Sooty Billies

[Nat]

During a conversation I had with my Doctor (we were air rifle shooting) he said the world is too clean.

You don't see wee bairns playing in and eating mud etc., these days.
Liam

My kids eat worms, play with slugs, make mud pies, eat cake with mucky hands, climb trees and generally do everything i did when i was a kid before the "MUST BE CLEAN" society hit our air waves with a load of crud.

Sounds like a good doc there, a bit like mine

 

[Asa Samuel]

There is a guy on youtube called hiramcook who does loads and loads of tests on home made and commercial stoves and there has been a few stoves (using soy wax I think) that didn't boil the water, he reckons it is because the soy wax was creating a lot of soot on the pan which was insulating the pan from the heat.

I usually get the worst off if I'm out and then clean then properly when I get home. I've also heard that rubbing a bar of soap over the bottom of the pan before cooking helps get the soot off afterwards, must try it out!

 

[Teepee]

Ive done some test burning with different kinds of possible wax combustion, and the soot is incredible.
1 cm thick after one test burn.
It doubled the weight of my trangia pan!

The black colouring helps the pot absorb radiant heat from a fire, but anything more than a colouring will start to act as an insulator between the pot and fire. This will start have a negative effect.

 

[JonathanD]

I love these zombie threads. Quite a few familiar members that are no longer about recently though.

 

[Andy80F]

I wipe my usual pan down with a thin coat of washing up liquid before going out. The soot sticks but washes off real easily afterwards. Only takes a few drops to coat the bottom and sides where the flame might touch. Pity the poll does not have a choice of "Will put No effort into keeping it shiny".

Andy80F

 

[soulstar1963]

After making a few small meths stoves and testing them i've found that the boil times are quicker, and therefore the stove is more efficient, with a clean billy can, but it's not by much and hardly worth bothering about.

 

[JonathanD]

I gave my main pot and mug a good clean this weekend. I do clean them after every outing, but only to get them clean, not to remove the caked on burn marks. Amazing the years of crud that came off after an overnight soaking in a bleach/detergent mix. Still pretty much as black as they were before, but there are some light patches showing through. I like that well used but cared for look though.

 

[Beardy Adam]

I can honestly say I'm not fussed about keeping my equipment nice and shiny, bushcrafting and wild camping isn't exactly a glitzfest is it? But I suppose there people who prefer they're pots that way. Me, I use a Zebra billy can like Wayland and do the most obvious thing which is to scrub off any loose dirt and put it into a bag of its own. I put mine in a dry bag with my other fire equipment which saves you mucking up the inside of your rucksack. Even a carrier bag or bog roll would do the trick, so its not really a problem.

 

[Rothley Bill]

I like others here like my pans to be clean inside and out, I don't mind a bit of a trace from the fire on the bottom of my pans but I dislike a thick coat of soot. So like a few others I use a thin coating of washing up liquid to protect them. It makes the clean up simple.

 

[MartinK9]

I love these zombie threads. Quite a few familiar members that are no longer about recently though.

 

[Gray]

I was taught to leave the outside of my mess tins black as black attracts heat etc. i do this while im out but always give em a good clean when i get home

 

[Thoth]

Wipe the worst off. Forth bridge job otherwise