Wednesday, February 7, 2018
More stove tips
More stove tips

OK, another tip is about New Age picnic tables and Old Coleman Stoves. You may have noticed that some public agencies are using picnic tables made from recycled milk jugs or other "green" plastic material. This is a nice idea but the tables dont mix with Old Coleman stoves. Nope, like oil and water. The heat coming from the bottom of the stove can melt one of those table tops faster than a New York Minute. Thats why we always carry a piece of wood larger than the bottom of the stove. Its in case we need to protect the picnic table top. Besides looking really ugly, the melted plastic really STINKS and its probably emitting toxic fumes, too.
Keep the stove clean. Its a really good idea to keep the grease and cooking splatter off your stove. A dirty stove attracts flies, mice and other vermin. It might even attract bears in Bear Country, too. Once a year, we take the stove body to the car wash and blast the heck out of it. Then we turn it upside down and let it thoroughly dry out. we also use a caustic cleaner to remove grease and oil. Were pretty Type A about keeping the stove clean. Luckily, Old Colemans are easy to clean.
Theres one other tip about those old stove. Use a fine (REALLY fine) piece of wire to periodically poke into the small holes that rim the circumference of the burner plates. They do get clogged and keeping them clean will give you an even flame and a much hotter burner.
Well, thats about it for Coleman stoves. I will take one last look in my stove bag and see if I forgot anything.