No More Ashes in the Soup

[Jim Coke]

Greetings All,

 

         I decided to spend the day in my shop and road test my new AJ Cergol Hammer...  I made a few more of my signature  Dutch oven pot lid lifters..  I designed these years ago and they have worked well ..   Most of the factory and available lid lifters just don't work so I designed my own..  If you have ever cooked in a Dutch oven you know the problem..  Mine locks on the lifter ring and allows you to lift the lid to view or stir without dumping any of the top coals or ashes in the food pot..  I make slight variations but they all work the same..   Feel free to copy my design and you won't be disappointed with the results..  Oh the hammer is great and will serve me well...  Thanx A.J.

 

 

Forge on and make beautiful things

 

Jim

[VaughnT]

That's a truly beautiful concept!  I've always hated the standard lid hooks, but haven't ever considered an idea like yours.  And it looks like it will work on every size and shape of handle out there.  Genius.

 

I've been thinking about getting one of those Cergol hammers.  He certainly has a nice range of styles.

[notownkid]

Very nice! Great concept, fabulous workmanship.

[ausfire]

I've made many many standard camp oven lid lifters but as you say, without a locking device you run the risk of ashes in the damper.
Yours are the epitome of lid lifters! An ingenious mechanism ... and I am astounded that you made these three in one day at the forge??

[Frosty]

Very nice lid lifters. I used to carry a fireplace brush along to sweep the ashes off before opening the oven or skillet. I'm thinking I'd rather have thought of something like this years ago instead.

 

Well done, .

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

Thats a "bragging tool" all right. You could sell them for outrageous prices to folks trying to impress others with their set up! (Contests have been won by being a bit fancier than the next fellow...)

[Chinobi]

Very elegant solution!  I like it :)

[Jim Coke]

Greetings All,

 

Thanks for all the comments..  It is a fine tool and if you make one it will serve you well..

 

AUSFIRE

 

     I had one of the lifters almost made before I started but it was still a full days work to complete them all....  Hey I am 70 and slowing down a bit.. 

 

 

Forge on and make beautiful things

 

Jim

[Black Frog]

Very slick idea and execution there Jim. Consider that saved for future reference. :)

[GottMitUns]

Jim,

 

    Our main cook at church is going to be cooking with Dutch ovens on the first of next month, and since Frosty had not seen one of those I was betting our guy hadn't eather so I stole your idea, but not your design (I don't have the skill to pull off one like yours!).

 

Here is what I came up with

[ThomasPowers]

An interesting variation! Do the bars really need to be that heavy? How off balance do the lids get?

[GottMitUns]

Not sure how off balance the lids are but I KNOW how off balance some of the cooks are!!! :lol: I used 1/2" Square and 1/2x1"  because that's what I had on hand yesterday.  It used about 6-1/2 feet of the square and about 7" of the rectangle,  to me the weight feels about right for the job its doing,  but I overbuild everything.

 

Russell

[ThomasPowers]

I tend to like overbuilding things too and then the cooks come back and berate me and ask for lighter tools. I generally work with a couple of ladies who specialize in medieval cooking so my 1/2" sq stock tools tend to be on display and 3/8" sq stock get used. In fact my wife "stole" one of my forge rakes to use in the woodstove as it was of lighter build than I thought proper for working a woodstove. It does work a treat for the stove though...

[ausfire]

Russell, nice variation. So it's the weight of the double sliding bar that keeps the lid stable?
I like the split handle for the finger grip. I use bull heads for that - the long horns make great handles, and cattlemen like them.
I have not heard this term 'Dutch ovens'. In Aus we call them camp ovens - used extensively on mustering camps (and general recreational camps nowadays) for cooking damper.

[DSW]

I like that idea. I used to do a fair bit with Dutch ovens in Scouts. I may be doing some stuff with them again in the near future, so I'll have to keep this in mind if this troop does a bunch of dutch oven cooking.

[GottMitUns]

Ausfire,

 

   Yes, the weight from the double bars helps keep the lid stable. I don't think it will work as well as the cam action on Jim Cokes setup but as I said before, I don't have the talent to pull that off yet.

[kubiack]

Jim's design is very nice, I do like it. However I have found the best thing to use on my Dutch oven lids is a heavy pair for 3/8" bolt tongs. If you make them with a square opening through the side of the jaws so that you can hold stock perpendicular to the handle then they will hold the loop on the Dutch oven lid very securely. They don't look nearly as pretty as Jim's do but if you already have them in your tong collection and don't want to take the time to make a dedicated lid lifter then they are an excellent alternative. As a bonus there always seems to be something hot around the campfire that needs picked, cooking grates, coffee pots, the bail on the Dutch oven, coal and the tongs work good for these items as well.

[Jim Coke]

Greetings Gott,

 

I like your design of my lid lifter ...   I think you will find that you must use 2 hands to keep it stable...  You might consider a spring to hold the center portion tight so it locks in better ..   I love to toss things out there and see what others come up with...   My design only requires 1 small forge weld and a bit of file and saw work...  With my design the hook on the top end is also used for the pot bail to lift the whole oven...   Keep a thinkin...

 

Forge on and make beautiful things..

 

Jim

[EricJergensen]

Ausfire: even here in the states you will find that when someone is being pedantic, "camp oven" is the unit with the feet on it and "Dutch oven" is the unit with no feet. All of mine are technically "camp ovens" and therefore rather awkward to use on a wire rack in a kitchen oven, but great for stacking with coals on camp out.

[george m.]

Dear Eric,

 

I had always been taught the exact opposite.  A Dutch oven had legs and and iron pot didn't.  According to what appears to be a trustworthy Wikipedia article a Dutch oven is just a pot with a tight fitting lid.  The ones with legs and a flat, rimmed lid are cowboy, chuck wagon, or camping Dutch ovens.  They are called "Dutch" because the casting process was perfected in Holland before the English started producing similar products.

 

Even more pedantically,

George M.