Pot Rod Darren Dowling

Simple Pot Holder
A common way of constructing access to the fire is build a simple rail over the top. This is fine except that the height (and hence the heat and cooking time) is fixed, and adding/removing items to the rail can be a tricky business. With a simple rail, if you are not using hooks to attach the pots you must remove the rail and slide the (full of hot water) pot along to the end, tricky and sometimes dangerous.

A swinging pot rod is an extremely useful version of the simple pot rod. An excellent gadget to make at camp it will make those open- fire cooking tasks much easier.

The idea is a simple thing. Find yourself two stout forked sticks. One of these must be a longish stick with two forks along its length (see diagram, all will be clear!). Drive a firm upright into the ground. Now lash together your two forked sticks so that the forks fit in opposite directions on the upright.

This will produce a cantilever action which not only will maintain the height that you set it at, but will also swing freely allowing you to move the pot away from the flames with ease. Also note that with a longer upright, you can also control the cooking height.

As with the simple pot rod secure the pots by either notching a groove or by firmly lashing a hook onto the end of the rod.