The Author’s Scout model Kelly Kettle®, photograph by the Author.
Throughout
the World, and throughout most of humankind’s existence, the only way to cook
food and boil water was a “three-stone fire”. The three-stone fire is a wood-fueled fire,
made by placing three stones 120 degrees apart, in a circle, to make a stand
for a cooking pot. This is the classic campfire
and today many people still rely on this method to disinfect their water by
boiling (for more about disinfecting water by boiling, read “Water
Disinfection: When is boiled, boiled enough…? ©”, HERE).
The Faster
Way to Boil Water...
The
problem with a three-stone campfire is that it isn’t very efficient, having
only an average efficiency of 14%, and because of this it uses a great deal
more fuel to boil water than other methods.1
And
that is why you need to have a Kelly Kettle®!
Kelly Kettles® are a type of rocket stove with a surrounding water-chamber
and as the representatives of both Kelly Kettle USA and Kelly Kettle UK
explained, a Kelly Kettle® channels all the heat of the fire up and over the
large surface area of the chimney and allows a small fire to quickly boil the
water within the water-chamber.2
I
was first introduced to Kelly Kettles® in 2014, when I started as a guide with
Birchbark Expeditions. I was so
impressed with how fast it boiled water (faster than I could boil water on my
gas stove at home in my kitchen) that as soon as I got back from the trek, I
went out and bought a “Scout” model Kelly Kettle®. I couldn’t believe how well and how fast it
worked! And it doesn’t need much fuel to
boil water, either. In fact, I often
feed my Kelly Kettle® on small sticks and chips that have fallen to the ground,
when other larger logs were cut up for fuel, wood scraps that normally are just
left lying on the ground near the fire pit.
Lately, I have been thinking about buying a small, Trekker model Kelly
Kettle® for use when I am backpacking, since space and weight are at a premium
then.
How To Use a
Kelly Kettle...?
Kelly Kettle ® Scout model instructions for use, from the box, photograph by the Author. Always follow the instructions.
“So,
how do you use a Kelly Kettle”, you ask?
Good question let’s go over that.
First,
read and follow the instructions that come with your kettle. As with any stove or fire, serious injuries
can occur, if you use the product incorrectly.
Gather
tinder and kindling, but you can skip gathering wrist-sized fuel wood, since
once the fire is burning in the fire base, you will only be feeding the kettle
with kindling. For more on what tinder
and kindling is, and how much to gather before you light your fire, read “Fire
Burns Up! ©”, HERE.
A bird’s nest in the fire base, photograph by the Author.
You
build and light your fire in the Kelly Kettle® fire base, just like you would
for any other fire. When you have
gathered all the tinder and kindling that you will need to light and sustain
the fire, in the fire base of your Kelly Kettle®, you will need to make a “Bird’s
Nest” with a circle of kindling, with some tinder in the center of it.
Tilt the fire base on its side and let the hot flames of the match or lighter rise and light the bird’s nest, photograph by the Author.
Tilt
the fire base up, just like you would if you were using a piece of bark to protect
your fingers and hold your bird’s nest together, so that the hot flames and
gases of your match or lighter will rises into it. Don’t forget fire burns up!
Next
fill the Kelly Kettle® with water. Never
put your kettle over a fire when it is empty, I have seen earlier, aluminum
models melt when heated while empty. The
newer stainless-steel models handle heat better, but it is still a bad idea to
heat the kettle when it is dry. Also,
always remove the orange stopper or any other plug from the spout before you
put it on the fire, to avoid serious burns.
The only exception to this rule is if your Kelly Kettle® came with a
green whistle-stopper. A couple of years
ago, Kelly Kettle introduced a new green, whistle-stopper for the larger “Base
Camp” and medium “Scout” model kettles, that you can leave in as the water
boils and which whistles so that you know when the water is boiled.
The Author’s smoke shifter, photograph by the Author.
Something
that will make it easier to light and sustain a fire in a Kelly Kettle® is a “smoke
shifter”, a flexible, plastic tube with a metal end, that you can use to
blow into the wind-hole of the fire base.
I made mine out of three feet (.9 meters) of 5/16 (8 mm) diameter
flexible, plastic fish tank air tubing and a piece of an old metal wind chime. I keep it coiled up in the fire base, when it
is not in use.
The Author demonstrating how to use a smoke shifter, photograph by the Author.
Once
you have the fire going in the Kelly Kettle® and the flames are rocketing out
of the chimney, voilà, you will have boiled water in just a few minutes. Follow the instructions from your Kelly
Kettle® when removing it from the firebase so that you don’t get burned.
Always remove the kettle from the fire base this way and DO NOT put your hands over the chimney! Picture by the Author.
You
can find a lot more information and how-to videos on Kelly Kettles® on the Kelly
Kettle UK website, HERE,
and the Kelly Kettle USA website, HERE.
Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Pandemic Masks...1918
Style©”, where we will talk about how to make pandemic masks the way Grandma
did during the Spanish Influenza pandemic, of 1918.
Originally published in "Illustrated Current News", New Haven, CT. Volume 1, no. 785, 1918, by Paul Thompson.
I
hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me
on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE. Don’t forget to follow me on both The
Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE,
and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube. If you have questions, as always, feel free
to leave a comment on either site. I
announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at
bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.
That
is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!
Notes
1
The average thermal efficiency for campfires is 14%, but it can be as low as 5%
if it is poorly tended, if there is wind or if the wood is moist, and it can be
as high as 20-30% if it is protected from the wind and tended with care. The skill of the person tending the fire and
the weather conditions are responsible for how efficient the fire is. A tip to increase the efficiency of a
three-stone fire is to push the sticks of wood further into the center of the
fire as they burn, this allows the wood to dry out as it is approaching the
flames and when this is done the fire can burn hotter and more efficiently.
Just
to compare, the thermal efficiency of a metal can rocket stoves have an efficiency
of between 23% and 54% (although most sources state that the average efficiency
is 20%), natural gas cooking stoves have an efficiency of 23%, microwave ovens
have an efficiency of 19% and electric stove tops only have an efficiency of
only 13%!
From
“Improving
the three-stone fire”, by C. Ballard-Tremeer and H. H. Jawurek
“Well-Tended
Fires Outperform Modern Cooking Stoves”, by Low-Tech Magazine
2
From personal communications with representatives of Kelly Kettle USA and Kelly
Kettle UK.
Sources
Ballard-Tremeer,
C. and Jawurek, H. H.; “Improving the three-stone fire”, Boiling Point No.
36, November 1995 (ITDG, 1995, page 35), http://www.nzdl.org/cgi-bin/library.cgi?e=d-00000-00---off-0fnl2%2E2--00-0----0-10-0---0---0direct-10---4-------0-1l--11-en-50---20-about---00-0-1-00-0-0-11-1-0utfZz-8-00&cl=CL2.7.3&d=HASHb8c186878d47dbd7754211.7.3>=1, accessed
August 9, 2021
“Well-Tended
Fires Outperform Modern Cooking Stoves”, Low-Tech Magazine,
https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2014/06/thermal-efficiency-cooking-stoves.html,
accessed August 9, 2021
