I am hoping Tom's pots will be available at not too expensive prices...


While waiting for Tom's pots to come out of "may-happen" status I've been tinkering with some ideas of my own... looking around, trying to see possibilities within my own every day items.

As indicated in my post above, I've done some dremel art on a double walled stainless pot. Just your regular inexpensive SS cup, nothing fancy.

Slightly less than two inches in diameter. A rubber sleeve is around it.

The pot comes apart with a cut in the outer shell, about half an inch below the top.

A rubber band keeps the two pieces together by friction.
The outer shell is a "fire cup" for small twigs fire.
The purpose of the rubber sleeve is to cover the fire door and prevent smearing my pack with soot. Also, rubber is an excellent backup tinder.

The cup is also useful for a limited number of firemaking goodies. A small plastic container (bottom right) makes for easy removal of those.

Contents list, starting at top left:
Upper row:
Rubber sleeve,
Outer shell / fire cup
Inner cup, for heating and drinking
Drinking lid

Bottom row:
Steel wires, several sections pre-cut into 1-2 foot pieces
Fire steel
Swiss army knife
Petroleum jelly cotton balls
Lighter
Plastic container.

Weight of cup+sleeve+lid: 140 grams. The plastic cup with contents currently weights about 150 grams, but that can be adjusted both ways by replacing with other gear.

Now the idea is that these items will be used for pleasure and survival situations:

- when offered something to drink I just remove the plastic container and use the cup in the conventional fashion.

- I can use the inner cup plus steel wire to make a hot drink over a fire

- I can make fire in the small fire cup if fire making options are limited (little good firewood available, legal restrictions and so on). I have a vain hope that this can prove good for heating a small emergency shelter, but further testing is required before I can suggest this as a viable option. There are some smoke issues, spark issues and fire safety considerations that really can't be ignored.

The weakest part of the system is finding a stable platform for the fire cup implementation. My current plan is to use the steel wire to suspend it when suitable rock/sand is unavailable, but I've still to prove that this will prove robust and reliable. I've drilled some holes along the rim for a two-point and a three-point wire suspension. And the cup is about 2.5 deciliter (7-8 ounces), not very big.

It is far from a full blown wilderness survival kit, but it can be part of one. The current setup would cover the water + fire part of a kit.

The connoiseur in me very much appreciate the wine opener on the swiss army knife. The wilderness preparation purist in me would very much like a more robust knife...

Oh, and did I mention dish washer safe and no seams?

All in all, I had great fun assembling this, which I think is rather out of the ordinary. I am eager to see if this survives the "proof of concept" stage of testing.