to do its own thing:)

Things I would improve on the stove, fit a wooded knob on the door catch although the door catch didn't get hot, it would make it easier to open, close and adjust the door setting. The male spigot on the flue sections in my opinion does not fit in to the female part of the flue section far enough hence once the flue is fully erected it tends to sway a bit it the wind this can be overcome by buying a spark arrestor at £12.98 which has 3 guy line fittings, lastly I would hve fitted some sort of baffle to stop the flames from going up the flue.

All in all I am well pleased with little stove, there are various attachments which can be bought such as a water jacket which clamps around the flue giving you 3litres of water, a flashing kit which enables you to vent the flue through a tent of shed, and carrying bag.

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nice one mate! ive been thinking about getting one later on this year for the winter
 
wow thats some kettle youve got there, phils been on about getting sommat like this, is it worth the doe mate?
 
Cracking little stove Rob, i just love it,i can feel the heat from hear :)
 
Hi Rob, I've had a Frontier Stove for a couple of years now, have it in my Tipi with the silicone flashing kit and I'm thoroughly impressed. Heats quickly, great for the kettle or cooking on. My mate made a witches hat for it which stops backdraft/smoking out due to wind and pressure change. If you're using softwood a lot it's worthwhile making sure the chimney gets tapped out/swept roughly every three days. We just use an old dish towel tied to a bit of rope and pull it through. All in all one of my fave bits of kit. ATB, GB.
 
I used one of these in a 4m bell tent and it was great first few times. I had a silicon flashing kit on the tent and used some hessian matting to put the stove on inside. It lit well and got up to temperature quickly, didn't smoke much inside the tent and kept the fire in for a good few hours once stoked up. Problem is, my wife is an incredibly cold sleeper even in the summer and as the fire doesn't stay in for long, she was waking up in the early hours cold.
When I changed to a 5m tent I sold the old one with the stove and all the extras and opted for a paraffin heater instead. Less fuss, less mess, less smell and I can still cook on it. Still doesn't beat the wood stove though!
 
Paul Webster said:
I used one of these in a 4m bell tent and it was great first few times. I had a silicon flashing kit on the tent and used some hessian matting to put the stove on inside. It lit well and got up to temperature quickly, didn't smoke much inside the tent and kept the fire in for a good few hours once stoked up. Problem is, my wife is an incredibly cold sleeper even in the summer and as the fire doesn't stay in for long, she was waking up in the early hours cold.
When I changed to a 5m tent I sold the old one with the stove and all the extras and opted for a paraffin heater instead. Less fuss, less mess, less smell and I can still cook on it. Still doesn't beat the wood stove though!
Click to expand...
Do you not get a problem with smell and condensation with the paraffin heater Paul ??
 
Had a good look at Rob's Frontier stove at the Summer meet, and was pleasantly surprised at the heat it chucked out.
There are so many situations where it can be used besides Bushcraft meets.
In the garden, the shed, out fishing, on the beach etc.

For what you get, and the enjoyment, and comfort it affords, I would definitely say its value for money.

This is defo on my kit list for the FEB meet.
 
Have had no problems with my frontier stove at all , But the flue needs to be cleaned out about every three days. Personally I think that the diameter of the flue could be a little larger, which would increase the draw (just my opinion) but it still works ok
 
Rob said:
Do you not get a problem with smell and condensation with the paraffin heater Paul ??
Click to expand...
None at all, the belltent is pretty well ventilated so no condensation at all, I always leave a window slightly open as well...usually the one nearest to where the heater is. Even with standard paraffin the heater hardly gives off any smell at all, it uses a ring wick and burns with a blue flame. http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgu...a=X&ei=dDx5UvfgEdLxhQei2YGgAQ&ved=0CD4Q9QEwAQ
 
I personally love the frontier stove, i don't own one but, Skate brought one to a couple of winter meets, and although we had it outside, it was great for heat and cooking, i know it sounds a bit of a waste of time a bit like a patio heater, but was nice to be sat beside, that is until you forget it is not a drinks table!!

I have also stayed in Pauls bell tent, and found the stove needed constant attention and feeding, like a child! Also messy.

I too was dubious about a paraffin heater, but no smell, no mess and toasty warm all night, in fact too hot!

Horses fo courses, i spose and personal preference.

Ivan...

Bearing in mind, all these things are great if, you don't have to buy them, lug them to the woods and set them up, nice one guys!
 
Hi Ivan.

Can see your point about needing constant attention and feeding, but isn't that the case with any fire, or heater, they don't feed themselves do they :D;)......mores the pity :D:rolleyes:
Definitely a base camp item, unless you are teamed up with a buddy ( or horse ) and spread the load so to speak.
Personally, I prefer the Frontier wood burning option over the paraffin............but as you say, Horses for courses:)


As long as they keep the kettle warm, and cook up some sausages, jobs a good 'un.
 
1 shot willie said:
Hi Ivan.

Can see your point about needing constant attention and feeding, but isn't that the case with any fire, or heater, they don't feed themselves do they :D;)......mores the pity :D:rolleyes:
Definitely a base camp item, unless you are teamed up with a buddy ( or horse ) and spread the load so to speak.
Personally, I prefer the Frontier wood burning option over the paraffin............but as you say, Horses for courses:)


As long as they keep the kettle warm, and cook up some sausages, jobs a good 'un.
Click to expand...

Hi Willie, we were going to invest in a bell tent for the family, and therefore a frontier stove, but the boys prefer their gelert solo/tarp independence, brilliant! saves large expense and we grt some sleep whenever we want!

If we had gone down the bell route, i still would have opted for a stove rather than parrafin, something much more satisfying/red indian sort of feeling and if it were cold and wet(never on Dartmoor, as you know!) i would quite happily sit in front of the stove, even if it felt like feeding an elephant strawberries!!

Ivan...
 
Don't get me wrong, I thought the frontier stove was a great bit of kit. Only problems I had were the fire didn't stay in over night, once fully stoked seemed 3-4 hours was max so the missus was waking up cold in the morning and their own make spark arrester seemed to restrict the draw and made it smoky.
The paraffin stove is instant, no smell, no smoke, burns for 16-24 hours and I can still cook on top. The lid unscrews to reveal a burner ring. Obviously it doesn't have the cooking surface of the frontier but you can still put one pan or a kettle on top.
When I upgraded to a 5m tent I was looking at getting a 5Kw stove from http://www.kpwoodburningstove.co.uk/. Twice the price of the frontier but would hold a fire in for longer with less fettling. They're also probably twice the weight though!
For price, weight, what you get etc etc, the frontier stove is still great.
 
thanks for the heads up on the paraffin heater, having just purchased a sealey 400, I was looking at those wood burners, although we already have a large log burner inside the marquee, the idea of a cuppa in the morning along with some heating, without having to leave the tent is appealing, I'll start googling paraffin heaters
 
my heads in a whirl now,paraffin sounded great, found lots of them on e bay, new types and old, but then also found lots of posts saying not to use them on camping forums because of the gasses???
so what to do
don't really want the hassle of a small log burner/chimney, as although I could store it at our woods, it seems alot of faffing about just for one or two nights, where as a paraffin heater would have been easy,
or not bother with any, after all we slept in hammocks and were warm enough to a degree
I thought a heater would help dry out canvas if it rains,
so, take a gamble that we don't wake up dead from paraffin fumes, or wake up dead from cold camping :D
 
I love the frontier stove, but Paul is spot on about it not staying lit all night. I've tried a few different things, long burn logs, ramming the whole thing full. Nowt keeps it going all night. Was tempted to use coal, but not sure it's up to the job. Had I seen the Windy Smithy stoves before this I would have bought one of those instead.

Handy thing though, used ours lots in the New Forest for BBQs.
 
I can't see a problem with using coal or coke in the frontier stove, will give it a go, I'm in the process of making a frontier stove from a large gas bottle I am going to copy the design except for the flue diameter which seems to be its down fall, am thinking of increasing it up to 3 inches and putting a variable vent on the door, see how it goes and will post results.
 
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