Best pot gripper

[Pattree]

Sometimes it’s the little things.

Just found the best pot gripper and I have quite a few.



This one is aluminium. It is sprung open.
It has a cross member that stops it spreading under load.
This is the gripper that I felt most confident using when I experimented lifting my 1.6L boiling Kettle. I have used it on a 2L Zebra pot when the old original handle fell into the fire.

It has serrations on the handles so it can be used as cooking tongs or even as fire tongs.

 

[scruff]

I have been on the look out for a couple to squat into a few camping pans.

Can you share the brand or where you got em? DM if you need to?

 

[Pattree]

I got them on line (yes from eBay) I didn’t get them from China but looking at these, it’s where they came from anyway.

You can also lock them into the pan with a nail through the various sloping slots in the sides.

 

[Falstaff]

I got them on line (yes from eBay) I didn’t get them from China but looking at these, it’s where they came from anyway.

You can also lock them into the pan with a nail through the various sloping slots in the sides.

Like the nail idea, I've got a spring loaded one, not as good as that, and haven't used it because of the spring - now I have a solution, thank you.

 

[Pattree]

Remember this?

Well now I’ve added a small mod.


The spring open is very useful when gripping sausage but you need to keep a tight grip when using it as a handle for more than lifting a pot.
eg. I eat my porridge from the pan in which I cooked it. I’ve never dropped it - yet!

The pin locks the gripper into position as a handle.


@Toddy - Was it you who was looking for a folding handle for a Fray Bentos frying pan?
I know that you said you didn’t want a pot gripper but does this semi-permanent fix answer the problem?

pee ess
The FB pan fits perfectly inside the tray of a 16mm Zebra pot without taking up space. This gives you two shallow pans (as well as the pot) or two serving dishes. As always it leaves enough room for a small stove beneath the OE tray. Great for two person cooking.

…… and the Zebra lid fits all three pans.
(Over the FB rather than inside)



Edited to add:

Sorry @Woody girl .
I forgot who was looking for a handle for their Fray Bentos frying pan. I imagine that the problem was solved ages ago but perhaps it’s useful anyway.
Best,
Pat.

 

[Toddy]

@Pattree
It was WoodyGirl who was looking for a way to make a handle. I believe she was using a wire coathanger but none of us could quite remember just how to bend it.

M

 

[Pattree]

but none of us could quite remember just how to bend it.

On it !

 

[Toddy]

@Pattree

See Post No. 25

Post in thread 'New Hobo Stove thread'

Jul 18, 2025

Do you have a wire handle on your domestic grill pan?
Make something similar out of 2.5mm garden wire (£2.90 for 5M)

I’m up in the hills or I’d make one as a demo.

I don't have a wire handle on my grill pan, and I've been trying to make a wire handle from a coathanger. I can't get it to work!
I did make one when I was about 10 /11yrs old, along with a treacle tin Billy, and a coathanger wire toasting fork. I used coathangers for each project.
My memory refuses to tell me how I made the fray bentos handle, but I have a strong recollection of using it in the garden camp I had...

• Woody girl

 

[Pattree]

Right, I know that you perfectionists are going to cringe but I’m an adequist, I’ve spent fifteen minutes on this and it will do.

In the words of the man who invented the automotive clutch:
C’est moche, mais ça marche.
It’s ugly but it works.

It’s strong enough to support a pan full of food.
It’s rigid enough to scrape stuck food with a spatula.
It’s stable enough to rattle your sausages around.
The pan lifts out for cleaning.

Just don’t try and toss a pancake.
Yes, yes, I used too much wire.
By the way: have you tried to find a wire coat hanger these days?

It’s certainly one of the better uses for a tin of inferior stew sandwiched between layers of slimy “pastry”.

This one (unopened) was included in probate of a dear friend’s leavings.