Forum: outdoors.stackexchange.com
Tags: <cooking>
Title: How to improvise or make pot grip / pot handle
Question: How do you deal with handling hot pots / cups without using a pot grip (see the picture for an example)? It's inexpensive and rather light-weight, but why add gear if you can use what you already have? :) I've been usually using a small Leatherman and a stick to stabilise the pot, but it's not particularly convenient and I've had a few mishaps (a whole cup of hot water ending on the ground...)

Answers:
sents: text: A common way in the past was to have a handle similar to a bucket's attached to the pot, often made from a thickish wire (e.g. baling wire).
text: Classically this was called a billycan , and meant that you could suspend the billy over the fire by the handle using just a stick, either cantilevered over the fire, or suspended like you might find in a spit-roast.
text: You can then pick up the billy by the handle, either using a stick or a bit of handy cloth and tip with another stick pushing the bottom of the billy.
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/17886/bob1
score: 9
sents: text: I use a small cotton towel, such as a tea towel, folded a few times in to a long strip.
text: If the pan is small and light you can wrap the towel round and hold the ends tightly together to form a handle.
text: Otherwise use 2 hands.
text: You do need 2 layers, and synthetic fibres can melt or ignite (if they brush against part of the stove, for example - at least some can handle boiling water).
text: When travelling light it can be worth carrying something like this.
text: It's obviously good for drying things (you might not need to dry dishes
text: but you can dry yourself with it, perhaps starting with a small synthetic towel)
text: but it's grey useful for handling hot things if everything else you've got would melt or conduct heat fast enough to burn you.
text: I carry one when bike camping, for example.
text: A muslin (as used for babies) would be a little lighter.
text: My (as yet untested) very light cooking system relies on cooking everything in a mug with a handle.
text: That doesn't get as hot, so if it's a little uncomfortable to hold, any glove would be OK.
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/2529/Chris H
score: 7
sents: text: I canoe camp, and I bring lightweight canvas or cotton gloves (leather dries too slowly) to prevent paddling blisters.
text: (There's a picture in my answer to https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/6996/163 )
text: They are also fantastic as "work gloves" eg carrying logs and when you need to handle something hot, like a pot.
text: They're small enough to fit in a pocket and to be nearby whenever you need them.
text: I have tried and failed to buy these online; your best bet is a store for farmers (eg The Co op, a hardware store in a farming area, etc) and a little patience.
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/163/Kate Gregory
score: 3
sents: text: Small pair or two of channellock pliers or locking vise grips.
text: The locking vise grips are a little more multi purpose but either or both are handy to have (grab, grip, clamp in the case of the vise grips, tighten bolts, etc)
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/14021/ivanivan
score: 2
sents: text: I use tin cans as pots.
text: I put a nail hole in opposite sizes just under the rim and string a chunk of bailing wire about 1.5 can diameters.
text: Twist at each end.
text: Most cans now have a thin liner of plastic -- essentially a layer of varnish.
text: While nominally food grade, when it burns it becomes uncertain.
text: Burn the can in a campfire or your wood stove before making a pot out of it.
text: The inside of the lip can have a sharp bit where the can opener finished.
text: Burnish the inside of the cut with the shaft of a screwdriver to press any jaggies flush.
text: Anyway: In camp, I can use a leather mitten, or a stick to move a pot on/off the fire.
text: When I have to actually hold something hot, I get out my leatherman -- which is part of my repair kit.
text: A small pair of channel lock pliers works better, but, hey, the ounces add up.
text: In practice the leatherman in plier configuration is mostly used to pour coffee or hot water from pot to cup.
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/2157/Sherwood Botsford
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
Tin cans can be used as pots and wire can be used to make handles. Pliers or grips and even a strip of tea towel or gloves may also be used to handle pots.
Gloves, pliers, tin cans, handles and cotton towels can be useful.