george m. Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Re campfire tripods: The way I make them is to have 2 legs with closed loops at the top and 1 leg with a turn and half spiral loop at the top. The first two thread onto the 3d very securely. If a gallows frame rig is wanted the 2 closed loop legs form the uprights and the spiral topped one the horizontal member. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitch4ging Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 always such great input here, so many options and choices!George, would you have a photo of your methodology?Thanks.Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 U will lock a square spit and then allow it to turn if shifted to a rounded section. For real fussy cooks put the rounded section between two sw sections and then twist it slightly so one sq section is 45 deg off from the other making 8 "settings" (Gotta remember the cook I work for cooks peacock for campout dinners---peaducken one time!) U holders allow spits to be lifted off at any time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitch4ging Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Thomas, that is a good idea, real flexable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 One of the best week long campouts I've ever been on had that cook doing renaissance cooking marvels---she built an oven on site too and then we had a professional and hobby brewer show up with some examples of his work but no food plan---was going to eat out of tin cans. My what a great combination we ended up with!Out here many camping areas are cold camps or only propane allowed due to fire danger. The forge and the cook fire were given special dispensation making for a much nicer camping experience. We were the only people in several thousand allowed to have a fire in camp! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george m. Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Dear Mitch,Here are some photos. This tripod has one closed loop and two spiral topped legs. It would work the other way around. The point is being able to lock them together as a tripod and take them apart for a gallows frame. One disadvantage could be that when you are driving them into the ground for a gallows frame you are hammering on the top of the loops. If the ground is hard you could get distortion in the loops. Since this one is made of half inch square it is beefy enough that I don't think that would be much of a problem. If it was made of 3/8" square there could be an issue.Convertingly,George M. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimsShip Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 Here are a few ideas i've collected from the web over the years. (Maybe this is the year I'll make some of them!)(Credit to the creators/owners if not done, I've had these for awhile and don't recall where they came from!) Here's a great fork holderA rebar camp set-and a "squirrel cooker" from Dancing Frog Forge that I still envy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitch4ging Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Jim, George,Thank you very much for the ideas and photos. I am a visual guy, and the photos help a bunch. I could also see how these would play in to some of the other ideas by Thomas and others! Nothing left but getting busy now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Nice sets Jim. You don't need anything fancy if you let Mr. gravity "dog" the arms in place for you. Sweet squirrel cooker, we don't do much squirrel cooking here but can always use a good toasting/roasting fork idea. Ptarmagin and Spruce hen are darned tasty camp fire fare.George just make a little offset drive iron to beat on so you don't damage the rings or a step near the bottoms so you can drive them into the ground with your foot or a branch.Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 The U version has doubled stock at the drive point for the "gallows" version, the loop is the crossbar and so no issue with deformation. But as I tell my students: "In Blacksmithing there is only *ONE* right way to do things and that is: ANY WAY THAT WORKS!""squirrel roasters" are elegant in their simplicity and allow you to use minimal weight for stuff you have to transport. The next step "down" would be like Frosty showed where you do away with shafts and use locally sourced branches as part of the assembly. (however out here that may be difficult; lots of places with no decent wood to use.)I'll see if I can get some pictures of the basket handled pots tonight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitch4ging Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Frosty, Never had Ptarmagin, is it like Pheasant or sage hen...? EVERYTHING taste better on a camp fire! I was thinking of foot pegs to push the rods down in the ground if needed as well.Thomas, One of these days, maybe between trips, an easy trip for you would be to cut over off highway 25 over on 152 and take a little trip up to Lake Roberts, I think you would enjoy that area. Spent my childhood in that area, and up the Gila on horseback. That's when one of Frosty's small roaster would have been handy, as all we usually had was a cast iron skillet. Now, I'm just the opposite of the young lady Frosty worked with, take the camp trailer, since I'm old, fat and broken. Look forward to a pic of yours!Regards to all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Ptarmigan are a grouse and roast over a fire into a delicious meal. A little salt and pepper dry rub and baste with Pepsi, green alder in the fire for smoke. Oh B A B Y!Thomas has a good point about needing to find a stick to make the pig tail roasting fork work unless you want to use it for a candle holder that is. Were I to need it in Thomas' vicinity I might could just sneak off with a golf club. that's work and it's nicely counter weighted so dinner wouldn't fall into the fire. Of course I suppose if a person weren't good at field expedient improvisation they could just screw it on a walking stick.Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitch4ging Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Of course I suppose if a person weren't good at field expedient improvisation they could just screw it on a walking stick.Frosty The Lucky.Well that works out great for me, as I have to use a walking stick / cane. I'll just mod one up to fit! Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimsShip Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 Frosty- your stick tip, is it just a single length of round stock wound and split at the end for a fork? Hard to see from the pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Bringing your own stick sort of goes against saving cartage by using a stick extension.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 (edited) Yes Jim, a decorative twist and both ends drawn down, one split for the fork the other turned to an expanding helix to screw onto a stick. I don't know where I put the pics that show the roaster or I would've posted one of those. Later ones I used a piece of 1/2" rd 304 SS. a lot trickier to forge but no seasoning worries.Sort of true Thomas but a wooden stick weighs a LOT less than a length of steel long enough to stay back from the fire a comfortable distance.It's been a long time since I spent much desert time and we used sharp sticks to roast with. A fast pass through the fire cleans the thorns off prickly pear, Mmmmm. Of course if the authorities had caught us we would've been in heap deep pucky. S. Cal. can be a little sensitive about camp fires.Frosty The Lucky. Edited February 24, 2015 by Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 bad phone pics but two different pots and the flipper I made to go with them: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camp cook Posted November 8, 2022 Share Posted November 8, 2022 On 2/20/2015 at 9:56 AM, Jim Coke said: Ya think that's cold... -29 in Cadillac Michigan without the wind chill... I agree lets put our minds on another subject... Below is a Lodge Dutch oven lifter that I designed years ago that works real well. No more ashes in the soup.. I have made several for friends and they all love it.. I do demonstrations of period cooking. Love thus. Do you sell and if so how much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted November 8, 2022 Share Posted November 8, 2022 Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. Jim Coke hasn't posted anything on the forum in about a year. So, he may or may not see your query. You might click on his profile and send him a private message of which he will be notified by email. However, a number of us here are into period cookery, anything from ancient through medieval to frontier or fur trade. Depending on where you are you may be able to connect with someone semi local to make what you need. I have more of an interst in ancient and medival cookery but there are others who are into 18th and 19th century foods and preparation. What sort of period, preparation and foods do you do? Given the fact that you are interested in a dutch oven lid lifter I suspect that you may be into colonial or fur trade campfire cookery. I suggest that you put your general location in your profile so we know where you are. That will give you better answers to any of your queries. This is a world wide forum and we don't know if you are in Lapland or Tasmania. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." PS Thanks for reminding me of what I posted 7 years ago. GM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted November 8, 2022 Share Posted November 8, 2022 Welcome from the Ozark mountains. Sad to say I'm past the camping phase of my life but my wife still goes by herself. Most of our forged camping gear has been given to our kids. She likes the convenience of a Coleman stove and the little tear drop trailer we built. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 8, 2022 Share Posted November 8, 2022 I had a friend who did Renaissance Europe cooking. I'd make kitchen stuff for her and she would feed me on long SCA campouts---including twice where we had peacock cooked over an open fire or baked in a dirt beehive oven. I sure miss her----especially as her son sold off a lot of hand forged items that were ON LOAN to her from me... I didn't care enough to go to the sale though, only 3 hours each way... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 9, 2022 Share Posted November 9, 2022 This is how we camp nowadays, we don't sleep on the ground anymore. Unfortunately the official campground fire "pits" are lousy for cooking, it's hard to even burn water, the grates are about a foot above the fire unless you fill the ring completely. They work for toasting hot dogs and marshmallows though so I use the stove in the RV. <sigh> Frosty The lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted November 9, 2022 Share Posted November 9, 2022 we used to camp from early spring til about Halloween, but now its Holiday Inn, I like having hot showers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anvil Posted November 9, 2022 Share Posted November 9, 2022 On 11/7/2022 at 6:34 PM, camp cook said: I do demonstrations of period cooking Nice forging and hinged "hold on"!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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