Introduction
In many parts of the world, nighttime temperatures can get bitterly cold in winter. When camping in these conditions, staying warm is crucial. That’s what a tent stove is for. Keeping your tent warm all night long.
In this guide, I’ll explore further to inform you of everything you need to know about titanium tent stoves and why you'll want one!
- What’s a titanium tent stove
- Requirements of a quality titanium tent stove
- Advantages of titanium tent stoves
- Disadvantages of titanium tent stoves
- How to use titanium tent stoves
- Titanium tent stoves best practices
- How to clean and care for your titanium tent stove
- Conclusion
What’s a titanium tent stove?
Tent stoves come in a variety of materials including titanium, steel, or iron. A quality outdoor stove doesn’t necessarily need to be exclusively for camping. They can be placed in your garden or patio to keep you warm too. Although this more covers firepits or chimeneas.
When outdoors camping or backpacking a tent stove is perfect for a permanent campsite.
For those considering a titanium tent stove, they will also need to have a hot tent. This tent is designed to accustom a tent stove. Typical tent materials are flammable and there usually on the small side. Think of a classic 2-person dome-style tent. A hot tent is much larger usually in a teepee shape and is made of non-flammable materials with an area for the stove's chimney. These hot tents aren’t lightweight and usually are heavy to carry because of their larger size.
The best combination for a tent stove and hot tent is to have a permanent campsite or be moving campsites with a partner. This gear isn't the lightest to carry but for those that seek a base and explore daily from here, it’s a great setup. Often hunters will have a permanent campsite and daily explore the radius around looking for Elk or similar animals.
A tent stove can use either charcoal or wood to burn. But more often wood is burnt as it is a more readily available fuel. Carrying lots of charcoal is not very practical. Each evening before dinner you can collect ample wood ready to burn for the night.
Requirements for a quality Titanium Tent Stove
As mentioned before there are a few materials available for your tent stove. Nevertheless, both steel and iron are too heavy to be practical. This is why a titanium tent stove is optimal. By using titanium you enjoy both its strength and lightweight materials.
Fastfold titanium body
When buying a titanium tent stove, you must ensure the central stove box is foldable. Without a foldable design, you have a fixed permanent box shape. This is impractical to carry and move around. Alongside all your other gear you don't want to be carrying a box around.
The fast-fold design means a quickly collapsible stove. For storage, this can be placed at the back of your rucksack where the strap support is. This is much easier to carry and transport on your expeditions and adventures.
Roll-up chimney pipe
A chimney pipe plays an important role in maintaining the airflow and ventilating the stove. It’ll become hot while burning so choosing a pipe that can withstand high temperatures is essential.
Traditionally a chimney pipe will be rollable. When not in use it can roll down to half an arm's length in size. Accompanying the chimney you also will need support to ensure stability. This is a must when you extend the stove to its full length. The ring supports ensure not only good ventilation but even in windy conditions a solid and stable chimney.
Removable spark arrestor
On windy days, a shaking chimney can be dangerous, and you must prevent it from wobbling. To do this you can use a stove spark arrestor. This device is fixed by ropes to stabilize the stovepipe and the stove. A quality hot tent will have ropes that can fix to increase the support of your chimney if needed. Not all titanium tent stoves feature a spark arrestor. If not they can be bought separately online.
Foldable stove stand
During burning the central stove box will get very hot. A stove stand is necessary to elevate the stove from the ground. Collapsible leg supports work great combining with the fast fold design. This design is super stable and is the standard for a quality titanium tent stove.
Quartz glass door
A glass door is not essential but it will set a quality titanium tent stove apart from the others. It is so nice to be able to watch the fire at night and listen to the wood crackle. The glass panel door allows you to see when more wood must be added or when the fire is extinguished.
For maximal longevity, you want a quartz glass panel. This material can withstand very high temperatures without cracking or damage. For those that want a simple tent stove, you don’t need a glass panel. It’s not a prerequisite but is definitely a nice feature.
Removable top
One of the defining features of a titanium tent stove is the ability to cook. You can boil water and cook by placing a pan or pot on top of the titanium tent stove. This is achieved by titanium’s quick heat conductivity. With a removable top, you can also use the stove as a firepit cooking over the flames too. The possibilities are endless.
With the popularity of titanium tent stoves increasing and some great brands out there. The above features should be the minimum requirements for your tent stove.
In the next section, we will explore the advantages and disadvantages of tent stoves.
Advantages of Titanium Tent Stoves
Lightweight
When compared with other materials a titanium tent stove is so much lighter. When you're carrying all your gear into the wilderness you don’t want to carry heavy stuff plus your food and water. By utilizing titanium you have an ultralight tent stove that is half the weight of steel or more.
Strong
Titanium is a super strong material. It’s durable, functional, and can withstand all the elements. When using a tent stove for a lifetime you don't want to sacrifice strength. That's why you need titanium so you have both a lightweight and strong piece of gear that will last you a lifetime.
Resistant to high temperatures
Titanium has the highest melting point among iron and stainless steel. It means titanium tent stoves can withstand higher temperatures and won’t warp even after burning the night.
Good thermal conductivity
With wood burning in the stove, this heats up the stove's top where you can place pots and pans to cook food or boil water. With the stove top large surface area place multiple pots to cook or boil water.
Titanium's natural thermal conductivity also means your tent will get warm quicker. It's a win-win!
Corrosion-resistant
Iron or stainless steel stoves use coatings to avoid corrosion. That means when the coatings are damaged, the stove will start to rust.
This will never happen to titanium tent stoves. They are naturally anti-corrosive.
Great shape memory
Titanium has great shape memory. After the first burn, the shape will “set”. That is the reason why tent stove chimney pipes that have been burnt once are easier to construct afterward. The first chimney assembly is the hardest but after that, it’s so much easier.
Disadvantages of titanium tent stoves
Everything has negatives, and that includes even the best titanium tent stove.
Expensive
Currently, a normal-size titanium wood stove is around $500 USD. It is expensive as a single purchase. But when you realize it is a lifetime companion, the price is much more affordable.
High temperatures
As mentioned above, titanium tent stoves have great thermal conductivity. But, because of the same reason, titanium wood stoves cool quicker. For example, say you don’t prepare the stove well enough and don’t leave enough wood to burn the whole night. You will still wake up cold as titanium doesn’t retain heat as well as iron or steel. To avoid this prepare more wood for the night.
You also need to be more careful when you open the glass door to refuel the stove. It can be really hot while burning. You can use protective gear such as a pair of gloves and a fire poker. Also, keep a good clearance of at least half a meter around the stove.
Dents and scratches
Even though titanium is stronger than iron or stainless steel because of its thin construction, it can be dented or scratched easier. This is not a big issue but something to be careful of when adding large logs or such.
If your titanium tent stove does get dented or scratched don’t worry it won't affect the stove’s performance. Just regard it as a part of your stove’s history.
Even though titanium tent stoves have a few downsides. Overall they are still the best large wood-burning stoves for camping and backpacking!
How to use your titanium tent stove?
Pitching your Hot Tent - Setting up your Campsite
Before you assemble the stove, you want to find a place for both the hot tent and the titanium tent stove. You need a flat even surface for the stove and pitching your tent/teepee.
The first step is to set up your hot tent. Pitching your tent will dictate where the stove goes because of the chimney port on the hot tent. With the tent up and guide ropes attached with ample tent stakes, you can then assemble the tent stove.
The camping stove should not be near the walls of the tent for safety. A quality hot tent will ensure this in the design of the actual tent. For best use keep the stove at least half a meter away from the tent walls.
When camping with pets and children, extra precautions should be taken to ensure maximum safety.
Stove assembly
The tent stove assembly includes two parts: the stove body and the chimney. First, you will want to assemble the main tent stove body. With a fast-fold design construction, it's easy and quick. No tools are needed. Fold out the wood-burning stoves legs and then fold the panels. Each titanium stove panel features secure clips. Rotate each clip 90 degrees and lock them into the grooves. The main titanium tent stove body can be assembled in minutes. For the chimney, it’s always better to have help from a camping buddy.
Chimney construction
To construct, roll the thin titanium sheet making a perfect circle. Roll and extend to the desired length. A chimney with a length of 1.5m and above is perfect. As mentioned assembling can be a little tricky the first time and we recommend 2 people for the first few goes. With the chimney rolled out without creases or lines, add the titanium ring placers. These ensure the chimney is a perfect circle and holds its shape. Space these evenly along the length of the chimney.
After using the chimney a few times the titanium will remember the shape. For further use, the chimney assembly will become much easier. Wrinkles and creases in the chimney pipe should be avoided if possible as these will be permanently heat-set after the first burn.
With the chimney assembled you then want to attach the main stove body and have the chimney coming out of the dedicated chimney port on your tent. To do this you can lower the chimney down through the tent port on the outside and then align the main stove body if needed. Also, you can set up the chimney from inside the tent, pushing the chimney out of the tent’s chimney port. You might have to readjust the position of the stove in the tent once the chimney is connected to the main stove body.
Always ensure the chimney is completely upright and never lean on the tent.
Lastly, add the spark arrestor on top of the chimney. Secure as necessary to the brand of the hot tent as set by the manufacturer.
With the titanium tent stove and hot tent constructed collect wood and kindling ready for burning.
Lighting the stove
When lighting the wood-burning stove preparation is the key to success. You will need.
Tools:
- Matches, firestarter, or a lighter.
Materials:
- Tinder (leaves, twigs, or grass)
- Kindling (small branches)
- Fuel Wood (large branches & logs)
Steps:
1. Build the structure - Put some kindling along the lengths of each side of your firebox. Placing your tinder in the middle. Start stacking your kindling on top, placing each layer at 45° to 90° angles. Leave an inch or two of space between each piece. Try to build a cabin-shaped structure with each piece exposed to as much air as possible.2. Light the tinder - Ignite the tinder with your match or lighter and assure the layer of kindling is burning.
3. Add more kindling - Once the kindling is burning, add more ensuring the fire is evenly spread through the stove. This will warm up the flue pipe and the stove drafting.
4. Fuel the stove - It will take a few minutes for all your kindling to ignite into a sustained flame. Then you can add one or two small fuel logs onto your stack and close the firebox door.
5. Watch the fire - With the small logs burning and a sustained flame prepare the medium and large logs. When the kindling is burnt and the small logs have some embers add the larger logs. Enjoy the sound of the fire and the heat warming your tent.
6. Prepare - Organise extra wood for the night ready to add when needed.
Putting out the fire
After burning, please leave ample time for the stove to cool, and the embers to extinguish. The stove can still be hot well after 12 hours of burning.
When the stove cools down put out any remaining embers that are left. Empty the stove ready for the next burn.
Titanium Tent Stoves Best Practices
What tents can I put a wood stove in?
You can only put a wood stove in a hot tent featuring a heat-resistant chimney pipe hole on the roof of the tent. This area will be made with non-flammable material. The material can withstand high temperatures and come into contact with the chimney when hot.
Ventilation
Burning any fuel gives off carbon monoxide. Therefore, ensuring that you have your chimney correctly attached and the tent well-ventilated is crucial. Always pay extra attention to ensuring smoke leaves via the chimney. If smoke isn’t leaving the chimney use a fire poker to make sure the chimney shaft isn't blocked by any burning logs.
What you should never burn in your wood stove?
Wet wood - Wet wood gives off smoke while burning increasing the levels of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in your tent. Always use dry wood where possible.
Christmas Trees - Christmas trees contain high levels of resin which quickly burn and the needles can produce lots of smoke.
Colored paint - Burning any material with colored paint may produce dangerous gases.
Plastics - All kinds of plastics release toxic chemicals. Never burn them.
How to keep a tent stove burning all night?
Before you go to bed:
- Use a fire poker to push all the burnt logs and embers evenly across the firebox.
- Add some larger fuel logs across the entire stove above the embers.
- Make sure the chimney port isn’t obstructed and the stove is well-ventilated with smoke leaving the chimney.
- Shut the door tightly, and the fire will burn throughout the night.
How to clean and care for your titanium tent stove?
As titanium wood stoves are really sturdy, cleaning and caring for them is pretty straightforward.
After the stove cools down, wear gloves to disassemble it.
Use a wire brush to clean the soot on the inner walls and chimney pipe if needed. Don’t scrub like crazy aim to move the soot and clean ready for disassembly and storage.
Store all parts of the titanium tent stove in the provided storage bags.
Conclusion
Titanium tent stoves are the best choice out there for winter camping and backpacking. Even though they have a few downsides, they are still lighter, stronger, safer, and more long-lasting than stoves made of other materials.
I hope you found this article helpful, if you have any questions or comments leave a comment below.
To your next adventure.
Steve