Tell Me About Sporks

I just got an Amazon gift card for my b-day and i'm thinking of getting a good Ti spork. most of the brands are available, Brunton, Snow Peak, Sea to Summit, and i don't know one from the other really.
So, if i could get some advice, pros and cons of various brands, personal experiences, direct comparisons from anyone who owns a few different ones, I'd appreciate it.

Light my Fire has just released a titanium spork that's modeled after the plastic ones. Don't know if Amazon has them yet, we just received our initial shipment today. That'd be my choice because you have both a spoon and a fork and it's one piece construction. Check it out here.

I use the plastic version of this LMF spork and it´s great. I guess the titanium version should be excellent.

I've got the light my fire sporks and they worked great, but I switched to the Optimus Titanium folding spork for compactness, lightness, and heat resistant if I accidentally drop it in the fire. I don't think you could go wrong with either, just depends on what you want. The folding sporks fit in my bowl and makes it easy to carry and it's right with my mess kit. Takes up no extra room.

http://www.amazon.com/Optimus-Titanium-Folding-Spork/dp/B0017IIEXY

http://www.basegear.com/optimus-titanium-cutlery.html

\
ooooooooooooooooooooohh...

There's a hybrid spork that's made of polycarbonate, it's a spoon, fork, and serrated knife:

http://www.countycomm.com/spork.htm

I stumbled on it when I ordered a new bag from them. (By the way, if you're a fan of the BOB that Maratac has been making for County comm for years, they just released a larger version. It's now holding a bunch of goodies in the back of my truck.)

I've been using the Snow Peak Ti spork when backpacking for a couple years, pretty indestructable, light, and cleans up easily. Does get pretty hot, the composite material sporks are a little easier with hot stuff.

The folding Ti-spork may allow you to store your eating utensil in your cooking pot with some other items such as a stove and gas cartridge, although they are slightly more tricky to keep clean.



I don't think the brand is to important - they all appear to rebranded items from virtually the same factory in the far east. Snow Peak, Brunton, Optimus, Sea to Summit are all very good brands.

http://www.brunton.com/product.php?id=594

Some might prefer a seperate fork and spoon though.

Titanium has very good attributes for lightweight, durable and extremely long lasting camping cutlery.

It doesn't matter who makes them, I just can't get myself to like sporks. As a spoon they leak out the front and the tines are too short to be a decent fork. Instead I opted for a Ti fork and spoon, and don't worry about the extra weight.

If you can't drink it or shovel it into your mouth with chopsticks it isn't worth eating anyhow.
The only way I would pay more than 50 cents for an eating utensil is if I needed the wrench holes in the handle to fix my stove.

Say, is that a fresh can of worms?


Edit.
Actually I have a fairly heavy but solid table spoon that goes camping and hiking. I am not enough of a gearhead to spend the money they want for titanium.
Chopsticks are great for poking and stirring.

ps
If you ever get chopsticks, get the pointy Japanese or Korean style instead of the blunt Chinese style ones, or cut your own from a convenient twig.
The pointy ones are a little more awkward at first but they are more versatile

Try eating soup or other spooning up other liquids with a spork, it will test your patience while your food goes cold....

I carry a lexan spoon and fork which set me back a couple of dollars about 5-6 years ago.

After cutting my mouth once on a broken (albeit plastic) spork, I opted for a long-handled spoon.

This is the one I use backpacking; it weighs less than an ounce and has a handle long enough to reach the bottom of a dehydrated meal bag.

No affiliation with REI here, of course:
http://www.rei.com/product/745318

I have the non-foldable and the foldable looks nice if it can fit in my TI cup I have my stove and gas in there currently too.

I have that the same spoon, didn't think I'd like it at first but it works really well for eating granola out of the package.

Did the same thing myself. I prefer to have seperate ones. And Ti is so light that it is fine carrying both.

well guys, i've decided on the Light My Fire Ti spork. I've got one of PC that i picked up at Wallmart, but i \;m just not confident enough in it's structural integrity to carry it in my pack. great for packed lunches, though.



this is why i absolutely love the design of the Light my Fire sporks. fork and spoon are full-size and fully funncitonal without having to keep track of two different utensils -for me the main point of a spork- and with th added advantage of a small cutting edge.



well, the worms are pretty fresh, but i was hoping for green beans when i opened the can.

Another +1 for the LMF PC sporks. I have one in my BOB, and I use one for lunch every day. I normally have soup/stew/chili though, so I can't speak too much for the fork...
Their spork in Ti might be enough to get me to buy into Ti (a little bit, at least).

Yet another reason why I pack my own set of chopsticks around.

Here's an interesting idea for those who eat on the run, interesting idea. Useless but it gives new name to wallet utensils.

http://wildboarblades.com/linderpage5.htm

I think the LMF titanium version is a good decision. If it´s strong enough and is carried in the pocket, maybe one could use two titanium sporks (or maybe even one) to self-extract from the ice water .

Seconder on the folding ti-fork. Only utensil I need when lightweight backpacking. OK, well, that and about 4 dozen knives to try out!!!

Well I am glad you got something, and I suppose if you want a spork that would be a good one.

---Canned green beans, yeesh, I never did like them much. Pickled green beans are a real treat though.

I've looked into a replacement for my Lexan utensils but haven't found anything I like better. These days, all I carry is the spoon as I'm not likely to prepare meals on a day hike anyway and when I go out overnight it's usually with my camping van where I can eat in a civilized manner.

I keep a snowpeak Ti spork in my jeep ditch kit, but, for hiking, I use a GSI lexan collapsible spoon (fits into my GSI solo cook kit). I look at it like this; if I cannot eat it with a spoon, I can with a knife. After all, with a fork, you are simply stabbing your food, right?
Besides, when hiking, all my food can be shovelled in with a spoon...makes eating easier

The tines on a spork ruin a perfectly good spoon. A spoon and chopsticks (which can be made in the field) along with whatever knife you use for food prep is all you need.

I cary a long handled spoon and a fork. I am not a spork fan.

This one? Perfect for reaching to the bottom of a Mountain House freeze dried food bag to get the last bites of granola. A spork can't do that because they're too short and the tines get in the way.

That is one of the spoons in my kit.......Perfect for freeze dried food bags.

I have the plastic Light My Fire spork with a spoon on one end and a spork - its actually a slightly spoonish fork - on the other. Wouldn't it have made more sense to have a spoon on one end and a REAL fork on the other?

I took it on our first backpacking trip with my son's Boy Scout troop, and was very proud of the ingenuity and weight savings.

First meal ... spaghetti ... sigh. The only way to eat spaghetti with a spork is to chop up all the noodles with the spoon side and then eat it like soup. So much for the spork. They should have molded the fork end with longer - more separated - tines, like a regular fork.

These days, considering how really low-weight the Lexan spoons and forks are ... I just take one of each.

Ken K.

I actually believe that the spork is one of the most important inventions of the 20th century. The foon on the other hand, was a dismal failure

I still insist on using a foon, over a spork.

That has been my experience as well. I found them to be lacking in either department and got to the point whereI just went with spoons though I have now decided to carry sets.

However, if I were going with a spork, I'd probably favor the Light My Fire titanium mentioned above since it has one utensil at each end and may be able to function properly for both.

I have the long handled titanium (ice cream) spoon for MRE's, and a giant super spork like "be prepared" linked to above, for stirring pots and handling the 3 jobs in one, plus 2 each (my bop and wife's bop) of the smaller light my fire super sporks for eating out of bowls individually. Combined weight, <8 oz for all utensils. Virtually indestructable.

And I tend to shovel when I eat anyway, so volume is irrelevant, just a plow is all I need!

Who makes it?

They go back further than that... At least from before 1900.
They were called ice cream forks, and were often included in the large complete silverware sets that came in fitted cases that were so popular until the last quarter of the 20th century.
Have you ever tried to eat HARD ice cream with a spoon? It tends to shoot out from under a normal spoon. A Grapefruit spoon is somewhat better, but still does not hold the ice cream completely under the spoon... But a spork works perfectly for the job... I have old 'general knowledge' books that show them in silverware sets.

P.S. I wish they would still write 'general knowledge' books. They were so useful...

Interesting factoid...

Yeti, they have a sea to summit version in aluminum at REI, $7.95-

http://www.rei.com/product/782241

I also bought my titanium spoons there, their brand, $9.95-

http://www.rei.com/product/745318

Like mentioned, not a volume spec'd item, but if you're tilting and shoveling anyway, who cares, eh?