My new Kelly Kettle

 I haven't posted much in here lately as I've been caring for my mother and unable to go on any trips. I'm hoping to get out and about again this summer though. In anticipation of that, I bought a new Kelly Kettle last week. It will be nice to be able to boil water and cook without having to buy propane and butane so often.

Today I lit up my Kelly Kettle for the first time. Here are some photos showing you what happened. It was a VERY windy day. The wind was really whipping around and I didn't choose the best place to do this. It took about 7 minutes for the water to boil.

At any rate, this worked GREAT and what a simple way to boil water or cook with nothing but a few sticks I picked up off the ground. It did make a lot of black smoke but that's probably because I used junky bark and leaves. This will be a great addition to my van

My shiny new kettle

Be sure the whistle is pointing DOWN so you don't get a steam burn.

I just built a small fire in the pan using leaves, sticks, and paper I found on the ground. It really was a dirty fire and burned some nasty black smoke. I'll be more cautious what I use next time, but I'm learning.

I had some fat wood so I splintered a small piece to get the fire started.

It was incredibly windy, but the fire took off easily as it was contained in the pan.

I found a piece of 1x4 and splintered it.

This may be what was so smoky.

Fatwood. You can buy this and all you need is a tiny piece to get the fire started.

You can also forage it if you're in the forest.

A piece of fatwood being split

I lit the fire. 

It lit very easily.

Once it had just started to burn, I set the kettle on top.

It immediately took off and was roaring.

This is, after all, nothing more than a miniature rocket stove!

I took video but for some reason, it won't upload.

Once the kettle whistled, the water was boiling.

It took about 7 minutes from start to finish.

I think with practice I can get this down to 3-4 minutes.

All in all, I feel this was a purchase that was worth the cash.

I'm looking forward to using it in the wild

or in emergency situations where I need to boil water for safety

or for convenience when the power is out.

Now to get Joe to build the kitchen in the back . . .