Nimblewill Nomad Stove

A.K.A. "Little Dandy stove", this is a collapsible solid-fuel-burning stove made from flat plates of steel or titanium that link together with tabs and slots in the metal.

Disassembled it is an easily packable set of flat plates but sets up again in seconds.

It was invented by Meredith "Eb" Eberhart (trail name "Nimblewill Nomad"). Its five flat, thin steel plates assemble without fasteners, and quickly unhook again and fold flat for storage.

It was used by Eberhart in 1998 during his 4400 mile, 10 month walk from Key West, Florida to Cape Gaspe, Quebec along the International Appalachian Trail. The stove allowed him to burn anything at hand, and thus to carry no fuel. Smart guy, that one.

As for what to burn in it, see "The Firewood Poem" by Lady Celia Congreve from 1930.

O hey — I guess I have it right here...

These hardwoods burn well and slowly,
Ash, beech, hawthorn oak and holly.
Softwoods flare up quick and fine,
Birch, fir, hazel, larch and pine.
Elm and willow you'll regret,
Chestnut green and sycamore wet

Beechwood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year.
Chestnut's only good, they say,
If for long 'tis laid away.
But Ash new or Ash old
Is fit for a queen with crown of gold.

Birch and fir logs bum too fast
Blaze up bright and do not last.
It is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.
Elm wood bums like churchyard mould,
E ' en the very flames are cold.
But Ash green or Ash brown
Is fit for a queen with golden crown.

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke.
Apple wood will scent your room
With an incense like perfume.
Oaken logs. if dry and old.
Keep away the winter's cold.
But Ash wet or Ash dry
A king shall warm his slippers by.

Oak logs will warm you well
That are old and dry
Logs of pine will sweetly smell
But the sparks will fly
Birch logs will burn too fast
Chestnut scarce at all sir
Hawthorn logs are good to last
That are cut well in the fall sir
Holly logs will burn like wax
You could burn them green
Elm logs burn like smouldering flax
With no flame to be seen
Beech logs for winter time
Yew logs as well sir
Green elder logs it is a crime
For any man to sell sir.

Pear logs and apple logs
They will scent your room
And cherry logs across the dogs
They smell like flowers of broom
But Ash logs smooth and grey
Buy them green or old, sir
And buy up all that come your way
They're worth their weight in gold sir.

Logs to Burn, Logs to burn, Logs to burn,
Logs to save the coal a turn,
Here's a word to make you wise,
When you hear the woodman's cries.

Never heed his usual tale,
That he has good logs for sale,
But read these lines and really learn,
The proper kind of logs to burn.

Yawn. (Who is this person?) Are we having fun yet?

 

More info:
at "Wings, the home-made stove archives"
at "Zen Stoves"

 

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Have anything worth adding? Then try sosayseff@nullabigmail.com
Me? Not that smart, usually.

 

Etc...

so says eff: sporadic spurts of grade eff distraction
definitions: outdoor terms
fiyh: dave's little guide to ultralight backpacking stoves
boyb: dave's little guide to backpacks
snorpy bits: nibbling away at your sanity
last seen receding: missives from a certain mobile homer
noseyjoe: purposefully poking my proboscis into technicals

Measuring Wheel

Some are fancier than others.

 

Let's see if we can make any of this sound interesting, even a little...

(1) A measuring wheel is a device that records the revolutions of a wheel, converting them to distance traveled by the wheel as it is pushed along a trail. These things are used to measure distance for guidebook descriptions, and, it is said, also used to record the location of spots where trail work needs to be done.

(2) Example: Ed called his measuring wheel a "cyclometer", which is true, as far as it goes, but slower uphill, and sounds almost interesting but still isn't, as you can tell if you've ever seen one.

(3) You know those gizmos that when you see them you think "Wow! I wish I had invented that!"? Well, this isn't one of them.

If you see someone using one of these you'll probably think "Wow! That poor dork has to walk this whole trail pushing some stupid rusty squeaking old piece of rattling metal crap." Which is about right.

Some of them these days could be like the battery-powered bicycle computers that do mileage, current speed, maximum speed, elapsed time, and average speed, plus tell you the time of day and whether you are still the fairest one of all. Or whether it's time to give up on that whole youth and beauty thing, act your age, and cheat.

But if you see a measuring wheel at all you'll probably see the old squeaky kind made of waste iron and held together by twine and hope, because measuring trail lengths is low-tech, low-pay work and no one really gives a damn anyway except people who make maps and, given the profit margins in selling maps to hikers, actually measuring anything could cost enough to put them out of business, so it's easier to copy the numbers from someone else's maps or simply make up whatever numbers sound good. And that kind of explains why you see the same wrong intel on different maps.

The absolute oldest form of measuring wheel was a wheel. But later on, when people got tired of rolling that along with their hands, they put the wheel on a stick so at least they could stand up while it happened, but they still had to count how many revolutions the wheel made, which is a bunch of fun around the almost-done point when you lose count. Which is another reason to make up the numbers.

And why, later on, someone thought of hooking up an odometer to the wheel, to let the odometer do the counting. Which is a lot better until you get to the almost-done point, sit down to take the load off for a few minutes, maybe have a smoke and a swig of water, and accidentally, while brushing dust off the odometer, hit the little button on it that does a reset. Which is yet another reason to make up the numbers.

Hey, you're lucky to even get minimum wage.

And maybe that's why the stick is part of the mechanism, so you can detach it and hit yourself over the head with it, or if you're lucky and have an assistant, and, well, you know where this leads...

And then you start thinking. Not about the assistant with all the fresh lumps and welts, but about the bigger picture. Which is, if some government agency, say, has the time and money to go to the trouble to roll a wheel along a trail, then that explains all the bumps and mud holes and washouts because there isn't enough money left to take care of those things after generating some numbers to put on maps. Most of which are made up anyway, and yet you, dear hiker person, do keep buying maps and going out hopefully, which yet again, in turn, really says a lot about you too, doesn't it, in the end? Really? Eh?

Good luck with the rest of your pointless life.

 

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Have anything worth adding? Then try sosayseff@nullabigmail.com
Me? Wheel-less but still hoping to count in some way.

 

Etc...

so says eff: sporadic spurts of grade eff distraction
definitions: outdoor terms
fiyh: dave's little guide to ultralight backpacking stoves
boyb: dave's little guide to backpacks
snorpy bits: nibbling away at your sanity
last seen receding: missives from a certain mobile homer
noseyjoe: purposefully poking my proboscis into technicals

Lighter

(1) Opposite of heavier. If you are prone to extremism, then you are an ultra-lighter.

(2) Person responsible for forest fires. If this person is especially nuts, and starts lots and lots and lots of fires, they are called an ultra-lighter.

(3) Clever little gizmo for creating fire with. Much more efficient than rubbing two wet sticks together. Easier to use than nuclear weapons. More fun too, since lighters come in a rainbow of colors, and some are almost small enough to stick up your nose.

 

---

Have anything worth adding? Then try sosayseff@nullabigmail.com
Me? Having fun today weighing and sorting my booger collection.

 

Etc...

so says eff: sporadic spurts of grade eff distraction
definitions: outdoor terms
fiyh: dave's little guide to ultralight backpacking stoves
boyb: dave's little guide to backpacks
snorpy bits: nibbling away at your sanity
last seen receding: missives from a certain mobile homer
noseyjoe: purposefully poking my proboscis into technicals