About us
BUSHBUDDY craftsmanship is known to be unmatched. We take the long and tedious route in making our stoves even though there are much quicker methods. However, there are no better methods to build a stove to survive through the test of time than ours. We use the best techniques of craftsmanship, backed by our name. It is not our business to build the most inexpensive stoves, make false claims, or use aggressive advertising. We craft our stoves, like works of art, to be the best stoves available and back it with a lifetime guarantee. As craftsmen, that is the best that we can offer.
The Bushbuddy was the first portable double-walled and heat-shielded stove that did not require batteries.
Being handmade, every individual stove is made with thought and is in a little way, unique. It takes great advantage over products that are stamped out, mass produced, and serialized on a production line.
HISTORY
The story of the Bushbuddy Stove began in Canada in 1999 with Fritz Handel. He had come across a fan-operated wood stove that ran on batteries. At the time, it was a good design although it was not very practical to be reliant on batteries when journeying out in the wilderness. The first Bushbuddy prototype was a simple conical stove based on an old Gypsy design used by wandering tinsmiths to heat their soldering iron.
This first design worked very well but had the problem of charring the ground under it. As the design progressed, it became smaller and more compact with a heat-shield integrated into the stove.
The leftmost stove in the picture is what the conical Gypsy stove looked like and ending with the modern Bushbuddy at the end.
For the extended history of the Bushbuddy company, please view this interview with Fritz Handel by clicking here.
In 2010, Fritz started training me--Jeff and my wife Belle, to make Bushbuddy stoves. After being real pleased with the result of my picky craftsmanship, Fritz and I agreed to create Nomadic Stove Company. It was born to help cater to Bushbuddy customers. Bushbuddy and Nomadic Stove Company ran together simultaneously and created identical Bushbuddy Stoves (as a matter of fact, Nomadic Stoves had many parts made by Fritz himself) in their own separate trademarks.
In late 2016, Fritz had decided to retire from stove making. We wanted the Bushbuddy name to continue in honor of him being the original creator of the stove and that leads to what Bushbuddy is now.
Every Bushbuddy stove that we produce is now made here in our off-grid workshop in the middle of the woods (literally) in Alaska.
We just want to say a huge "thank you" cordially. Bushbuddy customers are the best people in the world and we feel so blessed. Your support gives us the motivation to continue moving forward in keeping Bushbuddy running.