The Core FRAG Ultimate Titanium Stove was designed to be the smallest storing, toughest, most versatile, trustworthy, micro wood burning stove available.
It's made up of a bunch of small titanium fragments that stow away in a tough stove bag thats smaller than the size of your hand but assembles into a great little stove that you can actually depend on.
There's nothing more frustrating that cooking over a wimpy, smoky fire that won't keep the heat under your pot in the wind or stay lit so its 5.3 inches high, 3.5 inches wide x 3.5 inches deep and big enough to have a decent cooking fire in it yet small enough that it'll support smaller cups. It breathes from the bottom for a stovepipe draft and feeds from the front, so you don't have to break down all your fuel into tiny little pieces; just shove a few long sticks in there and push them in or out to control the heat. It comes with a grill for grilling small food items (scorpions, chipmunks, the usual) or it can be used to support small cups. It also comes with a rocket port type weather shield to keep the weather out and the heat in... because it sux when half your stick pile is burning up outside the door of your micro stove.
There's also a custom alcohol stove option that's tough, dependable and works really well... OR use your favorite soda can stove with it. Its an option so make sure to add it to your order by checking the box in the 'Additional Performance Options' section above if you want one.
Here's how it works:
When assembled the FRAG stands 5.3 inches tall so it has a good draft and the sides of the burn chamber fully protect it from the wind to keep the heat in. Starting at the bottom, the sides have ports at the bottom to allow fresh air to come up through the burn plate. The burn plate is where the stove gets much of the oxygen required for the combustion process. The holes in the burn plate are uniquely sized so that they let enough air in that the fuel can burn efficiently, but not so much that residual heat necessary to ignite damp wood is immeditately drafted away (which is a problem with many updraft stoves). The holes are also the perfect size to allow pretty good sized coals to be maintained. So, if you happen to turn around for a minute and your fuel has flamed out, there's a nice bed of small hot coals that aren't buried in ash, waiting patiently to re-ignite whatever fuel you stick in there.
Next, the Top Lit Up Draft (TLUD) plate slows down the exhaust flow and creates a heat reflection chamber so that heat can build inside the burn chamber and not immediately escape. This improves the performance of the stove by:
- Compounding the heat in the burn chamber to bake the wood and dry wet wood.
- Smoothing the flame flow and focusing it into the center of the cooking surface.
- Creating a vacuum under the TLUD plate near the top which causes the stove to draw fresh oxygenated air into the exhaust flow from the side ports to assist with the combustion process.
- It also supports almost any soda can alcohol stove positioning the flames at a level thats at an ideal 1 inch below the cooking surface and has tabs to help support smaller alcohol stoves.
- It also allows you to burn wood pellets in full woodgas mode for a no smoke, no stoke fire that can last up to 30 minutes or more.
The top of the stove has Pot Supports that clip into the sides of the stove. Once they're installed they stay in place and they're what allows the stove to pack so small. The pot supports have a couple unique features:
- They have tabs on their lower sides that snap into the lower side panels of the stove so the panels really stay in place.
- They have hooks on the sides that rest on the top edge of the stoves side plates for weight and strength distribution. Those hooks help the stove to support more weight than you'll ever need too cook with. I've stood on my stove and it didn't flinch.
- They have two little slots near the bottom edge which releases the vacuum pressure between the flame exiting the TLUD plate and the sides of the pot supports so the exhaust flow is smooth up to the cooking surface and also prevents soot buildup in that area of the stove due to turbulance. They also help the alcohol burner maintain a correct draft flow.
- They allow the stove to exhaust freely even when a pot is on the stove, while blocking much of the wind
The fuel port is protected by a weather shield that snaps in and blocks the wind, rain and most importatnly directs the heat from any fuel thats burning up near or outside of the fuel port, back into the stove.
Woodgas Mode
The top of the weather shield top plate can be used like a door to block the fuel port when burning wood pellets in wood gas mode. First, install the plate from the inside so the hinge points out the front of the stove and it hangs down and blocks the fuel port. Then fill the stove with wood pellets (or vertically stacked sticks) up to the afterburner holes. Then either light a pilot fire on the top or pour in a half ounce of alcohol over the pellets and light to get them going. It'll burn with no smoke for about half an hour or more without needing to be stoked. It works really good! Its fun blowing out the flame and re-lighting the smoke!
The Ultimate kit also comes with a 4 inch x 4 inch titanium micro grill that, as mentioned, is good for grilling bugs and critters... or food.
Here's an awesome video a FRAG torture test by Mark Smiley on his youtube channel "sameold77"
The FRAG Alcohol Stove
Sometimes its nice to cook clean and not have to scrounge for dry wood, so we designed a custom ultralight alcohol stove for the FRAG that fits into the top of the stove and rests on the TLUD plate. The alcohol stove is so small that it fits inside the stove bag with the stove! It works really well too. It can easily boil two cups of water in around 5 minutes with only 1 oz of alcohol (in protected wind conditions). Its also really light weight and surprisingly pretty tough, and if you do somehow smash it, its only a couple bucks to replace. The FRAG Alcohol Stove is an option so make sure to add it to your order by checking the box in the 'Additional Performance Options' section if you want one for your stove.
Here's how the alcohol stove works:
First, we decided to go with a re-fillable stove because remotely fueled stoves tend to have more parts, problems, leaks and things that can go wrong. The stove has a capacity of about 1.5 oz which is more than enough to boil a few cups of water for a hot drink or to cook a small meal. Its also adjustable so that you can set it to burn really hot and fast or low and slow.
The way it works is; the sides of the stove have ports that allows air to flow into the center of the stove. The top has a hole in it to allow the flame and exhaust out. Basically the top creates a heat reflection chamber and draft path that directs and controls how air flows into and out of the stove.
In order for the alcohol to burn, it needs oxygen. When you first light the alcohol its cold and it needs to heat up to cause it to evaporate more, so it can burn more. The top and sides protect the fuel and flame from wind so that it can heat up and evaporate more. Something has to replace the hot air that's leaving the combustion chamber, so air is drawn into the stove through the side ports. This causes a draft directly into the core of the stove, causing more oxygen to come into contact with more alcohol vapors, which burn to create more heat, which has to exhaust, which causes more air to be drawn in, etc.
Without the top and the controlled airflow, the only part that gets oxygen is the vapors at the edges and whatever can get through the vacuum of the hot air in the flames exhausting out the top. Thats why you'll see similar stoves that have a wimpy little yellow flame that can't hold up to the slightest breeze.
The top also allows the alcohol stove to be adjustable. You can open the side ports all the way up for a fast hot burn, or push the top down a little or a lot for a long slow simmer.
The stove also comes with a liner of carbon felt that acts as both an insulator in cold weather and as a wick when its so cold that the alcohol has a difficult time evaporating.
Its also possible to remotely fuel it (if you must) by connecting a piece of RC Car fuel line to your alcohol fuel bottle and refilling it from the bottle when needed (sounds scary but there's youtube videos on the subject if you're interested and it looks safer than it sounds).
Solid Fuel
If you like Esbit or other solid fuel, use solid fuel in it instead of alcohol and it basically works the same way.
- Is it so tough that you can stand on it? - Yes
- Does it pack up completely flat into a bag smaller than your hand? - Yes
- Does it work better than a fire in a metal box? - Yes, we believe it does.
- Does it require you to break up your fuel into little bitty pieces in order to feed it - No
- Does it come with a grill - Yes
- Does it support just about any soda can alcohol stove - Yes
Weights:
4.9 oz Stove Only
5.3 oz With grill
5.7 oz with Bag
Dimensions:
5.3 inches tall
4 in x 4 in wide
*For more specification information see the Specifications tab on the upper left
Assembly Instructions
Core Frag Assembly Instructions PDF
