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[at-l] Firelog cubes as Esbit fuel
- Subject: [at-l] Firelog cubes as Esbit fuel
- From: Disc n Dog <discndog@bigfoot.com>
- Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 13:48:00 -0400
I've been experimenting with alternative Esbit fuel sources, due to the high
cost (in my modest budget) of real Esbit cubes.
An AT thru-hiker I met one day at Mount Rogers Outfitters in Damascus, Va
enthusiastically recommended chunks of firelog (y'know, those wax and sawdust
fake logs they sell at the grocery store). They *do* work rather well. I took
an old ice cube tray, sprayed it with olive oil, then broke chunks off a
firelog and pressed them into the cube tray to create nifty little homemade
esbit fuel cubes. They aren't as efficent as "real" esbit fuel, but cost like 1
cent each (vs 50 cents ea for Esbit). You could probably make about 200 cubes
from a $2.00 firelog. But, here are my concerns:
1) The wrapper on the firelog says NOT to cook over it. Why is this? Is there a
health hazard there? The ingedients are only wax and sawdust, doesn't sound too
toxic..but.
2) The firelog cubes soot up my pots REAL bad and this makes a unpleasant mess.
Any tricks to reduce the sooting or mess?
Would appreciate any input, advice or discussion.
Disc n Dog
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