I recently went camping with Monty, of “Monty Outdoors”. When I asked him how far we were walking in he stated that it wasn’t far, as we were taking a portable fire pit. I have one at home, and was expecting a large, bulky and heavy bag to be carted in, so you can imagine my surprise when I found that there was no sign of anything in his car boot – except a bag of firewood.
Instead he had a folding stainless steel mesh firepit which fitted in his rucksack, and I was really impressed, so I decided to get one for myself. There are numerous retailers selling variations on these online, and I picked one up from “Mixjoy”, mainly because it comes with a spare mesh included.
Weighing in at 790g for the complete kit, and at around 25cm long packed, it is a very portable option for carrying in the rucksack, and you could lighten that down by only carrying one mesh. The kit consists of : 1 x Carrying Case 2 x 304 Stainless Steel Mesh (Chromium Heating Wire) 1 x 201 Stainless Steel Central Quadropod Unit 4 x 201 Stainless Tube sections with rubber feet 4 x 201 Stainless Steel Upper Tubes 4 x Stainless Steel Spring Retaining Clips
Assembly is fairly straightforward. Open up the central section and clip on the four feet sections at the bottom, and the four upper sections at the top. Unroll the mesh and fix it to the upper tubes using the retaining clips. And, that’s it.
The fire does stand fairly high, so it should be put up using as much natural shelter as possible, or you might construct a more substantial windbreak. I’d have liked the lower legs to be a tad shorter, but that’s just personal preference. In contrast with my low-lying stainless steel fire pit, after use there was no visible scorching or sign that there had even been a fire there; it truly was a great leave no trace fire. By keeping the fuel at a reasonable size it efficiently burned the wood down and reduced it to a very small amount of ash, which was easily disposed of, while slightly damp wood could be stored underneath the mesh, allowing it to dry off before burning. The manufacturer claims that the support is strong and can support over 5kg of wood, and this is more than sufficient for a reasonably sized fire.
What surprised me the most about this was that in the morning when it came to packing up the fire it was cool to the touch within minutes of allowing the fire to burn out. I had expected to have to give it a soak and leave it to cool for a while but I found that I didn’t need to. In fact I also noticed that the lower legs remained cool enough to touch even while the fire was lit, so you could (carefully) move the fire to a more suitable spot if required without extinguishing it.
For just over a tenner this is a fantastic bit of kit. I’m fairly certain that with repeated use, at some point the mesh will begin to fail, but I’m not at that stage yet (and this comes with a spare anyway), so if you do fancy a lightweight, leave no trace fire on your campsite which doesn’t break the bank, then look no further.
The Airdrie Rambler 