Category Archives: How-To

i.materialise Stops Bronze Infused Steel Printing – Kills BD Caps after March 28, 2025

Posted on by

Hi folks

If you want to buy a BD silent damper cap for your modern or vintage stove. Now is the time. You have a deadline of 28/5/2025 (May 28th, 2025) to place that order.

https://i.materialise.com/en/shop/designer/gary-adams

Cap instructions: https://www.berniedawg.com/berniedawg-silent-damper-cap-instructions/

Here is why.
I received this email on 16/5/2025:

Will there be more caps sometime in the future from some other outlet? Maybe or maybe not. I ain’t getting any younger and the logistics of setting up another source are daunting. So! If you want one, NOW is the time to act. Sorry this is this way. Dumb that I get less than two weeks notice and have to pass that on to you. Out of my control however. Still, I’m so sorry it should be that way.

Link again: https://i.materialise.com/en/shop/designer/gary-adams
BD

Radius “Special Silent” UFO Silent Burner Cap Compatibility

Posted on by

Hi BD
Can I use the Radius UFO silent cap on a standard silent burner?
Signed, Silent Guy

Nope. Sorry, Silent Guy. A lot of people don’t realize that there is a size difference between the two types of burners. The Radius “Special Silent” burner is substantially smaller than the standard #5-sized silent burner.

“Special Silent” on the left, standard #5 sized burner on the right

If the spigot tube on the “Special Silent” (aka the UFO burner) looks smaller than the #5 spigot tube, that’s because it is. The “Special Silent” spigot tube has an outer diameter of 14.5mm while the OD on the #5 burner is 16mm. So, no way the UFO cap will fit on the #5 burner.

If you have not got a #5 burner in hand, here’s how the “Special Silent” compares to a standard sized #1 roarer burner. Hope that helps. BD

 

Stove Part Supplier Links

Posted on by

Here’s a list of stove part suppliers that I’ve used or know about. As I think on it, I may add more, so check back frequently. Pretty sure this list is current as of December 2021. These suppliers tend to come and go in many cases. If I’m wrong about a supplier drop me an email and I’l investigate/fix it. If I’ve listed your outfit and you don’t want to be listed just let me know in an email. If you find a dead link or if you know of a link I should add, please let me know by emailing: bd@berniedawg.com and I’ll try to add, update or remove it as required as soon as possible. Thanks!

USA:
EU
UK:
Australia:
South Korea:
Taiwan:
  • philbeagle (Various stove/lantern parts) – https://www.ebay.com/usr/philbeagle/       I can no longer recommend the British Military #12 silent cap from Philbeagle as it has undergone revisions that make it a poor performer without significant modifications involving re-machining some of the parts.
  • simonchantwus_gmail (PentaWrenches, stove and lantern parts) – https://www.ebay.com/str/supercorselantern
  • chi5972 (stove and lantern fabricated parts) –
  • https://www.ebay.com/usr/chi5972/
  • kitelamp (sells remakes of various hard-to-find stove and lantern accessories) Has moved away from eBay and sells directly through this website – https://www.kitelamp.com Has lots of really good and awesome products!
  • ama3736 https://www.ebay.com/str/BOTEXX-TOOLS/ eBay seller sells a small number of parts and graphite packing for many stoves – sadly has now decided (1/2021) that “shipping costs too much” for them to ship products to Canada, Hawaii and much of the rest of the world. ???? Still ships to the mainland USA and the UK at this time, but I’d suggest going to KiteLamp for standard sized graphite packings for a better deal instead: https://www.kitelamp.com/en/product/graphite-ring_en/?v=7516fd43adaa

Svea 123 or 123R Spindle Key Uses

Posted on by

The Swedish-made Svea 123R is a great stove. The “R” means it has a built-in cleaning needle. The spindle key that comes with the vintage stoves has several cut-outs in the key. The purpose of the cut-outs is to lighten the spindle key, to allow the key to dissipate heat and to serve as useful tools for the stove in the field. Here is a quick explanation of the functions of the tool cutouts in the spindle key.

Swedish-made Svea 123R with spindle key

Spindle key detail

Svea 123R – Loosen fuel cap

Svea 123R – Adjust spindle nut and tighten graphite packing

Svea 123R – loosen/tighten jet

The predecessor of the Svea 123R is the Svea 123 (it has no “R” in the stove name.) The spindle key that was bundled with Svea 123R stoves also had cutouts for this earlier version, the Svea 123. The keys were used interchangeably during the years that both types of stoves were co-produced.

Svea 123R stove on right. Svea 123 (no R) on the left.

The spindle nut is smaller on the Svea 123, and the opening in the photo below is used to tighten or loosen the spindle nut. Usually used to tighten the nut as the graphite packing in the spindle wears with use.

This part of the tool is for the spindle nut on the Svea 123 (no R)

This part of the tool is for the smaller jet on the Svea 123 (no R)

The cheaply made and low quality Optimus Svea 123R stoves now coming out of Taiwan still feature a spindle key that includes the opening for the Svea 123 spindle nut even though the Taiwanese never made that stove and that stove stopped being produced in Sweden pre-1970.

Some people, new to these sorts of stoves, or with little background on these stoves, will claim that the Taiwan stoves are of equal quality. But, sadly, those people have never had a genuine Swedish-made Svea in their hands. It is fairly well documented on social discussion forums about stoves that the Taiwanese Svea 123R stoves are of lesser fit and finish than the original Swedish made stoves. There have been quite a few reports about failures to positively shut-off straight out of the box. In my own work repairing stoves I have had a half dozen brand new Taiwanese Svea 123Rs sent to me in just the last year for failures to positively shut-off. The spindle seats are often poorly formed and the brand new stoves will leak right out of the box. If you are considering the purchase of a Svea 123R, PLEASE buy a used vintage one. There are lots of them around and they are much better made than the poor quality Taiwan stoves.

NRV Head Dimensions

Posted on by
Hi BD
I want to fix my old stove and I need to get the NRV out of the pump tube to replace the old rotten pip. I tried to buy one of those NRV wrenches from S. Korea and, then, from the UK, but those sellers don’t seem to be able to ship overseas due to COVID-19. Can you tell me the dimensions of the NRV head, please?
TIA, Old Stove Guy
Hi, Old Stove Guy
Sure. You bet. Here are some photos. All measurements in millimeters. This is a genuine Sweden-stamped and Swedish-made NRV. The dimensions are proper for the vast majority of NRVs in stoves out there. Be aware there are a few stove companies that vary from this style. Optimus, Primus, Radius, Svea/Sievert and Enders all use this style of NRV.
P2070106.jpgP2070108_2.jpg
Length
P2070110_2.jpg
Width
P2070112_2.jpgP2070113_2.jpg
Depth
P2070114_2.jpg
Head diameter (just for interest)
Iif you are a home hobby sort, it’s probably easiest to take a steel bolt just under the inside diameter of your pump tube, cut off the threads with a hacksaw, and then cut a slot just slightly undersized in the end of the cut-off bolt with the hacksaw. Clean the cut to exact dimensions with a file. The end will look like the end of this more polished out-of-production NRV wrench made by now-retired and out-of-sight tool maker Stu Burgess in England: (In other words, you can’t get these any more.)
P2070115_2.jpgP2070117_2.jpg
If you are more of a machinist, maybe have a vertical mill, you can use a 4mm end mill with two passes in your mill and make a closed end wrench like this:
P2070118_2.jpgP2070120_2.jpg
The closed-end wrench just above is an original Optimus wrench for marine stoves. The advantage of the closed end wrench is that it won’t do this in use:
P2070125_2.jpg
I tried to make this one up from a bolt recently to fit into a specialty off-brand stove whose NRV head is down inside a pocket in the end of the pump tube. That’s a rare stove and you don’t have that concern.
The failed example I show directly above is made from a too small diameter bolt. So, try to keep your bolt as large in diameter as you can to avoid the sides bending out like this. More material gives better support.
Lastly… here are some unsolicited pointers:
  1.  – the best way I’ve found to remove NRVs is to put the wrench upright in a vise, put the stove over the wrench, then use strong downward force on the tank to keep the wrench head on the NRV head so it doesn’t skip off the end of the wrench. I demonstrate the technique in this section of one of my YouTube videos: https://youtu.be/2LKsxIYCTko?t=226
  2.  – tighten the NRV just slightly/gently before trying to untighten. This may help to break the brass-to-brass bond if there is no NRV head washer present
  3.  – if you chose to use penetrants… it will do no good at all to put the penetrating oils down the pump tube. The NRV is air and liquid tight sealed inside that pump tube. Instead, use a small brush and reach inside the tank through the fuel filler to apply penetrant to the outsides of the pump tube where it will run down the tube and get into the exposed threads of the NRV that are hanging out at the end of the threaded pump tube end block. That is where you want penetrating oils to assist.
Hope that helps. Good luck!
BD

Heat & Air Clean Regulated Burners?

Posted on by

Hi BD
Is it possible to “heat and air clean” the carbon and other crud from a regulated burner using compressed air and a torch?
Thanks!
Burner Guy

Hi Burner Guy
Thanks for your question! Yes! Absolutely, you can clean regulated burners using the manufacturer approved heat and air cleaning method. Like all burners, you’ll want to disassemble the burner, removing the jet, the spindle and the spindle nut.
But, you’ll need to close off the spindle opening.
So how to block the opening at the spindle? What I did was take a spare spindle nut and silver braze a cap on the open end. I just used a slip of brass sheet over the open end and machined it round after the brazing. But, you could leave it rough and all and it would still do the job. 

Once threaded into the spindle housing, the modified spindle nut will direct the air through all parts of the burner and out the jet.

Hope this helps!

(PS – Before anyone asks… yes, this is a very odd burner and is somewhat rare. It was close to hand from a long-term stove project I’m working on. So, yeah, it looks a little different from your everyday standard regulated but the idea is still the same.)
BD