Fosters Pot Handle From Sea To Summit Spork

[Bruce Thibeault]

Removing my hot Fosters pot from my stove has always been a bit of a pain. Silicone bands, fiberglass wick, bandanas never worked well for me. Last year I tried adhering cork tabs to the upper edge of an Imusa 10cm mug. You can see that thread here…

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=72448&skip_to_post=617746#617746

The cork stayed cool to the touch but stove flare ups would inevitably burn the tabs. So, back to the drawing board.

Im hiking the Monadnock Sunapee Greenway in September so Ive been fiddling with different ideas. Ive found something that I think will work well. Its cheap, light and an easy MYOG project. I dont remember what these are called but they are what I started with.

I drilled two holes in my pot with a pin vise then enlarged them with a round file to the diameter of the screws seen in the last photo. I filed down the shaft on the top one to match the thickness of my Sea to Summit Aluminum spork and then fastened the shaft to the pot with the mated screw. For the bottom I ground the head away from its shaft, inserted the screw through the can and tightened the shaft onto it. Then I filed both down so they wouldnt protrude beyond the pots ridges so I wouldnt have to alter my cozy.

With that done I put the Sea to Summit spork in a vise and bent back the handle about 1 inch from the end. The first time I did this I didnt heat the spork and the handle broke. On my second attempt I heated the handle then bent it a bit then repeated until I was happy with the bend. I drilled a hole that matched the diameter of the shaft then filed away the remaining aluminum to create a notch in the end of the handle. I also had to widen the existing oblong hole a bit to accept the lower shaft.

After some light filing to tidy things up this set up works great! The only weight added to my cookset is the aluminum screws and shafts and those dont register on my scale. So… utility: greatly increased weight penalty: zip

[Dan Yeruski]

The name for those screws and receivers are Binding Posts/screws. Used for securing/binding stacks of papers.

You did well to choose them. Very nice DIY project. :-)

[Bruce Thibeault]

Thanks Dan, I find these to be very handy. People keep telling me to give up my Fosters pot and get a "real" cook pot. I almost did just that a few years ago but I keep finding or borrowing ideas to make it better!

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