Of the >250 Zia grills that I've sold over the past 4 years, I received feedback from 3 people who mentioned that their grills sagged horribly when used over a very hot fire. It wasn't clear how much weight they loaded onto their grills, or exactly where they placed their grills. In many uses of my own grills, I've not experienced this during my normal use, but I always position my grill in a small alcove off to the side of my main campfire. During my early field testing, I intentionally placed a very heavy load, about 5 pounds, on a grill, and there indeed was a bit of sagging over a 2-hour testing period. However, one thing is clear–the properties of titanium do change a little when the temperature of the metal exceeds around 1600*F, which can cause the grill to sag. This is completely reversible, and when the grill cools back down it becomes quite normal again.
So in the interest of improving things in the field for those who want a grill of greater strength while remaining very lightweight, I came up with an idea. By reinforcing the grill with extra titanium rods of greater heat resistance, I have increased the load capacity significantly.
The first photo shows a regular grill, with four titanium split rings attached to the little "triangles" between the first and second cross braces in the four corners. In the foreground are 2 prototype 12" Stix, and a regular 9" Stix for comparison.
I placed 2 steel propane canisters on the grill. The 3# 12 oz. weight was obviously too much for the grill, and significant sagging occurred. And of course this would worsen if the grill was positioned over a very hot fire. The grills work OK for loads up to maybe 2 pound loads, and placed over a less intense heat source, like a bed of hot coals.
In this photo, two of the 12" Stix have been inserted into the split rings on each side and positioned under the grill to support the sides.
Finally, I loaded up the grill with a heavy 11# 11 oz. Note that there is only a nominal amount of sag of the grill in the cold state. Again, intense heat will cause some sagging, but the grill was never intended to support loads this large.
So why is all this presented in Gear Deals, you ask? Well, I had several pair of the longer Stix made for use in studying if this concept might work, and I need some beta testers to help add to my knowledge base. First off, I don't want anyone to respond unless they will give this a good run of tests and report back to me. Secondly, I would rather this be done by members that have been around BPL for some time, whose profile I am familiar with, and who aren't just here to buy and sell gear. I'll choose who I think will be good beta testers.
So here's what I will do, for three people: If you purchase a grill and set of 6 Stix at my normal BPL price of $75, I will attach the 4 split rings to the grill, and also include 2 of the longer Stix support rods. By the way, the longer Stix are quite useful for other things too. For example, in YNP I was unable to reach the only feasible tree limb stub to hang my gravity filtration bag, and the Stix extended my reach to make it easy. And being 12" long, they would be perfect to measure the wall thickness of a quinzee. Or to use as a fire poker.
The reason I'm doing this is that I want to learn if there's a reason to order a bunch more of these longer Stix. For those interested in giving this a try, please post here on this thread, and then fire off a PM to me. We can then work out the details, exchange e-mail addresses confidentially, etc.
Thanks for indulging me, folks. Now it's time to post this, then come back and correct my spelling mistakes… (edited, because there was at least one…)
