Titanium that you actually use ?

[Toddy]

The Alpkit.com advert that's in the header slot just now.........I have a mug and lid, a spork and a long handled spoon, and they are very good indeed but what about the rest of the stuff ?
The wee frying pan/ lid to the pot ? I'm tempted but not if it's just going to end up clutter.
I bought a set of really small nonstick utensils (Ikea, kids stuff ) weigh nothing and the spatula and spoon are really good, and they'd fit inside the set, but how nonstick is the Ti stuff in use ?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Dartmoor navigator]

Ti creates unequal cooking surfaces with hot spots. It heats fast but also cools very quickly. I really think it is the emperors' new clothes.

I have an MSR Ti pot it's terrible- I never use it but I do use the lid as it fits a much better pot (with a heavier lid)

 

[udamiano]

tbh Toddy, unless your counting the grams, I find Ti not a feasible option, the non-stick really depends on the finish some good, some bad. but for the cost and not really that much in weight gain good solid Alu with a good non-stick coating works for me. however if weight not the issue then cast iron all the way

 

[Shewie]

I've found Ti to be pretty useless at actually cooking anything, it's great for boil in the bag type meals or just making brews.

A lot depends on your stove of choice too, I tend to use the all or nothing types so my food just burns in Ti.

 

[udamiano]

+1 Shewie

got to agree with Shewie, not a good heat transfer, so tends to burn everything, but for boiling water is ok

 

[Toddy]

We cleared the loft out last year, really cleared it I mean. We had camping kit up there that was 60 years old
In amongst it we came across both of our sets of aluminium billies......the kind with wire handles and deep lids that did double duty as wee frying pans or bowls to eat from. Bulldog brand stuff. Bashed and dented and black in spots where the green scourer couldn't reach, and they were still sound. and useable I know mine were bought when I was a teenager, and that wasn't yesterday They didn't owe us a halfpenny, but they just weren't getting used and we had newer stuff, so we passed them along.

HWMBLT walks miles and miles, but the weight is an issue that can't be ignored. The loads he carried as a young man are just ridiculously heavy nowadays.
The advert kind of made me wonder about the Ti stuff as a replacement for the sets we have now.
I like my mug, and I do quick boil up stuff in it, but tbh, boil up is not the be all and end all of camp cooking.

As a aside, we came across one of the original survival bags, made out of layers of re-inforced and proofed brown paper I jest you not and I kept it as much because it's an antique than anything else.
If anyone collects such things, let me know and I'll post it to them

cheers,
M

 

[Man of Tanith]

i have a couple of Ti sporks and a foon
only use em as i got hacked off with my plastic sporks snapping
i was with someone who used a ti billy to make his porridge in-it was funny for me to watch as he chipped away at the burnt bits

 

[hobbes]

Hehe, great thread title.

Mine are Snowpeak (not Alpkit) but the Ti surface isn't remotely non-stick.

Yep, I agree that Ti isn't great cookware. According to those that know about such things, it's not as conductive as (say) aluminium, which is why it has hot spots. But yes, I have some for when I'm gram-counting... and aluminium for when I'm not... and cast iron for the fire at home

 

[mountainm]

I have the alp kit snapwires ti knife fork and spoon. Great little set.

 

[spiritwalker]

havent gone down the ti route yet... i once had a ti triad meths stove amazingly light and i loved the concept but i just couldnt get it to burn long enough to brew up and well my only piece of ti kit ended up on the gift it on thread.... ive been tempted to get a mug but i dont think i could part with my crusader cup and since ive been cooking with it too i ended up with two of them. Maybe its time for a ti crusader cup

 

[Barn Owl]

I love my 900ml cup simply for the fact I can drink my brew from it without burning my lips.

 

[Laurentius]

Spork, it does not melt in the soup

 

[outdoord]

I am thinking of buying a Titanium eating utensil and a small cook pot as when i walk it would be to have a hot drink or meal, boil in the bag would be better than trail mix that i carry at the moment.

I have read titanium is not the best but its okay for water and the weight is great for me as i walk long distance.

 

[plastic-ninja]

The Ti kit I use the most?
A couple of Alpkit Ti Nail tent pegs which I use as chopsticks when I am going ultralight.
They work brilliantly and have a little hole in the top to tie them together so they don't get lost ; if you drop them they are practically invisible.
Good for pitching tent too apparently!
Cheers ,Simon

 

[hobbes]

Alpkit Ti Nail tent pegs which I use as chopsticks when I am going ultralight.

Lol! Nice!

 

[EdS]

Ti knife, fork spoon set -- more for the size and shape than it been Ti. And some rose wood and Ti chopsticks.

Think there might be soem old Rusiian Ti icescrews soemwhere -- the good old non UIAA ones.

 

[Wook]

I was under the impression that the jury were still out as to the safety of Ti as a cooking surface. This and the cost is what has put me off.

Of course, we know that Alu is unsafe for cooking, but it is only so very slightly unsafe that you need to eat off it a lot for a long time to show any effect and for all intents and purposes that means it is safe for the kinds of use I put it to.

Ti does not have the 60+ years of use as a cooking surface that Alu does - we don't know the long term effects.

 

[sandbender]

"...I've found Ti to be pretty useless at actually cooking anything, it's great for boil in the bag type meals or just making brews..."

+1 Yep, pretty much.

I have two titanium pots, one from MSR and one from Snowpeak which has a little matching cup that'll sit on the bottom of the pot. Neither are particularly useful for cooking things one might find in the 'wild' or pick up from a remote village somewhere. I generally use a Crusader mug instead, it is heavier, but it is tougher, titanium can crack if it gets dinked or crushed. I have even managed to make bannock in the crusader, not something that would be possible with titanium.

"...I was under the impression that the jury were still out as to the safety of Ti as a cooking surface..."

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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]I don't know about the health problems that might come from using titanium as a cooking or eating surface but like aluminium the process of getting the stuff out of the ground and turning it into lightweight cookware for hill walkers is an extremely unhealthy one for the planet and those poor folks at the 'coalface'.


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[ged]

I was under the impression that the jury were still out as to the safety of Ti as a cooking surface. ...

Titatnium is used a great deal in medical procedures and is widely for body implants which have remained in place for decades. It is not harmful. Plants concentrate it, and you eat getting on for a milligramme of it daily. Nettles are particularly good at concentrating it -- getting on for forty times the concentration of most food plants.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanium#Medical

... like aluminium the process of getting the stuff out of the ground and turning it into lightweight cookware for hill walkers is an extremely unhealthy one for the planet and those poor folks at the 'coalface'.

Correct, unfortunately.

... According to those that know about such things, it's not as conductive as (say) aluminium, which is why it has hot spots. ...

Yes, the thermal conductivity of aluminium is more then ten times that of titanium:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanium

Curiously enough aluminium is 'lighter'. It has only 60% of the density of titanium. But titanium is a lot harder and quite a bit stronger so containers made from it can be made thinner, hence saving weight.

And we all know how good thin cookware is.

 

[Wook]

Titatnium is used a great deal in medical procedures and is widely for body implants which have remained in place for decades. It is not harmful. Plants concentrate it, and you eat getting on for a milligramme of it daily. Nettles are particularly good at concentrating it -- getting on for forty times the concentration of most food plants.

True, but some folk have questioned the safety of titanium implants and some people do have to have them removed due to adverse reactions.

Also, there is a world of difference between a titanium hip joint, and heating a titanium plate up to 300 degrees then rubbing your dinner all over it.

I'm not saying that Ti isn't safe. What I'm saying is that humans have relatively limited experience with this application of titanium compared to other cooking methods.