Portable fire pan

Joanne

Adventurer
Hi all,

Here's an idea for a portable fire pan. These pictures come from a guy in England who likes to camp cook, but has to comply with a ban on ground fires. I think it's a pretty clever idea.

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An old "jerry can" with a grate works as a fire pan. Considering that a lot of us have roof racks, it would be easy to throw one of these on the rack and have it ready to go at the camp site.

Joanne
 

Herbie

Rendezvous Conspirator
Is the can up on legs? If not, I'm not sure that would comply 'round these parts. It isn't just about the combustion residue, even just the hot-metal sitting on the ground will do damage to root systems, etc.

For "bigger" fires the popular choice during desert season seems to be old washing machine tubs with 3 or 4 legs bolted or welded on. This can go from large cook fire to borderline bonfire.

For backpacking-sized fires, we'll do a disposable turkey roasting pan, elevated on some rocks, and use cut-up Duraflame logs for fuel. (Duraflame because they burn fairly completely leaving little to pack out, and cut-up so that we can split the load among 5-10 backpackers.) This is a small fire, but cozy for storytelling and marshmellow roasting.

For an in-between sized fire, I would say an old hibachi grill would be a good choice, or even one of those cheap propane hibachi-like grills with the folding legs if you've got one where you can remove the gas-works (or you have one where the flame bar is rusted out, etc.).

If you want to go the Jerry-can route, I'd just include some simple legs of angle-iron that you could bolt on to raise the unit up six inches or so.
 

kerry

Expedition Leader
Stainless steel steam table trays work pretty well too and run about $10-15 on Ebay.
Years ago, a guy in Colorado was making a great folding firepan. it consisted of about 20 triangular sections of stainless steel with bent lips on either edge with a bolt running thru all pieces. It looked kind of like a folding fan. You fanned out the sections and the lips locked togther and it sprung into a concave shape about 4" deep. Folded up it was about 12" long 5" wide and 3" thick. I failed to buy one when they were in production but a friend of mine did. Whenever I go on a Western river canoe trip I borrow it because it is so compact. Wish they were still available. Very creative design. I suspect it was never approved by the BLM for river running because it was not one solid piece.
 
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BIGdaddy

Expedition Leader
thats a great idea.

it'd fit in a normal can holder and everything. I've got a couple old spin top jerry cans that'd be perfect for this application.
 

Wyowanderer

Explorer
I've been using the bottom half of a twenty gallon solvent barrel for years. I got it red hot several times to ensure that all the solvent (alcohol, in this case) was out of the bottom creases, and threw it in the rig. I use an inexpensive Coughan's grate over the top.
 

Borrego60

Rendezvous Conspiracy
Just did a washing machine tub with 10" legs that screw on to the bottom of the tub. I cut the tub down to about 12" high. Best part is the large webber BBQ grill sits on top like it was made for it. Grill away and bond fire off the ground at night.
 

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