Cooking Pot Question

abo4ster

abo4ster

Joined
Aug 24, 2003
Messages
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What do think the best material would be for a cooking pot that would be used over open flame repeatedly?

Will a titanium cup take repeated heat to boil water?
 
Just a guess, but I would say stainless steel.

My other choice would be titanium, but I really don't have much experience with Ti cookware.

The reasons are 1) corrosion resistance, in which both Ti and SS are mare than adequate, and 2) thermal conductivity. Stainless is by far mostly iron, and iron conducts heat ~4x better than titanium. Therefore, stainless should make up for its extra weight in fuel savings, at least with white gas. According to REI ( http://www.rei.com/online/store/Lea...tegoryId=Camping&url=rei/learn/camp/cookf.jsp ), stainless will cook food more evenly than Ti.

Other materials like aluminum get "thumbs down" for me because they can contaminate your grub with metal ions and particles.

Weight isn't a great worry for me. If I am really going light, I take no-cook foods with a few MRE entrees.

Scott
 
I agree with beezaur,
Most of my cook pots are stainless steel and they have held up quite well. I own a Campmor Oilcamp 16 0z cup, a USGI Mug, and a Ray Mears Zebra Billy Can. I have used all three alot in open camp fires. The only thing I have done with them is evey once in a while I clean them up with some 1200 grit wet/dry sandpaper. The stainless steel holds up great. I do however have a titanium 700 trek cup on my want list.
 
I got the snow peak 700 ti cup as a back-up for water purification. Nalgene bottle sits in it. Tight fit in the Nalgene pouch, but nice to know it is there if I run out of micro pur tabs.
 
Quiet Bear said:
What do think the best material would be for a cooking pot that would be used over open flame repeatedly?

Will a titanium cup take repeated heat to boil water?
Click to expand...

I can't afford titanium but the ones I've held seemes only slightly lighter than my stainless pot. Weight to toughness ratio, stainless probably is better.

Cheers,

David
 
The deal is- get a TI pot for boiling water only, do not use it to cook food as it is difficult to clean. The TI lets the heat go right through it into the water and you end up getting faster hot water and using less fuel, it is worth it.

I use the same TI cup/nalgene bottle, the cup is big enough for one meal worth of water and gets one person going while the next cup is boiling.

Try boiling with paper for some fun!

David




Michael_Aos said:
I haven't used one, but hard-anodized aluminum dutch ovens looks amazing.

Mike
Click to expand...
 
Any source in the USA for these Billy's? I checked out the Mears site and they are Very pricey, over $40.00 to get the small one delivered in the US with the exchange rate what it is. <><
 
Aluminum and the rumored association with alzheimers cause me great concern. I use stainless steel. My cooking pots at home and in the field is the MSR stainless steel pot with the folding handle.
 
MelancholyMutt said:
Aluminum and the rumored association with alzheimers cause me great concern. I use stainless steel. My cooking pots at home and in the field is the MSR stainless steel pot with the folding handle.
Click to expand...

Hard anodized alum is actually harder than stainless steel, so very little danger of scraping some off and ingesting it.

I'd be more worried about aluminum beverage cans and deoderant.

Mike
 
Check out the Duossal line from Trangia. It's Aluminium on the outside bonded to Stainless on the inside. SO you get the heating eveness of the Al and the easy to clean (and perhaps healthier) SS food contact.

If you ONLY heat water then Ti is fine.
 
MelancholyMutt said:
Aluminum and the rumored association with alzheimers cause me great concern. I use stainless steel. My cooking pots at home and in the field is the MSR stainless steel pot with the folding handle.
Click to expand...

The aluminum/Alzhimers scare was like the Allar/cancer scare. The science said to support it turned out to be totally fraudulent. Do a Google search. My regret is that I bought into the panic and dumped several nice old, thick aluminum pots. Thankfully, house and estate sales have made good the losses.
 
Only problem with the G.I. cups (and I used one for years) is lack of a lid. I finally made one to spped heating -- and save fuel.

AS TO TITANIUM. Ignoring the hype from vendors and manufacturers, I finally found a practical, field test. Check out the test done at www.thru-hiker.com/articles.asp?subcat=2&cid=36. The tester carefully compared the results from four pots (1 aluminum; one pricy Ti; 1 "name" SS; on generic SS) and the boiling times ranged from 2 min 22 sec to 2 min 38 sec. "No significant difference." The "generic SS pot "won." :p
 
Depends on what you are cooking, I would prefer thick Alu over SS as it spreads the heat more evenly and makes clean up less of a chore.

As for stuff killing you, Meh! before long fresh veggies from the Garden of Eden will be on the list of things to avoid. ;)
 
I got a small little tit snow peak solo I have used for over two years..mostly over the fire.
Thing I love about tit is that it doesnt stain from wood smoke/fire easily at all. Thus no probs in sand/snow/gravel cleaning, and my pack doesnt get messed up with soot/creasote.
Also though they cook WAY faster than SS, tit is alsmost unstickable with food particles. Thus easier to clean.
Add easier to clean with being lighter. The added cost is better to me.
Pluss the solo is perfect for 3 cans of sardines, 2 bricks of bakers chocolate and 4 dulion cubes.
 
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