need recommendation for big nesting pots

[Dreadhead]

I need some advice from the collective wisdom here folks.

At home when hot waxing leatherwork, I have a huge pot i fill with water and a smaller pot (about 10 litres) which nestles inside for the wax to heat up. It's big, bulky, and heavy. which is fine for at home.

This year I'm teaching tankard making in norway, so need to be able to do the same thing on a small campfire with pots that i can take over in my rucksack. I was thinking of some nesting billy cans or somesuch. I had originally thought of getting a 10cm and 16cm zebra billy set, but due to the size, i wouldnt be able to dunk a tankard inside the 10cm pot as it's just not wide enough. So I think it will have to be a pot set that's flatter but wider rather than a tall narrow billy. The problem is i need to find a set that can nestle together, but with enough of a gap between them to fill with water to stop the wax overheating. The inner pan needs to be able to fit about 4/5 kilos of wax so i can at least give the tankards a bit of a dunk, even if its just halfway in and turning them around.

Fingers crossed i'll find something otherwise i'll just be hitting the second hand stores as soon as I get to bergen. But I'd rather have it all sorted beforehand just incase.

So can anybody recommend something that may fit the bill?

Hamish

 

[Toddy]

I had the same issue. I bought a set of four stock pots. They are frankly crap pots, but they're are thin and lightweight and they nest….and they have lids. They would burn if used for stew, but they're not meant for that; they're meant to boil water and seethe liquid. By using pot 4 and pot 2, I manage a huge bain marie type set up It lets me boil up and dye stuff. If you filled the outer pot with water and used a smaller one inside, it ought to work fine. It needs a screw threaded through three points just under the rim to keep the smaller pot resting in place and not slipping inside. That could be done by wrapping it round with cloth though, or adusting a wire bail.
The pots I bought are like these ones. About twenty quid delivered for the four.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DEEP-STOC...hash=item33a6be5d86:m:mHS9cJg0kpWlo2HEiij8XcA

 

[Dreadhead]

I had the same issue. I bought a set of four stock pots. They are frankly crap pots, but they're are thin and lightweight and they nest….and they have lids. They would burn if used for stew, but they're not meant for that; they're meant to boil water and seethe liquid. By using pot 4 and pot 2, I manage a huge bain marie type set up It lets me boil up and dye stuff. If you filled the outer pot with water and used a smaller one inside, it ought to work fine. It needs a screw threaded through three points just under the rim to keep the smaller pot resting in place and not slipping inside. That could be done by wrapping it round with cloth though, or adusting a wire bail.
The pots I bought are like these ones. About twenty quid delivered for the four.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DEEP-STOC...hash=item33a6be5d86:m:mHS9cJg0kpWlo2HEiij8XcA

Mary you are a genius, that's exactly what I need! hopefully i'll find some room to pack them with everything else i'm taking this year

 

[Toddy]

You're welcome If you lived nearer I'd just say take mine.

They're bulky, but not heavy. Even stacked inside each other, I get a load of stuff packed into them.
There are other sets available, but they're shallower, and while they're good for stock, they weren't deep enough for me when doing a big boil up with loads of hanks in it.

They're sound though, even if they are thin. I melted an aluminium pot on one fire and these ones lasted just fine.

M

 

[MartiniDave]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried a slow cooker for this sort of job?

 

[sunndog]

Yeah i'd go with just some cheap kitchen pots too. If you did want more of a camping though tatonka do some great ones, much fatter than a zebra...better pots all around imo

 

[sunndog]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried a slow cooker for this sort of job?

Slow cookers are used to melt candle wax for, erm. Other purposes (don't ask lol)

 

[MartiniDave]

Ooh-err! I need to get out more!

When I broke my arm a long time ago, sort of 1978, part of the physio I had was hot dipping my arm in molten wax - don't know what sort - and letting it cool off on the arm. That was done in a sort of kitchen sink with a heater in it.

 

[Jared]

Empty steel paint cans. 5L and a 12L maybe?