Bosavi: Something cool by somebody else

June 8, 2012

A couple weeks ago, I backed a Kickstarter project called Bosavi by Dan Freschl. It’s a lightweight, usb-rechargeable headlamp, with a keen mix of functionality that both allows very high 110 lumen output when you really need as much light as you can get and includes battery life management features like very low 4 lumen […]

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Outsourcing order fulfillment!

June 4, 2012

In preparation for the Boiler’s third act, I’ve finally made the move to outsource order fulfillment. My wife is most excited about the news and the reclaimation of our apartment from at least some of the Boiler’s paraphernalia. Once everything gets to the fulfillment center, it should shorten the time between when orders are placed […]

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On the road again

May 25, 2012

To prototype the Boiler, I only had to go as far as my back porch. To make the first large batch, it was across town. But ever since, I’ve been hitting the highway – in search of capacity and capability. I’ve put thousand of miles on my car to meet potential contract manufacturers and check […]

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Back to making

May 19, 2012

After I shipped them out early last year, owners of the first large batch of Boilers had two primary accessory requests: an alcohol burner for wet or fire-ban days and a pot stand to allow a small mug to be heated over the Boiler’s chimney while in use. I developed both last summer and released […]

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And we’re back

May 10, 2012

It’s been an odd several months here at the Boilerwerks. I’ve gotten tons of interest in the Backcountry Boiler from individuals, new and traditional press, distributors, really cool companies who want to collaborate – but I’ve also been wholly paralyzed by a spectacularly under-performing metal spinning shop. (I didn’t track it on the blog, but […]

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Inspiration: Cindy Gilbert Ride the Talk

September 14, 2011

As I mentioned in both of my posts on Kickstarter, one of the best parts of the whole experience is the cool people I’ve been able to meet as a result. Cindy Gilbert is one of those people. Cindy heads up the Sustainable Design Certificate program at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and […]

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FireFelt videoed, available (HWP)

August 16, 2011

The FireFelt Alcohol Wick for the Backcountry Boiler is now available to order here and ships immediately. From stock – what a great idea – I could get used to that. The above video shows the wick in use, and this post gives some of the background. It’s pretty slick if I do say so […]

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FireFelt Alcohol Wick: Alternative fuel for the Backcountry Boiler

August 10, 2011
Thumbnail image for FireFelt Alcohol Wick: Alternative fuel for the Backcountry Boiler

While suppliers have been busily working on components for the Kickstarters’ Backcountry Boiler 2.0, I’ve taken the opportunity to finally finish an alcohol fuel solution for the Boiler. It’s not a stove, or really even a burner – it’s a wick. And it’s made of a particularly robust variety of carbonized rayon felt, or as […]

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Silicone prototyping

August 2, 2011
Thumbnail image for Silicone prototyping

Right now, a shop in eastern Pennsylvania is working on 1000 custom injection-molded silicone stoppers for the Backcountry Boiler. But the tooling and custom color formulation are costing a pretty penny. And they certainly weren’t available to me when I wanted to make a prototype for testing. So, as is my MO, I made one […]

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Kickstarted

July 10, 2011

The blog has been away for a while, and there’s no other way to come back than to state the obvious. Kickstarter worked werked. Really, really well. The funding the Boiler got on there was just tremendous. All kinds of people – like Treehugger (!) – have been saying really nice things about the Boiler. […]

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