Tester Bio
I live in North East Alabama. I enjoy hunting, fishing, canoeing, and most other outdoor activities but backpacking is my favorite pastime. I enjoy hiking with friends and family or solo. I hike throughout the year and actually hike the least in the hot humid months of summer. My style is slow and steady and my gear is light. However I will sacrifice weight for comfort and durability. A typical 3-season load for me is around 20 lb (9 kg) not counting food or water. I usually sleep in a hammock and cook with an alcohol stove. I have used the WildWood I backpack stove during this test though. My backpacking trips are usually 2, 3 or 4 days in length.

Product Information

Item	WildWood I backpack stove
Manufacture	Makaira Metalworks
Year of manufacture	2006
Company URL	http://makairametal.com/
Size	5 1/2 in (14 cm) diameter and 4 3/4 in (12 cm) tall
Advertised Weight	17 oz (482 gm)
Verified Weight	16.9 oz (479 gm)
Stuff Sack Weight	.4 oz (11 gm)
MSRP	$30 US

Product Description
The WildWood I backpack stove burns natural fuel. It is quite compact when dissembled but when put together it is a fairly big stove. It is also seems very sturdy once assembled. It is backed by a free replacement/repair guarantee if it fails. See my Initial Report for a more detailed description of the stove.

Testing Locations and Conditions
I have used the WildWood I backpack stove here close to home on four more overnight hikes and also a couple of times when just out dayhiking. It dropped well below freezing for three of the four nights. Temperatures were as cold as 12 F (-11 C) for one night though only 26 F (-3 C) as I was making supper that night. It made it down to 9 F (-13 C) that night but I packed up at 3 AM when it was only 12 F (- 11 C) and went back home (my nose was getting cold). The woods were always wet because my stomping grounds have received rain every few days. Several have been the kind that send earthworms scooting for higher ground. I was mostly out testing different bag and hammock setups for an anticipated cold January hike in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. The cold and damp conditions have not been ideal for using a wood stove.

Long Term Test Results
First I will say, the WildWood I backpack stove does pretty much exactly what it is designed to do and does it well, but due to the wet conditions I had trouble getting my fires lit on every occasion I tried to use the stove. The woods were wet during most of my initial testing and during the past few months conditions have not improved. In fact, I'd say the woods are pretty much soaked now.

I used every trick I know to make getting a fire lit easier. I used candles and lit cotton balls with vasoline rubbed on them. I used alcohol put directly on my kindling. I looked for cedar and pine knots for material rich with resin. I whittled on sticks until I got down to dry wood. Bottom line, in the soaked woods it was not easy to get a fire started.

Cooking with the stove was fine once I did get a fire lit. I am still impressed with just how little fuel I needed to gather to cook. I even cooked bacon and eggs for one supper rather than breakfast because I was afraid the eggs would freeze solid overnight. I gathered a lot of fuel and took a long time breaking it all up into the proper size before I even attempted to light the fire. I probably had this fire going at least 20 minutes but I still ended up with a little wood left over. I also got to use a spatula and an egg tote case I had never used before. I found out my backpacking spatula was terrible at flipping eggs. This is good to know as the next time I will sneak one from the kitchen like the one pictured at the beginning of this report. It actually does not weigh much more than the one that I used (also in same picture).

Overall Durability
The WildWood I backpack stove is holding up great. In fact, other than the blackened condition and a slight bit of rust it has no signs of wear. The rust came during the few hours each night it went until I could get it home for a proper greasing. It was hard to tell the soot from the rust but I could differentiate it when I was wiping on new oil with a paper towel.

Finial Thoughts.
As I said earlier, the WildWood I backpack stove works like a champ. However, for me the idea of saving the weight of fuel by using natural fuel was not really realized as I was on short hikes and also hiking solo. In fact I carried more weight because my alcohol stove is much lighter than the WildWood I backpack stove and the fire starting material I carried weighed about as much as the fuel I would have used in my alcohol stove. In dryer conditions I may have been able to use less fire starting material. On the other hand, on these short hikes, weight was not a big concern. My biggest problem was just getting my fire going. In that regard, I will probably not take the WildWood I backpack stove on longer hikes if the conditions are going to be extremely wet.

However, I don't consider the WildWood I backpack stove a novelty, just to play with when conditions are perfect. It is a well designed stove and one I can use even if I happen to be out of fuel for my other stoves and not able to make a quick run to the store to pick up more. For that reason alone I am glad to add the WildWood I backpack stove to my gear arsenal. If I always built a fire I would probably use it from now on. On long hikes I prefer to rest at the end of a long day so instead of hunting around for firewood I like my LED headlamp for sitting around before bedtime. For hikes when I plan to spend more time in camp I will reach for the WildWood I backpack stove as I consider burning a few twigs more environmentally friendly than using my alcohol stove (yes I know alcohol is grain based) and even more so for fossil fueled stoves.

With that said, as I have used the WildWood I backpack stove the past few months; I distinctly remember wishing for a fast supper and a quick retreat to the warmth of my bag. And on most of my winter hikes in recent years, I have hiked right up until almost dark. For example, last year in January at Savage Gulf, we arrived at our campsite each night just as daylight was fading. And each night we hurried to get our camp setup in the last few minutes of daylight. We then cooked by headlamp light. Looking for wood for a stove would have been a lot more time consuming. This is just one of the many things to consider when choosing a cooking system. I'll just sum it up by saying, the WildWood I backpack stove would have been more fun to use in warmer temperatures and a lot easier with dryer conditions. The fact that I was able to use it under the worst conditions I will likely see give me confidence in the abilities and usefulness of the WildWood I backpack stove.

I would like to thank BackpackGearTest and Makaira Metalworks for the opportunity to test this stove. I hope my findings are beneficial to all who read it.

Read more reviews of Makaira Metalworks gear
Read more gear reviews by Coy Ray Starnes

Long Term Report

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