What to do with an old 15 L aluminum pot with a lid?

[Tjurved]

Hello I got a big 15 liters aluminum pot with a lid for free. It is old and kinda black inside. I want some tips/advices on what I can do with it except cooking? It feels booring to just use it as a pot . Only time I could think of using it that way is in a far away future when coloring wool or tanning a hide. I'm thinking about sawing it into pieces and make some sort of folding firebox. Anyone got plans for one? Or can't the aluminum handle the heat? Its like 2 mm thick. Another use for the aluminum is for knife handle material but it is probably good for a huge amount of knifes...

 

[cowboy]

with a bit of fabricating you could have a really nice wood stove!

 

[Tengu]

Keep it.

you never know when you may need a HUGE pot...and now you have one.

Imagine how devastating it would be if you cut it up and then found you needed one. These things dont come cheap.

 

[santaman2000]

Keep it.

you never know when you may need a HUGE pot...and now you have one.

Imagine how devastating it would be if you cut it up and then found you needed one. These things dont come cheap.

+1 I was thinking the same thing.

 

[ganstey]

I've had a large cooking pot for years, and apart from making up the odd batch of Chilli I've never really used it. Then a few weeks ago I decided to make some chutney to use up some pears from the garden and some free windfall apples. It was perfect! If I didn't have the pot I wouldn't have bothered making the chutney.

Keep it, you never know when it'll come in handy... actually that seems to be my life mantra

 

[forestwalker]

Can meat (if you can find the jars)? Sell it to someone who has a need?

 

[seatarp]

If it was mine I'd think about turning it into a smoker.

 

[Tjurved]

Smoker that sounds interesting. Any ideas how? Here is a pic of it. Poured 16 liters of water in it and it still wasn't full.

 

[seatarp]

Purely a guess!
Bend copper tube into a "U" shape, sit over the lip of the pot, to let air into the base of the pot to feed the smouldering wood chips.
Use an old oven shelf or wire to hang meat/fish/whatever in the smoke.
Cover with lid.
If it doesn't work out you'll still have an intact pot, with no holes drilled into it, and a bit of scrubbing should clean it up back to original condition.

 

[santaman2000]

Smoking is a fairly easy undertaking but it's time consuming. On that note I would prefer a bigger vessel (a lot bigger) for smoking so as to make it worth the time involved.

Also remember just because it holds 16 liters doesn't mean you can actually COOK 16 liters of food (such as chili or stew) When cooking these foods they do best if you only fill the pot to 1/2 or 2/3 capacity.