Ultralight Cheap Fire Pan?

[Brad W]

Anyone have any ideas for a cheap, light fire pan to take backpacking? Fires in the area I am going need to be in a metal container off the ground as not to scorch the earth. No other specs are required.

 

[Michael Sirofchuck]

Oven liners?  Although they may be too thin to prevent scorching underneath.

[Brad W]

Michael-anything thin aluminum will melt through pretty quickly when fire is in direct contact.

[Gary Dunckel]

How about a metal “gold-miner’s” pan. They’re the right size, but not very light. Maybe some company makes them from thick aluminum…

[stephan q]

Cheap/thin wok? They often come with a stand for stove use.

[Axel J]

Why not a Bush Buddy or equivalent?

[Brad W]

Alex-those look nice but pretty expensive. I drove to the dollar store on my lunch today to see if the cooking section had any ideas. I got a 9″ baking cake pan. It’s 1.5″ tall and is not coated. Sticker says made of steel. Weighs 4oz. Going to give it a go this weekend.

 

 

[David Thomas]

Just a stamped steel bread pan or 9″ x 9″ pan from Goodwill / Salvation Army?  You can’t use aluminum – even pretty heavy gauge will melt, and while titanium would be fabulous, I can’t think of cheap source of a Ti pan.  The stamped-steel baking pans are pretty thin material but will hold up for a number of uses.  They’ll last almost forever if you put a half inch of sand in the bottom first, but that would create more blackened material to haul out, if that’s one of the rules.  This sort of thing:

Here’s a 20x12x4″ deep stainless pan that wouldn’t oxidize/rust over time like a mild steel one would.  Only $12.  Also available 2.5 and 6″ deep. https://www.webstaurantstore.com/choice-full-size-standard-weight-anti-jam-stainless-steel-steam-table-hotel-pan-4-deep/4070049.html?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=GoogleShopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI15nNjKPz3wIVYB-tBh1gvg3aEAQYASABEgIAHfD_BwE I occasionally see that sort of thing at Salvation Army.

[Edward John M]

Half size steam table pans are a very good size but the only time I ever had to use a fire pan I  got a steel cake tin cheap and S/H at an Op-Shop for ~$2-. [ Op-Shop = Goodwill.]

I used it to support and contain my A-10 hobo stove as it turned out and I did think it made the use of the hobo stove safer.

 

[DAN-Y]

Go to a grocery store, ask an associate if they have any “Goya” brand gelled guave. It comes in a shallow metal can about 7 inches in diameter. it tastes great. It can be used as a fry pan also ;)

[Ben H.]

I like Dan’s idea… eat the guava paste with manchego cheese on the hike in

[DAN-Y]

I ate the Quave on B&B brown bread. 1st I spread some cream chese on it and then the quave 

[Rex Sanders]

Ultralight, cheap, actually useful. Pick any two.

Seriously, I went looking for titanium pans: rare, not cheap, and not that light:

Keith Titanium fry pan, 5.2 ounces, ~8 inches across, $40

(BTW, Keith has a bunch of unusual Ti stuff, like a tea set for 8: http://keithtitanium.com)

But that got me thinking – about liberally interpreting the fire pan rules.

Do you actually plan to make a fire that requires the pan? For example, if you always cook on a cartridge stove and never make campfires.

In that case, any TI or steel pan/pot/bowl/lid/… you would take anyway should qualify. If challenged at check-in, might get away with saying you’ll scrub it clean after a fire and before the next meal.

Keep the cheap steel pan handy in case that doesn’t work. If it works, leave the steel pan at the trailhead, and save 4 ounces.

— Rex

[Rex Sanders]

If the fire pan side height isn’t specified, a Ti plate might save a couple ounces without killing your pocketbook:

Keith Titanium Ti5362 plate 1.1 ounces, 4.1 inches, $8 on GearBest

Keith has several larger sizes, too.

Toaks Titanium D190mm plate 2.1 ounces, 7.5 inches, $16

Snow Peak Titanium Trek plate 2.1 ounces, 7.5 inches, $17

Toaks Titanium Frying Pan 1.6 ounces, 4.2 inches, $15, lighter if you remove handle

— Rex

[Edward John M]

I know this is BPL and the aim is to travel as light as possible but the rules must be there for a purpose and some rules actually make sense sometimes.

Perhaps the weight of the obligatory firepan could be made up somewhere else?

Having used one on one occasion I will say that if you have to use one going too small might be a mistake

[Rex Sanders]

Some managing authorities have quite specific fire pan requirements; others don’t – like the OP’s example.

If in doubt, call and ask how others have met the requirements. They might suggest something that works for you.

If not, ask if they’ll approve Ti plates, baking pans, or other ultralight ideas. However, don’t be surprised if you get a useless answer like “it’s up to the ranger you encounter in the backcountry.”

— Rex

[Jeff McWilliams]

I took a LNT Certified Trainer course a few years ago.  They’re another big promoter of either a fire pan or a mound of mineral soil on top of which you build a small LNT fire.

I used to be able to find links online to a collapsible, fan-out firepan.  It looked something like this:

 

This is not a fire pan.  It’s a fan-out grease spatter screen for cooking.  The idea was the same.  It was made of steel.  Each of the sections covered a smaller radius than the spatter screen above, which means there were more sections in total, but that it folded down to a more compact size.   I can no longer find any references to this item via Google search.

Another company used to sell these roll-up “fire pans” made entirely out of carbon felt, which is also the stuff that welding blankets are made out of.  I can’t find it any longer either, but I recall the company catered more to horseback campers and/or canoe outfitters.

Seems to me there’s a reasonable niche market demand for something like this.  I’m surprised that with the Philmont requirements, everyone is left to come up with their own ad-hoc solution.

 

[Bruce Tolley]

@ Brad
How many fires will you be building and are they just for boiling water?

David above recommends not using aluminum. I can I see that the pie plates are more servicable and durable, but I have had good experience building very small fires on top of the aluminum roasting pans sold in the grocery store.

When I take the Scouts snow camping in areas where fires are legal, I run an exercise where they compete to build an emergency twiggy fire and bring to a boil a liter of water by melting snow. (It usually takes them longer to get the fires lit than to bring the water to boil.:_))

Some of the pans in my garage have had 3 or 4 fires in them with some scorches and perhaps a bit of melting but still usable. I bring two 8 inch garden stakes from the hardware store to place under the pans so they do not melt holes in the snow. That being said, the melting of the aluminum might be mitigated because some of the heat is conducted into the snow.

If you were trying to roast or grill something I can see the temps getting high enough to melt the aluminum. You can also fold them to stuff in your pack. :-))

[Brad W]

Bruce- it wouldn’t be for boiling water-just for pleasure-I have canister stove for cooking. In my experience all but the thickest aluminum will melt when fire/coals are built directly on top-but I have never tried on snow. I have tried single use pie ‘tins’ and those only lasted about 10 minutes before the middle melted through. Maybe the roasting pans are a heavier gauge?

Rex-thanks for the suggestions, those certainly look nice and seem viable.

Jeff-that looks interesting and seems like it would pack down to a good size also.

 

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

Theoretically, you could use two oven pans stacked on top of each other as long as you constantly filled the gap between the two with water.  It might be more trouble than it’s worth, but it should work.  My 2 cents.

[Gary Dunckel]

That’s rather clever, Jon (I love it when you engineers chime in). I’m curious about the melting of aluminum. Numerous times I have grilled a steak on my patio with a custom titanium grill that I made. It was sized to exactly fit upon one of those smaller aluminum pans that you are supposed to bake a pound cake in. I used BBQ briquettes, and never once did the aluminum melt. I used the same pan 5-6 times before I got bored with the technique. But I expect that the briquettes don’t create nearly as much heat as my preferred campfires would.

[Jeff McWilliams]

What if you used a layer of carbon felt on top of the aluminum roasting pan, and then built the fire on top of the carbon felt?

 

 

[Bruce Tolley]

@ Brad.
Yes I can see that a pleasure fire, especially once you get some coals going will melt the aluminum.

The titanium plate mentioned above or two layers of thickish titanium foil might be the way to go. I have seen the latter in the past available from various cottage vendors that sell to the BPL community often used for DIY windscreens)

BTW I have used my BushBuddy a couple of times just to build a pleasure fire.
Cheers

[Thomas J]

UCOgear makes a portable fire pit

I think it is a bit bulkier and heavier than it needs to be.  I would like one that is, or at least packs, lighter.  I question the need for legs, as you could always elevate it with small stones, or even stacked sticks, if you weren’t planning to to keep your fire for hours on end.  Also, I think perforations would help reduce weight and add desirable draft for the fire.  The UCO design is basically one of those steamer inserts (without perforations) you can get at the grocer, and one of those might work better, though I haven’t tried one yet.

A  steel wire screen strainer might do well.  I will have to give that a try.

[Thomas J]

That looks perfect. I did my own google, and at first just found your post, lol. I did find a product with that picture on Amazon, but it was silicone, not steel.

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