billy can?

[wolf]

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Has anyone used one of these caterers cans for cooking or boiling water for brews etc?
i read somewhere that it can give of zinc i think???or some kind of chemicals,would it be ok,or should i just make a cooker out of it.?

 

[Longstrider]

Hi Wolf, I don't know about the zinc problem so cannot help you there. I have used various canned food cans for all sorts of "on the fire" appications over the years and don't seem to have suffered any ill effects (touch wood! *S*). I've used them for cooking in, boiling water in, as mixing bowls, and even for melting lead in over a fire for casting bullets and fishing weights. I guess the lead fumes far outweighed any harmful stuff coming off the tin with the last application though! Beware of some of the more modern cans though. Some of them have what looks like a really thin,milky white, plastic type coating on the inside. Not sure this would make for a good billy unless you burned it off and scrubbed the can out before use.
Those big catering sized jobs look like they would be ideal as a cheap billy can, and you can't beat a bit of waste not, want not.

 

[wolf]

yep my thoughts exactly,would make a cheap billy can,have to fashion a lid of sorts..

 

[Phil562]

Wolf

Used them quite a few years ago on army survival exercises.

We just used tin foil for lids.

The good thing with them is when one gets bent or dirty, throw away and get another one, cheaper then "cheap as chips"

 

[Eric_Methven]

Used one for years to make brews. I used to punch a couple of holes in the sides and wrap a bit of fencing wire over the top to make a handle so it could be suspended over a fire. In the old days BTB, (before tea bags) I would add loose tea to the boiling water, pick up the can by the handle and spin it over my head a few times. The centrifugal force kept the contents in the can and also forced the tea leaves to the bottom so I got a leaf free cuppa.

Eric

 

[wolf]

thanks for all replies....

 

[bambodoggy]

In the old days BTB, (before tea bags) I would add loose tea to the boiling water, pick up the can by the handle and spin it over my head a few times. The centrifugal force kept the contents in the can and also forced the tea leaves to the bottom so I got a leaf free cuppa

Thanks Eric, I like that idea :You_Rock_ although knowing my luck I'll swing it round, clump myself over the head, get knocked out and wake up wearing the tea......minus the leaves! lol

 

[scruff]

hey that bit of extra zinc might be okay....

....its supposed to be good for gents anyway

eric - i think i'll bring some tea bags to the north meet mate!

 

[NickBristol]

Used one for years to make brews. I used to punch a couple of holes in the sides and wrap a bit of fencing wire over the top to make a handle so it could be suspended over a fire. In the old days BTB, (before tea bags) I would add loose tea to the boiling water, pick up the can by the handle and spin it over my head a few times. The centrifugal force kept the contents in the can and also forced the tea leaves to the bottom so I got a leaf free cuppa.

Eric

My old mum tells a story about from her childhood about a tramp who used to come round to each of the houses in her terrace to 'borrow' some tea from one, sugar from another, some hot water from a third and so on. He'd put all the ingredients in an old bean tin with a string through the top, spin the tin over his head like Eric describes and slope off somewhere quiet to drink it...

 

[qweeg500]

My own take on this is with an SMA baby milk tin using a coathanger wire for the handle. It works very well although it boils water far more slowly than a zebra billy with a lid. Anyone with up to a 12 month baby in the house could well be throwing out one of these tins every week.

Unfortunately it has zero kudos if anyone comes across your camp.

Matt

 

[dataphage]

Used one for years to make brews. I used to punch a couple of holes in the sides and wrap a bit of fencing wire over the top to make a handle so it could be suspended over a fire. In the old days BTB, (before tea bags) I would add loose tea to the boiling water, pick up the can by the handle and spin it over my head a few times. The centrifugal force kept the contents in the can and also forced the tea leaves to the bottom so I got a leaf free cuppa.

Eric

That is an old well known trick out here too. Preferably to be executed whilst singing Waltzing Matilda at the top of your lungs.