OT Titanium cookware suggestions

Joined
Sep 22, 2003
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Hey you all,

I was thinking about getting a titanium cup and maybe a plate and maybe a kettle around 2 quarts. I have SS and aluminum now and thought I might upgrade. Any reccomendations as to the places with the best quality and prices? I have been looking at backcountry gear and campmor so far.
 
I don't know anything about Ti cookware, but have used Campmor extensively and have always been happy with the price and delivery service. I do several orders each year with them. Just for what it is worth.

Jeff
 
Why titanium? Stuff made from that stuff ain't cheap. I'd stick with stainless unless you're really concerened about weight.

me = cheap.
 
I just used my annual refund to get a snowpeak titanium cup with lid from REI. They are cool. I'm not sure the weight savings over another light metal cup or pot really makes much difference.

I usually end up with my wooden kuksa anyway. But isn't high-tech cool!
 
I got Ms. Hollowdweller a titanium cup. It's gotta be half the weight of my stainless one.

If I want to carry that pound and a half khukuri with me I gotta save weight wherever possible.

I switched from a Coleman Peak 1(heavy with extra fuel) to a Sierra Woodburning backpacking stove. That helped.

Stopped carrying an aluminum frying pan.

Trying to get as much stuff cut down as possible. My pack was 50lbs and got it down to abt. 35, but I'd like to take it down to 30 if poss.

My buddy was carrying a 50 lb pack last year on a steep downhill with a lot of loose shale type rock and tore something in his knee. I'm trying to avoid that cause he was in better shape than I.
 
hollowdweller said:
I got Ms. Hollowdweller a titanium cup. It's gotta be half the weight of my stainless one.
True. But I am always aware of the 80/20 rule. I get 80% of the value for 20% of the cost/effort.

The jump from a 4 lb cast iron frying pan to an 8 oz aluminum one from the second-hand store is big. The jump from a 8 oz Al fry pan to a 4 oz Ti one is smaller and much more expensive.

What am I saying? Here I just bought one of the Ti cups under discussion! I have Ti glasses frames and a Ti spork too! I can't help myself. I'm in aerospace.
 
This is taken from one of my engineering manuals, the approximate weight per cubic inch of the three materials being discussed.

ALUMINUM = .098 LB PER CUBIC INC, TITANIUM = .163 LB PER CUBIC INC, AND STEEL = .282 LB PER CUBIC INCH

So if you had 3 pieces of cookware, one of each material (but dimensionally the same), the aluminum is the lightest by far.

stevo
 
stevomiller said:
This is taken from one of my engineering manuals, the approximate weight per cubic inch of the three materials being discussed.

ALUMINUM = .098 LB PER CUBIC INC, TITANIUM = .163 LB PER CUBIC INC, AND STEEL = .282 LB PER CUBIC INCH

So if you had 3 pieces of cookware, one of each material (but dimensionally the same), the aluminum is the lightest by far.

stevo

that depends on the thickness of the wall. as titanium is harder you need less material I would guess.

Andreas
 
Plus the Snowpeak cup fits perfectly around the bottom of a nalgene bottle, doesn't take extra room in a pouch (others do too). Their spork is pretty sweet as well. But Howard is right about the relative improvements.
 
Andreas, what you say about needing thinner stock is true to a point. But, most backpacking cookware is very thin stock as is. So if your aluminum pot is .030" thick, and the titanium one was .020" (there is a limit to how thin a pot you would make) you still haven't broken even in the weight department.

stevo
 
Howard Wallace said:
What am I saying? Here I just bought one of the Ti cups under discussion! I have Ti glasses frames and a Ti spork too! I can't help myself. I'm in aerospace.

Guess you are just trying to think about both sides of the issue.

I got a Surfire light cause the lithium batteries are lighter. Unfortunately that one didn't work cause I had to carry the same weight in batteries :rolleyes:

I'm boiling the eggs in a tea kettle now. Besides not having to cart a skillet it saves bringing cooking oil, and makes breakfast and coffee come closer together.

Got some of those nylon convertible pants. Way lighter than jeans.

Maybe by the time I'm done I can carry a 2 lb 18" khukuri I've saved so much weight. ;)
 
Wait till you see what the kamis have for us next. A plastic GR with Ti handle and thin steel cutting edge. Total weight 4 oz. Perfect for backpacking.


;)
 
I can almost see Bura blowing into the laha pot with a straw to make our handles light and airy like an Aero chocolate bar. :rolleyes: ;) :)
 
Howard Wallace said:
Wait till you see what the kamis have for us next. A plastic GR with Ti handle and thin steel cutting edge. Total weight 4 oz. Perfect for backpacking.

so does the butt cap unscrew and you fill it with sand dirt or water to give it the weight to chop once you make camp? :eek:
 
Not just "ahem" Kis, but "AMEN". When I managed a bicycle store people always were asking me about the performance benefits of some new widget that reduced the weight of their bike by 30 grams (about an ounce). For those that weren't fit I wanted to SCREAM "LOSE 30LBS, NOT 30 GRAMS!!!". For those that were fit, I wanted to tell them to take a dump train harder :footinmou I guess that's why I'm not the President or rich yet, I don't show well, and I can't just tell people what they WANT to hear.

meano von stevo
 
stevomiller said:
I guess that's why I'm not the President or rich yet, I don't show well, and I can't just tell people what they WANT to hear.

meano von stevo
Must've been the same for me 'cause I'm the same way. I told a plant manager one time not to do me any Condamn favors because I didn't want to be beholden to him and I damned sure wasn't going to lie for the company.:rolleyes:
The next day my overtime was cut off for about 3 weeks. Then when he wanted and needed me to work the same overtiime because he had gotten us behind I told him I couldn't for about the same 3 weeks. We had an understanding after that. He didn't mess with me and I wouldn't mess with him.
If I'd lied for the company I would've made foreman which was a helluva job because it was a good sized company and the foreman made some big bucks there, still does.:D
I can still look in the mirror when I shave.:D
I couldn't make it as a salesman for the same reason as well.
And I still have my self respect.:D
Whores should be respected because they're honest and give value for value.
A man who lies for a company and/or otherwise sells himself is a hundred, a thousand or countless more times worse than the lowest of whores because he sold his self respect.:grumpy: :( :mad:
Even the lowest of whores can still look in the mirror to put on her lipstick because only her body was for sale not her self respect.:D :cool: :p
 
One of the good things about titanium is that it's used for fancy, speciallized gear. It's expensive, so it gets used in small, lightweight designs. There are lots of big aluminum or steel pots out there, and lots of truly tiny titanium pots, but very little crossover. So you save weight by carrying something smaller, and more in line with what you actually need.

While aluminum is lighter, it is also weaker. Titanium is a bit stronger and heavier, but much less so than steel. There are all sorts of material-property numbers to throw around, but it's still difficult to tell what would work best, especially in something so simple as a pot. I'd guess that thin aluminum would be the lightest, but would dent easily unless you took very good care of it (then again, that's true for most superlight gear).

I switched from a 2 quart MSR stainless steel pot to a .9 L Evernew titanium pot. Advantages of the Evernew - perfect size for solo cooking - with a maragin of error for liquid slop and could serve 2 if needed, nonstick coating is pretty good, and makes cleanup much easier; integral handle means you won't lose the little lid lifter gadget. Minuses - the silicon coating on the handles (a plus because it keeps things cool enough to touch) singe in flame. I use it on a Trangia alcohol stove, which is very small and fits nicely inside. The alcohol is prone to flare-ups or crawling up the outside of the pot in strong winds.

Were I buying now, I'd also consider the MSR Titan tea kettle, but it would be hard to give up the nonstick coating and silicon handle coating. REI carries all this stuff, with a somewhat limited selection of Snowpeak items. Also having a sale - 20% off one item for members - that ends Sunday the 15th.
 
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