Here's a link to the same deal from last year and you can search the discussions for more information about the Solo Stoves (this is usually the best price of the year for the stove units, and one of the best prices on the other Solo Stove firepits and bundles): Last year's Solo Stove deal discussions
An easy way to have enough wood to fuel the stoves is to use pruning shears or loppers to cut thin branches (1/4"-1" diameter) into short sections and then stack these vertically in the stoves. This is easier than using a knife or hatchet to break off kindling pieces because you also need to cut them into short sections that fit and these may only be a couple of inches long.
Item 1 of 8
Item 1 of 8
expiredSDxOne posted Nov 11, 2021 11:05 PM
Top Comments
EDIT: However, cooking food directly on a grill over flames on a Solo Stove is not the best way to grill because the flames are more likely to put a layer of soot on the food and it is more likely to catch fire. Chimney starters using charcoal is a much better way to do a high temp grilling than using the Solo Stove units with a wood fire unless you can hold your food high enough to not burn.
Chimney starters work great with charcoal, whereas these Solo Stoves do not work well with charcoal at all--they work best with small pieces of wood, twigs, pine cones, needles--basically any small burnable bits that are a couple of inches in size or smaller.
These Solo stoves are made for slightly slower and more controlled burns. Plus, they have bottoms, so you don't need a fireproof surface underneath them like you need for chimney starters (which will constanly drop hot embers). You can also feed them with small and random pieces of burnable material--chimney starters need objects bigger than a couple of inches otherwise they fall through the bottom.
I can use the Campfire model of these stoves as a small campfire pit for a few people sitting closely around it. Coupled with an inserted stainless steamer basket, I can fill it with wood pellets for an easy fire. A cupful lasts about 30 min.
For those interested in seeing what other Solo Stove owners do with their stoves and firepits, you can visit their FB page (though almost all the posts deal with the larger firepits):
https://www.facebook.co
Join The Conversation
Share your experience with the Slickdeals community
Share information with the community. Please follow our Community Guidelines and be kind!
244 Comments
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
When you want to use it in this "bonfire" mode, you can vertically stack larger pieces of wood so they stick up from the interior and over the three cooking tabs so you can get a taller flame.
Now, if you're in a cold climate and need more heat to stay warr,m then you may want to check the Solo Stove owners page on Facebook for ideas about using a heat deflector to spread out the heat. These stoves send most of the heat straight up and the heat you get from sitting around it has to come from radiant heat from the flames. With a large bonfire from an open camp fire, there is a large flame and a lot of fuel mass that puts out a lot of heat (and smoke and pollution).
With these, you're using a much smaller amount of fuel so you may need to do what other stove owners have done who have devised a way to place a pizza pan about a foot or so over the stove to reflect the heat sideways. One way is to use a rolled cylinder of stiff steel netting, like hardware cloth, larger in diameter than the Solo Stove, and set a steel or aluminum pizza pan on top of it (there may be steel pizza pans about 13" diameter at dollar stores).
But between AMEX offer, AJ CB, and coupon code, pretty good score.
What's the amex offer?
Poor punctuation and autocorrect strike again.....
Also, not quite as enjoyable to have a barrel-o-fire than to have an actual fire on the ground. (I'm a bon fire snob from way back)
What's the amex offer?
I've got the worst AMEX card and I got it. I've been getting a lot of offers that I never used to get, like Dell. Log in to your account and check offers. You have to add it to your card first if you don't already know this.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
There are smaller knock-offs (some which collapse into even smaller parts--you can search on Amazon or other shopping site for "portable wood camping stove" to see other designs) of the smaller version that sell for less and some work on the same principle of using a double wall to produce a secondary burn.
Edited to add: I think the Bonfire is already on the small side for the backyard probably will have to get one separately for the different purposes.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank Hrshycro
Edited to add: I think the Bonfire is already on the small side for the backyard probably will have to get one separately for the different purposes.
Unlike open fires that are totally exposed and can radiate heat from the ground up, these firepits radiate heat mainly from exposed flames over the top. Many Solo Stove owners have made their own alterations to their stoves by placing a round plate, such as a large pizza pan, over the firepit so it deflects some of the heat going straight up and reflects warmth to people sitting around it.
You can see many examples of this on the Solo Stove Owners Facebook Group where it is a popular topic:
https://www.facebook.co
Also, not quite as enjoyable to have a barrel-o-fire than to have an actual fire on the ground. (I'm a bon fire snob from way back)
Yeah, the firepits are rather expensive. There are other brands that make similar firepits that try to reduce the amount of smoke. Breeo is one that is made in the USA, but it is also quite expensive (and also very heavy as it's made with a heavier gauge steel).
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank mike93704
You have to be aware of local fire regulations and seasonal restrictions. Due to dry conditions in many parts of the western US, there are very strict prohibitions against open wood fires in forested areas. In most places, wood fires are banned during the fire season (spring to fall) except in established camping areas with fire rings. And, if you are backpacking, there may be prohibitions against such fires for certain areas or below certain elevations (such as below 10,000 feet or treeline). In dry areas where wildfires can start, only stoves that run on bottled propane/butane gas and possibly liquid fuel may be allowed for cooking.
Some beaches will allow open fires, some will only allow open fires in established fire rings, and some may allow fires in enclosed pits, while other places may ban all open fires.
And then there are areas of the country where burning wood is prohibited in winter due to the local area's geography and climate that can produce temperature inversions leading to high PM2.5 pollution levels from those burning wood.
Join The Conversation
Share your experience with the Slickdeals community
Share information with the community. Please follow our Community Guidelines and be kind!