Traditional these baby dragon rescue aids are made from the finest flayed troll hide. Lightweight, folds flat for easy cleaning and storage yet sturdy enough to contain the energy of boiling chicken balti should the need arise. Sadly since most of the Welsh mines were sealed up trolls have become a bit thin on the ground so in order to make this replica I used an oven protector sheet and a few bits & pieces lurking in the workshop.
I didn't have any snap fastners the right size or hole punches big enough so the fit and finish is a tad wonky. It also came out a bit bigger than I thought it would with a 40x50cm sheet giving about two liters capacity with no lid. So some math and back to the cutting board for the next one I think. The metal base proved the most troublesome piece to figure out with so few examples of the original in use. Troll skin as you know is extremely difficult to glue requiring an evil witches brew of noxious chemicals and invocations of strange processes. If you're lucky you may find a troll but a chemical witch willing to mess around with Flourine, not a chance. Eventually after much thought and three bottles of beer later I arrived at the secret of construction, a false bottom & rivets! Absolute genius as this creates a small insulating air gap that stops the troll skin from melting when heated over open flame. The downside is a lower thermal transfer rate so it does take a little longer to boil, but hey who's in a hurry when camping? Again had to make do with what was available and in the absence of aluminum sheet & pop-rivets fudged on regardless with a thick foil pie dish and some bootlace eyelets.
Decided not to tempt fate for the first hot run on the bench so only boiled up half a litre of water, seemed like an age and a lid is definitely going to be part of the next one. It got there eventually to a full rolling boil but it was a big ask for the little meths burner and it only just made it before sputtering out of fuel. Overall pleasantly chuffed with result. The bench is still dry, the oven sheet did not melt or show signs of scorching and there's no hint of a plastic taste in the water. Even the foil heatshield came through in pretty good shape.
Disclaimer:
Any resemblance to a certain Kickstarter project is purely coincidental.
No dragons or trolls were harmed in the making of this prototype.
I didn't have any snap fastners the right size or hole punches big enough so the fit and finish is a tad wonky. It also came out a bit bigger than I thought it would with a 40x50cm sheet giving about two liters capacity with no lid. So some math and back to the cutting board for the next one I think. The metal base proved the most troublesome piece to figure out with so few examples of the original in use. Troll skin as you know is extremely difficult to glue requiring an evil witches brew of noxious chemicals and invocations of strange processes. If you're lucky you may find a troll but a chemical witch willing to mess around with Flourine, not a chance. Eventually after much thought and three bottles of beer later I arrived at the secret of construction, a false bottom & rivets! Absolute genius as this creates a small insulating air gap that stops the troll skin from melting when heated over open flame. The downside is a lower thermal transfer rate so it does take a little longer to boil, but hey who's in a hurry when camping? Again had to make do with what was available and in the absence of aluminum sheet & pop-rivets fudged on regardless with a thick foil pie dish and some bootlace eyelets.
Decided not to tempt fate for the first hot run on the bench so only boiled up half a litre of water, seemed like an age and a lid is definitely going to be part of the next one. It got there eventually to a full rolling boil but it was a big ask for the little meths burner and it only just made it before sputtering out of fuel. Overall pleasantly chuffed with result. The bench is still dry, the oven sheet did not melt or show signs of scorching and there's no hint of a plastic taste in the water. Even the foil heatshield came through in pretty good shape.
Disclaimer:
Any resemblance to a certain Kickstarter project is purely coincidental.
No dragons or trolls were harmed in the making of this prototype.
