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Wok for Canoe Camping, make your own.

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Taking off from the fry pan thread and going a wee bit different direction. On the original “fry pan” thread we got a good idea of what works for who, in different scenarios.
Having a fertile imagination and a small amount of ability working with my hands; i’ve always like making my own gear, when feasible. I derive a lot of enjoyment out of using and modifying gear for specific purposes.
These camp fire woks are no exception. Over 30 years ago Store bought cookers like this were not available so we just built them out of blades from a disc harrow. The steel used in disc blades is a high carbon 1070/1090 or a Boron steel, good stuff.
The fry pan thread whetted my interest on building another one except with a little twist. Previous ones were 12-16 inch diameter and had 10-12 inch tall legs and they were simply jamed into the fire for cooking. They stored well in Canoes or on wheelers etc and were very easy to clean with only some stream sand and a quick rinse.

However, there’s a lot of portager’ers on here who don’t want a bunch of extra weight or something as ungainly. I’ve never portaged and only move my gear from the canoe up the bank to a campsite or off a 4 wheeler at a campsite. For this one i’ve decided to keep the wok style but turn it into a legless fry pan.

Finding disc harrow blades up here is more trouble than when we lived in the lower 48, fortunately e-bay bridged the gap and provided a great starting place. This cute little disc blade is only 10 inch diameter with 1 1/4“inch of center drop. Tomorrow i’ll start in on this project and expect to complete it this coming week.
My main interest in sharing this kind of thing is to plant a seed into someones mind by turning some basic materials into something useful and unique.
 

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My Wok project went pretty well today. I started off machining all the little bit’s id need including a plug for the hole in the bottom. Once the plug was welded and blended i decided to cut the very sharp outer edge off; preventing an owe later! The used farm stuff has made a bazillion trips around a field and that edge is pretty smooth, this one was razor-ish.
Next i began assembling the components and adjusting the handle hinge to position it properly when open.

Tomorrow a little clean up needs to get done and i’ll weigh it. At the end of the day i have less than 5 hours in it and a minimum amount of material. It’s nothing revolutionary but it is a very functional improvement on the ones we made so long ago.
I’ll have a couple more pictures to add tomorrow then we’ll be off chasing another butterfly!

Gonna have to start a fire out back now and fry something!
 

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That’s really cool! Are you going to weld on nuts for screw-on legs, or just use a wok ring?
 
I believe i’ll use it like it is. Leg’s seemed like a good thing way back when but looking back, if our fires had not been such “white man fires” we wouldn't have needed to get it up in the air. Essentially i’ll treat it like a frying pan and just nestle it into a conservative cook fire.
Im really liking how compact it turned out!
 
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Very creative. Arigato gozaimasu! Can it cook eggs and pancakes? It's all theory until pictured.
It’s all in the wrist! Lean it to one side, pour the pancake and after it sets enough not to run, tilt the other way for the eggs.
 
Sound’s like you’ve been there before? I’ll have to give that a try at some point.
An all time favorite, for about any meal was canned bacon. I’ve not had any in years but with my re-found vigor for “getting out”, i’ll have to round some up. I don’t ever remember hauling a cooler on a river float so it worked out well.
 
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Canned bacon, huh? I'll have to see if I can hunt some up. (sometimes I learn the darndest things on here...)

I'll probably only use it around home though as I don't want the weight or trash of cans on trips and bacon keeps really well in a ziplock.
 
Sound’s like you’ve been there before? I’ll have to give that a try at some point.

No, I’ve never used a wok or discada. And I don’t have a problem with my food touching, I just like to make things well and combine on the plate. Could also do the corned beef hash thing with pockets for the eggs 🤤
 
Canned bacon: we use to get the Celebrity brand in a yellow can at costco, bought it by the case. Open the can, pull out the paper wrapped bacon and wash it in the stream; then wash it again. It’s pretty salty; however i don’t believe i’ve ever eaten better bacon; anywhere! It came from Bulgaria or Poland i believe.

And @Woodpuppy after that stunning performance in the fry pan thread i’m thinking i’d do all the paddling and camp chores so you’d be fresh for the cooking each day?
 
While perusing the net looking for vintage pack board‘s to glean ideas for my own “pack board” project; i found this one. The whole kit is remarkable but the thing that got my eye was the hinged handle fry pan, with a similar hinge to mine; yet far more eloquent! One improvement i could make on this pack would be something to replace the rock under the bag; allowing it to stand on it’s own!
 

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Good idea.
I used to wonder what the old miners cooked with. I have baked a cake with two gold pans and have cooked on a shovel plenty of times. Kids love pancakes made on a shovel over an open fire. We used to heat up lunch on the exhaust manifold of the truck with foil and baling wire when working in the winter.
 
Good idea.
I used to wonder what the old miners cooked with. I have baked a cake with two gold pans and have cooked on a shovel plenty of times. Kids love pancakes made on a shovel over an open fire. We used to heat up lunch on the exhaust manifold of the truck with foil and baling wire when working in the winter.

We had a couple guys back in the day that would heat up their canned Vienna sausages and the like, and foil wrapped fish on the mufflers of trash pumps and the drill rig’s exhaust manifold. Note to future adventurers, vent the canned goods!!!
 
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