Woodlife

As I said in the previous post, I spent some time looking at cooksets this weekend and especially the new Pocket Cooker which arrived last week. It was advertised on Ebay as a ‘second’ at half price, but arrived with no visible sign of damage or fault.

The size is definitely ‘pocket’ although the weight isn’t. It’s really surprisingly heavy. The purple case has a belt loop, but the weight would probably pull your trousers down! The hinge mechanism at one side of the cooker allows it to be folded away. The other side isn’t hinged and held on merely by a small split ring, which might not stand up to any rugged use. With care though, I think the whole thing would last, as long as you cleaned and dried it after use. It seems as though it would be quite prone to rust.

Setting it up doesn’t take long and after finding appropriate fuel (it’s described as a wood burner) you can load up and fire it up. This didn’t seem to be a problem. I did find that initially it’s easier to load the fuel from the top of the cooker as opposed to through the hinged door at the front, this entrance being a little small. Once alight, you can load additional fuel from the front, but as stated it is a bit awkward because of the small size. You can use this door to vary the airflow and draw or dampen the fire. The ground clearance from the base of the cooker is very small, and it will scald the surface of whatever you place it on, but it does provide airflow.

The trick to the whole thing is keeping the cooker alight. Unlike an open fire or fire bowl, you haven’t got a lot of room to manoeuvre in order to keep it alight. But with the right materials, you can boil a mug full of water or heat food in no time, and of course get that nice wood smell. The unit cools down quickly after use and you can pack it away quickly.

Where and in what circumstances would I use it? Mmmm…good question. It’s fun to use and I was more impressed than I thought I’d be. I wouldn’t use it over a SA Trangia as a matter of course. Some areas don’t allow open fires and it’s probably here that I would bring it along if I wanted a wood fuelled cooking system. The compact size is a definite advantage. I think the best way to describe it is …fun. I think I’ll leave it there and revisit it at a later date after using it more. You can view the quick video I made here.

I won’t be around for a Sunday post this weekend as I’m off on a family holiday to sunny Spain for a week. Hopefully, I’ll get my lazy, idle self away from the poolside to do some exploring and maybe even some ‘Bushcraft Espanol’! If I can, I’ll try and email a post while I’m there.

Planned posts still to come…Companion Mk2 knife review; Possible’s Pouch Revisited; A Word on Torches (flashlights); Peripheries of Bushcraft; Neck Carry; Maps and Mapping; as well as the usual posts about blundering around the woods.

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.