Monday 21 March 2011

Borde Petrol Stove

Penistone Crag in Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights” is usually identified with Ponden Kirk, and the hole is thus the “fairy cave” where Hareton courted the younger Cathy.
I've mentioned Lavazza coffee in a couple of posts here it's brewed in a Lavazza Espresso Pot on a Borde Petrol Stove
I  fired up the stove and took some photo’s this afternoon.
The Borde Stove was created in 1956 by the Swiss inventor Joseph Borde and was later transferred over to Norbert Baader who is still making them by hand. Only a couple hundred are made a year.
I've gathered a kit around it which all fits into an old toffee tin
What comes with the stove is a hinged windshield and pot stand, a wire stabilizer for the stove and a flame adjustment key I've added a cigarette lighter petrol tin, the stove was designed to run off ordinary motor petrol but this has all sorts of additives and burns very sooty, It runs fine on lighter fuel but when the tin is empty I fill it with “Panel Wipe” which is about £12 for 5 litres and use it in several petrol stoves and lanterns,while white gas or Coleman fuel with the rip off price of up to £60 for 5Ltrs. is the same thing "Naptha" (but please do your own reasearch) Next is a cooks gas blow torch (Uuummm! crème brulee) and a gas re-fill that is fillable and fits the torch
To light even if it doesn't need fuel you unscrew the back bolt using the flame rod
and the 3/4 fill if required but this is also to let air into the chamber, here I've had to put it into a mug to photograph, I normally just hold it
then screw the bolt back in, open the star flame adjuster and turn the stove upside down until a drop comes out. Here back in the 1950's you then lit the leaking petrol and waved it about abit until it got hot enough to preheat, but I close the flame adjuster star and with the stove the right way up heat the burner coils with the cooks blow torch, after 30 seconds using the flame adjuster open the star wheel a tiny bit and keep the blow torch on the coils, you can open slowly as the flame gets stronger
very soon you don't need the blow torch as the whole stove is hot enough there’s no chance of picking it up ! that the air inside expands and pushes the petrol out which vaporizes in the hot coils and burns with a satisfying ROAR ! here it’s not yet got up to running temperature,
but putting the windshield round it with a Billy on reflects more heat onto the coils
It’s then you usually have to turn it down a touch by turning the star flame spreader with the adjuster

I took the last few photo’s with the flash off and curtains drawn to see the flames but here’s the flash back on to see the adjuster
To turn off you simply screw the adjuster all the way in and allow the stove to cool down, hence the reason for letting air in at the start
They’re affectionately known as :- “ Borde Bombs”
just thought I'd share - cheers all Danny

Anyone reading this from E-Bay link please fell free to add comment ?

3 comments:

  1. That looks very smart.
    I have never come across one of these before. Will it run on surgical spirit?

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  2. No that's alcohol not petrol, look at it the other way round would you try your meths stoves on petrol ? cheers Danny

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  3. I’ve slapped my wrist. Ha.

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