Antigravity Gear Pot Feedback

Denis, the picture you are showing is of my trowel. I got my inspiration from Montbell and Bill. I wanted to do this ever sense seeing the Montbell trowel, Bill made me realize I could do it.

James, I would love to help with a scanned image but I no longer have the paper template I used, and my trowel is currently being looked at and is not in my possession. I don't know if this helps but the paper I used is standard engineering paper. With that paper and my picture, a copy could be easily made. I can give you the dimensions of the squares or any other dimensions if that will help. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

"My trowel is currently being looked at and is not in my possession."

Eric yours was a creative solution (Hose clamps)in the construction of your TI Trowel. Hope who ever has it left 3 kinds of ID and a credit card!

Regards

James, et al,

I'm going to try to insert a drawing I converted from autocad. I hope this works.

The First Photo is of the trowel I made. It's got a longer handle than the Mont-Bell, and weighs .46oz.. The second pic is a pattern based on the Mont-Bell. I used Eric's method with many hose clamps. If you bend the Titanium sheet around a piece of half inch PVC you get a shape that matches the Mont-Bell. Bill Fornshell was right about putting a "V" in the handle to make the tool stiffer, for hard digging. The photo shows where I used a center punch to mark the location of the lanyard hole. I used a Harbor Freight punch to make an eighth inch hole.

Sweet!

I also created this Ti Trowel, aka Bill Fornshell. I used a dry erase marker to mark on the sheet as that just rubbed off after I was finished. I used regular old tin snips to cut it out, and did't bother making a hole because all I do with the trowel is throw it in the ziplock with my TP. I still need to file down the edges and will do that shortly. I also didn't bother using a blowtorch to heat/pound/bend/however the heck BF did it–instead i just took two pairs of pliers and then bent it. It was pretty easy. It weighs .55 oz, which is what I had calculated before beginning the project, so I have no idea how some other people made a .3 oz model. Perhaps their handle is smaller or something.

It doesn't look great–but hey, I use it for digging holes in the ground to #2 in. Its not like I'll have to impress my buddies with it in camp or on the trail(clean tarp, backpack, etc). :D

I also didn't bother with a hole in the handle for a lanyard…because couldn't see any use of having a lanyard on a trowel…

I just wanted to give my thoughts on the "lanyard" hole. I agree with Crazy Pete, as a trowel the lanyard hole will go unused by me, but if I need to use this as a stake the hole will come in handy. I haven't used it as a stake yet but wanted to have the option for when my titanium skewer stakes won't hold because the ground is too soft.

We sure hijacked this thread! What shall we set the ransom at? :) It may be worth moving this under the Make Your Own Gear section with Bill's original post so future readers can more easily find this info.

How the heck did a question about AntiGravityGear pot morph into a discussion on potty trowel???

Our minds are in the toilet.

The AntiGravityGear pot didn't work well as a trowel so we looked for a lightweight alternative…

I would just use my boots to kick up a hole before I even think about using a pot! :)

An ultra-light backpacker wears boots?

Sure! Nobody looks at skin-out weight, right? :)

Who likes vanilla?

.

Ben,

I've spent a bundle on reducing on-the-back weight. Now for the hard part… Skin-in-Weight.

So true. In our country anyway, most people middle age and up can find plenty of places to cut in terms of "skin in" weight. :(

I bought the JetBoil 1.5 L. pot B/C a salesperson at REI told me of its greater efficiency W/ his MSR canister stove.
Since I had a new MSR Wind Pro I got the JetBoil pot and found he was exactly right. Better boil times and virtually no weight penalty compared to my old 1.5 L. aluminum pot. Plus the Wind Pro pot stand supports fit nicely in between the JetBoil pot's corrugated bottom "Flux Ring" heat exchanger for greater stability.
I easily removed the new pot's wire handles as they were extra weight & interferred with my windscreen. I use an UL pot gripper.
With this new JB pot I feel I got most of the vaunted JB efficiency W/O buying their gimicky stove.
Eric

Got my TI sheet in the mail today and cut out my trowel to the pattern Denis provided. I went through a LOT of dremel tool wheels. I turned out pretty good. Now I have to bend it and put the "V" in the handle. I put the center punch in the hole using a hand punch I got at Harbor Freight a long time ago.

Well folks, here is my finished trowel:

I had no problems making it.

I cut out the trowel from the sheet of Ti using my Demel tool. Safety glasses were key! I went through a few wheels…

I wrapped it around a 1/2 pipe with a lot of grief and the help of hose clamps. I had to use a vice for part of the operation.

I chose to add the cord so I can clip it outside my pack.

Final weight was about 1/3 oz.

I am really pleased with the end results. The orange plastic trowel is a piece of gear I have always wanted to get rid of. I want to thank all those that helped (set up the web site, posted the template, gave suggestions, etc). That was really great.

I'll post about how it works once I get a chance to field test it. :)

That is the shiznit!

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=shiznit

Shiznit – Expresses extensive emotional satisfaction or glorification…

You guys are way too attached to material things! I get that self-same satisfaction just from the act itself! Don't need no stinkin' gear for that. BAH!

James, it looks very well made. Great job!

> Got my TI sheet in the mail today and cut out my trowel to the pattern Denis provided. I went through a LOT of dremel tool wheels.
Buy some good long-handled tin snips. They will cut Ti sheet OK.
Thought – take a scrap of Ti sheet with you to the hardware store and CHECK!

OK… I went through three wheels. That doesn't necessarily count as a "LOT". A little dramatic exaggeration on my part. I didn't have a pair of snips that were up to the task. The dremel tool cut very well and left very clean edges for shaping. I used three sanding wheels up on the shaping. The template really came in handy for this.

James,

That's a mighty fine piece of work. I used tin snips and then filed a bit, for a slightly raggy edge. Yours looks as good as Bill's or Eric's. When I get around to finishing the other 5 I plan to make I'll try to be a bit more professional with my finish work. I'd like to give them away to backpacking friends. My tin snips are very old Wiss but the cutting was eaiser than I thought it would be.