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Backpacking Grills: Coming Soon
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Apr 24, 2013 at 8:37 pm #1302160
Hey Everyone,
Here is a sneak peak photo of one of my stainless steel backpacking grills that is coming out soon. The photo is of the 6" x 14" model.
Apr 24, 2013 at 8:49 pm #1980281Cool……weight/size/price?
M
Apr 24, 2013 at 9:00 pm #19802855"x12" Cross Bar Style. Weight: 7.35oz, Price: $20.00 .187" Rim Bar/.125 Cross Bars
6"x14" Cross Bar Style. Weight: 9.45oz, Price: $22.50 .187" Rim Bar/.125 Cross Bars
5"x12" Heavy Bar Style. Weight: 7.00oz, Price: $15.00 .187" All Bars
6"x14" Heavy Bar Style. Weight: 10.00oz, Price: $17.50 .187" All Bars
I have decided to sell the grills by themselves and then sell an accessory Xpac VX42 Sleeve. This will keep the price down for people who only want a grill and no sleeve.
Thanks,
LawsonApr 24, 2013 at 10:43 pm #1980305Beautiful, can you put me on a waiting list for when you get them in your catalogue?
I do enjoy a steak dinner the first night out on the trail.
Apr 25, 2013 at 6:47 am #1980365would be down for one
Apr 25, 2013 at 10:25 am #1980417I just updated the pricing. It ranges from $15-$25. I am working on finishing them off. I still have some work to do before the batch is complete. Once that happens I will be packaging them and adding them to my website. So who is interested? And in which model?
Thanks,
LawsonApr 29, 2013 at 8:35 am #1981555I am surprised by the lack of interest. Is it the price or the weight? I would assume weight, as no ULer would want to get caught dead with 7-10oz grill on their spreadsheet.
But when I think of these grills compared to wood burning stoves that sell like hot cakes, but cost ALOT more money, are less versatile, take up more room in your pack, and can weigh almost as much if not more I can't wrap my head around it.
Even with conventional gas stoves. The weight of the stove + the fuel canister can be/is more.
With a grill, you don't have to carry any fuel. All you need is two small rocks and some twigs and your good to go.
What am I missing?
Apr 29, 2013 at 8:42 am #1981557I like these, I'm just in no rush to buy one.
I do appreciate an alternative to the $$$titanium$$$ ones out there.
I could care less about the weight. This isn't the sort of thing I'd carry on a trip where weight was a concern anyway.
I certainly hope it's not weight weenieism that kills this product, as I think you've done everything right.
Apr 29, 2013 at 8:56 am #1981563Ill be down for one, just dont know which yet.
Apr 29, 2013 at 9:11 am #1981570I'd be very interested in these, except….
Most of the national forests here in SoCal lean towards a total ban on campfires except in established camp sites. And I'm not about to hike from one car camping site to another just to have a campfire!
Apr 29, 2013 at 9:20 am #1981577…
Apr 29, 2013 at 9:24 am #1981579I don't think the titanium ones sell lots either, though I admit I don't know.
For many folks, I would assume, they're only heating water. I'm one of those – only heating water, not cooking anything. So I don't use wood at all. For me, and probably others like me, it's neither the cost nor the weight, it's simply the way we look at/prepare our meals.
Apr 29, 2013 at 9:37 am #1981587Your site is great and I've purchased many useful items. My sense is that the popularity at BPL of UL and freezer bag cooking, coupled with the ever shrinking number of places one can legally use open fires, might be the reason for the lack of response. I think if you mentioned these grills at other forums more geared to bushcraft (such as the Bushcraft USA (http://bushcraftusa.com/forum/cmps_index.php ) or ESEE (http://jungletraining.com/forums/forum.php ), they would be warmly received.
Apr 29, 2013 at 10:35 am #1981616Thanks for the feedback. It really paints a better picture for me as I was a bit confused.
I figured for some backpackers living in the western half of the country this wouldn't be even be an option. For others though, I thought it might be. I guess my style of backpacking and cooking is different than most of the others. Maybe not. We will see when they go on sale which should be sometime late next week.
As far as a titanium version goes, it will be a down the road thing as I was afraid they wouldn't be hot sellers. At 4x the cost and only about a 40% reduction in weight, I thought stainless would be a better option to test the product with. Plus stainless really does handle heat better. Titanium will oxidize in high heat.
That said, I am sure the dollar store cooling racks will give me a run for my money. Especially when you consider they are much cheaper and weigh less. But they are cheaper and weigh less because they are made from thinner rod, the are not made from stainless steel and they are not made in the USA. I mean try to find anything stainless that has been hand tig welded. ITS NOT CHEAP. The heavy style grill is 100% hand tig welded while the cross bar style grill has a hand tig welded frame and spot welded cross bars. I was going to tig weld the cross bars but the extra labor involved really jacks the price up so I found spot welding to be a good compromise of strength and speed.
Unlike some big factory in china, these are assembled one at a time. Everything is batch cut, batch bent and then batch assembled. But this is like all my products. I have found the cheapest way to do something is sit down and just make ALOT of them at once. Its like my tent stakes. I always make ALOT at one time. I first cut them to size, then de-burr them, and then bend them. LOTS of boring work. After a while, you learn to talk to yourself haha : )
Thanks again,
LawsonApr 29, 2013 at 3:09 pm #1981709del
Apr 29, 2013 at 4:03 pm #1981727I just take an old one from a toaster oven Lawson. I see this as a niche in a niche product.
Apr 29, 2013 at 4:21 pm #1981730"I am surprised by the lack of interest. Is it the price or the weight? I would assume weight, as no ULer would want to get caught dead with 7-10oz grill on their spreadsheet."
Lawson, your product looks great. But as Ken said, you are hitting a niche. This fits somewhere in between car camping and backpacking. A grill is mainly used for cooking fresh meat, fish, potatoes, ect. For car camping, you don't need an ultralight grill. For backpacking, people usually don't carry steaks or any other food that they need grilled (but it would be very useful for fish that you catch). Backpackers usually take dehydrated stuff that just needs hot water.
"But when I think of these grills compared to wood burning stoves that sell like hot cakes, but cost ALOT more money, are less versatile, take up more room in your pack, and can weigh almost as much if not more I can't wrap my head around it.
Even with conventional gas stoves. The weight of the stove + the fuel canister can be/is more.
With a grill, you don't have to carry any fuel. All you need is two small rocks and some twigs and your good to go."
The problem here is that you don't need a grill to cook with a pot over an open fire. You just shove your pot right into the coals. No weight involved. A grill would be useful, but not nessecary.
Wood stoves are used for legal reasons and to avoid burning hard ground surfaces.On a recent bushcraft-usa meetup a guy carried in 2 tri-tips and cooked it over a lightweight grill, but that's not something that normally happens while backpacking. You might have better luck if you sell these on bushcraft usa. They really appreciate hand made stuff over there.
This item would be mainly used for base camp backpacking.
Personally, I am very interested in your grills. I would probably use it for cooking a bunch of fish for a group.
Apr 29, 2013 at 4:21 pm #1981731Keep in mind that Lawson's grills will be bulletproof, and for a very, very long time. Those lighter disposable grills will be, well, disposable. Maybe even before you intend for them to be so.
Apr 29, 2013 at 5:54 pm #1981762del
Apr 29, 2013 at 6:10 pm #1981766That's a good point Gary, but many or most ULers are looking for a compromise between weight savings and durability.
Lawson, if you want to talk in private about how to improve this product, and perhaps make it a bit more appealing, email me. I've got some thoughts, since I've got an idea how you're making these.
Apr 29, 2013 at 8:48 pm #1981812Yeah, For UL backpackers the dollar store cooling rack/old toaster oven rack is hard to beat. BUT trying to beat the price and weight really wasn't my goal. It would be like trying to make a water bottle cheaper and lighter than a Gatorade bottle. So when you think of it this way. My grill is like a stainless steel Sigg bottle or even a Nalgene type bottle and a cooling rack/toaster oven rack is like a plastic water/Gatorade bottle.
As far as this being a niche product between car camping and backpacking. I agree. When I built this grill, I knew this was the likely-hood. But since no one makes a high quality stainless steel grill for an affordable price I figured I would. Stay away competition. There is no demand :)
Apr 29, 2013 at 9:34 pm #1981824If you wanna sell a bunch just paint the handle orange and call em Grylls.
;)
Apr 30, 2013 at 4:14 pm #1982074I would also be interested in something similar to this. I ran into a situation where I wanted to cook tortillas and this worked "ok".
I can attest for the overall horrible quality of the dollar store grills…
Also, Lawson, your grill sizes are much better than those dollar store ones…
Apr 30, 2013 at 7:46 pm #1982118LOL Jeff… that is hilarious…. and maybe genius? Im going to call Gerber tomorrow and take credit for your idea! ;)
May 2, 2013 at 10:28 pm #1982764Hi Lawson,
I do appreciate you releasing these. IMO, your only true competitor is Purcell trench grills. Which are 2x to 3x the price depending on the model. You are offering the better value and ease of purchase. (Check their site for what I mean) if I hadn't already purchased on of their stream side travelers a few months ago I would hop on two of these at the price. Heck, I probably will anyway once you release your new pads. =]As others have stated try the BushcraftUSA forums- they are always praising KISS, affordable, stainless, USA/hand made items over there. Also try the ESEE, Kifaru and ZombieSquad forums. All forums are focused toward the prepping/survival mindset- where they prefer items made for the PAW- just like these grills. =P Don't give up!
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