Cooking In & Cleaning uncoated Titanium… any thoughts?

Christopher, I remember my first titanium pot, and how I was upset at the discoloration, especially from dry exposure to propane flames; but it is almost inevitable. I have seen old titanium pots so discolored they look almost black. It just seems to add to the character of the pot, like a distressed leather jacket.
IME, scorched food residue is inevitable with an uncoated pot; unless you are using a very cool flame. Clean the Ti with the strongest scrubbing sponge needed to remove the residue; you are not going to harm or thin the pot; it is Ti after all.
I tried coated pots, in steel aluminum, but I still prefer uncoated titanium with a low flame. (except when I take my jeboil of course..)

The discoloration doesn't bother me unless there was a health hazard associated with it.

I think my concern is mostly with cleaning it and that if I scratched the inner pot it would be a haven for germs. This concern was raised when I read somewhere TI scratches easily.

The germs would be killed when the pot is heated up (ie cooking) would they not?

I clean my pot on the trail using dirt (earth/sand) and than rinse.
Franco

Seriously… it worked for the soot on the outside of my SP600 (though I must admit I wasn’t trying to clean it, I was trying to prove a point about Titanium and it’s ability to take pretty much anything you throw at it)

Titanium Burn Test

Also, I’d be curious to see who is claiming that Ti scratches easily… I’ve abused my SP600 pretty well and not a scratch on it.

Straight clorox or other household bleach works very well. After a trip when I have a burnt pot that i can't get totally clean I just put a little bleach into it and let it sit overnight. If the burnt food is on the bottom of the pot then not much bleach is required, just enough to cover the area. If the sides have residue then I use just a little bit more and 'swish' it around periodically. You have to clean as much residue off as you can using normal methods and then add the bleach for the remaining.

Methinks Joshua has it right. Ti stands up to just about anything, heat especially (one reason for its popularity in aerospace) and is very scratch-resistant. Fact is, I have a devil of a time scratching graduation marks into my pots and cups. Aluminum, even the harder alloys, is absurdly easy to scratch by comparison.

The discoloration is normal and inevitable and rather attractive–so much so that my spouse at one time had a rainbowy assortment of Ti and niobium jewelry. (Sadly, no longer considered stylish.)

Love the burn-off experiment!

Stephen,

Hadn't even considered that… Ti has a much higher resistance to Sodium Hypochlorite (aka bleach aka Chlorox) than 316SS… I feel like an idiot because I spec pumps made of Ti on a regular basis…

Rick, re: "Love the burn-off experiment!"

The one thing I have yet to do, but suspect is possible is that if you REALLY jack up a Ti pot and burn a bunch of food to it (you know, really gunk it up) that you could simply burn it to ash (kind of like a self cleaning over), however I (obviously) don't want to deliberately gunkify my beloved SP600 and risk turning the inside to some crazy food based organic acrylic coating that won't come off…

I hear you. I've got some burnt food residue that I suspect requires bead-blasting to remove. A friend has a booth (yes, he's a tool nut) and maybe I'll have him try the next time he's got it loaded with walnut shells or something similarly benign.

I don't think it makes a diffence, it just looks bad.

Joshua,

I was impressed by your burn test. Cool pics.

I think sodium hypochlorite is great for removing those tiny burnt bits at the bottom of a camping pot. Those little bits have a way of attracting their little burnt bit buddies and having a 'food stuck on the bottom' party!