Titanium Foil as a Bowl?

Aaron, I only forsee two potential challenges. The first is failure of the JB Weld bond. The second potential problem I see is fatigue and cracking of the foil. Presumably this Ti foil bowl would experience some flexing when you lift it by the bail while it's full and when you pack it into your pack. In my experience, Ti foil can fatigue and crack where it flexes.

I would recommend mechanical fasteners (like rivets) instead of JB Weld. You could just put them around the outer edge, where it doesn't need to be watertight. Also, if you use pure Ti or a soft CP alloy foil it will be less likely to crack. Anything you can do to reduce flexion while in use will reduce the risk of cracking, I would guess.

"I have the Snow Peak 1.6 ounce Titanium Bowl."

Interesting. Have you weighed it?

I bought the same Snow Peak bowl, and it weighs 1.8 ounces. I noted this to the online retailer, and they changed that number on their web site.

Most of the titanium foil that we come across here is 0.005" thick. It would be interesting to try your proposal with something thinner. Maybe half that thick?

–B.G.–

I have a 10oz bowl (2oz heavy) that waws the lid from a Tatonka Ti pot.
I cut the handles off.
Tatonka does not list that anymore but maybe someone else might have a similar shaped lid.

I'd echo the concerns regarding the fragility of Ti foil. As soon as you crease it, you work harden it so much that it will crack very easily*. And if you try to glue it with JB Weld, the foil structure won't be stiff enough to stop flexing, and flexing will peel and crack the glue.

You mention four pieces of foil, but I cannot envisage a way of doing this and forming a water-tight bowl; at least not without having some stopping of the gaps (hence the JB Weld? in contact with your pan contents? No thanks…). I'd initially imagined you were planning some kind of Ti origami…

Assuming the four pieces overlap, we now have four layers of metal on the base, giving us, say, 20 thou thickness. What's the weight of that? (Compared to a nice, pressed Ti bowl, for instance). Then add all the JB Weld stopping…

And, since we have layers, there will be a small air gap between, so conduction won't be great.

* this is even true of more ductile materials like Al. I'd experiment with the idea with Al foil or flashing, and see how long it lasts. Sadly, I don't think it will be long before you get pinhole leaks at the fold corners.

> taking 4 pieces of titanium foil and work out the cut so it bends over a bowl to
> the shape I want.
Good Luck.
But keep your other bowls handy.

Cheers

You might want to take another approach and simply shape the snowpeak bowl you have.
IF you've ever seen artisans hand-shaping pots, you get the idea.
They do it on a rounded edge of an anvil, but I'd think a chunk of wood pre-formed to the shaped you want, and some mallets would work.
Ti is resilient and elastic, so it would take alot to go to a ripping point.

thanks all for the info.

I figured this at least may not work.