Need a Brazier....tired of dig'n fire pits!

[omarick1948]

....Yep, tired of dig'n fire pits! I want to get myself a Brazier for cooking. Don't know much about 'em, but would like to hear some information about them and maybe a photo or two of yours! Who sells the best one etc.

Thanks in advance..... :hatsoff:
Rick

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

I won mine off the Rendezvous prize blanket this past Memorial Day weekend. I think that it came from Crazy Crow. I've burned in it twice, once with wood and once with charcoal to get all of the oil burnt off. While I've heard some don't draft well, this one seems just fine even though it's still likely too soon to tell.

While the HC is debatable, I've been wanting one to just heat up things quick and so that I can use it under cover of a tarp on rainy days.

Crazy Crow is the least expensive of all I've seen.

Good Hunting.

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

I should mention that the Crazy Crow offering is arc welded and it shows.

 

[ameling]

Crazy Crow is the big wholesaler for soooo many vendors at events. If you look around a bit, you will see many selling the exact same stuff. The only difference is how much "markup" they add on.

Most of the braziers offered out there are best described as ... historically inspired. Almost nobody makes a good authentic reproducton based on original artifacts. And when you do find one, you will end up having to pay lots more for it - more like a "commissioned art work" price --- because that is what it would be.

The CC brazier is a good simple workable compromise for the price. And a little "tinkering" can adjust it to look much more like those originals. Just drilling and riveting those corners/sides goes a long ways towards covering up that arc welding look.

Just remember its limitations. Yes, you can "cook" on a brazier. But that is starting to push its limitations. They do work great for keeping food warm/hot, or heating pre-cooked food back up. And for getting/keeping water hot. But you also have only that one small surface area for your "cooking". That often means a lot of juggling pots/pans, or a second brazier.

When you get to braziers that are "huge" or double long, or with sliding plate draft controls, then you are getting into modern ... interpretations ... of what might have been.

The other thing to remember is that a lot of heat radiates DOWN from your brazier. If you leave it setting on the grass in use, it will scorch the grass/ground and kill that grass. Just look around a few days after an event and you will see a bunch of brown grass spots scattered about - where people used a brazier and just set it down on the ground/grass. And if you set it on top of a table or bench, it will do the same to that wood. I saw one group that had a table they always set their brazier on to cook. It had a deeply scorched spot from that radiated heat. I always bring along a couple fire bricks and sheet of metal to set my brazier on.

The best way to buy a brazier is at an event. That way you get to see exactly what it is and what size it is. Plus you save that shipping - which can get expensive (weight/size). I've been meaning to pick up one of the CC braziers - just to see how much a little tinkering could do to improve it. We shall see.

Just my humble rambling thoughts to share. Take them as such.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

 

[Blizzard of '93]

is there any description of HC braziers available?
I'm guessing they were either cast in pieces to be bolted together or smaller ones riveted together.
rivets to fasten cast iron go back a long ways, that is factual.
one thing to consider IMO is that a group of men had pack animals and may well have have had something like that packed along.
a brazier made of plate steel to resemble a cast iron one would be PC?

 

[LRB]

I finally tried a brazier 3 or 4 years ago. Wouldn't want to camp without one now. I bought the C.C. one. It does very well for me and my wife. We are thinking of getting another because as Mike said, they are a bit small. Even most of the smith made ones are small, and so are most originals. Depends on how much stuff you want to cook. One thing I would recommend is to use a hack saw and cut a slot for the top grate pins, so that you can easily remove it to clean, and to get the coals going. C.C. is hard to beat for the price, and I think one could easily modify it to look more correct. Originally, as I understand it, braziers were not made especially for cooking, but for more for heating curling irons, and clothing irons. Most colonial homes had at least one, and often more. There were also round ones, and brass ones. I am not too sure that any were cast iron, but possibly.

 

[Birdman]

ya got to remember the difference in the way we eat now n the way they ate then, today yer looking for a salad, meat n veggie with possabley a desert for dinner. For breakfast mabe eggs n bacon with a side of biscuts etc. Back when, while out n about, the food was much simpler one pot meals. Stews , soups, mush, a brazier would have worked fine for that stuff, not so well for out multi course dinners of today. Just some thoughts YMHS Birdman

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

One thing I would recommend is to use a hack saw and cut a slot for the top grate pins, so that you can easily remove it to clean, and to get the coals going.

Great idea. Noticed the challenge right away while feeding wood chunks into mine.

 

[Lostrifle]

Panther Primitives also offers a brazier. Haven't put the two photos together to compare, but I think they're different manufacturers.

 

[silverfox]

Smoke and Fire show a compact brazier 8 x 9" claims to be PC copy for under $65 and thats the cheapest I have seen.
Fox :thumbsup:

 

[Black Hand]

I bought a brazier from Mountain Top Trading co. for ~$50 two years ago.
http://www.mountaintoptradingco.com
Look under "camp gear".

 

[ohio ramrod]

....Yep, tired of dig'n fire pits! I want to get myself a Brazier for cooking. Don't know much about 'em, but would like to hear some information about them and maybe a photo or two of yours! Who sells the best one etc.

Thanks in advance..... :hatsoff:
Rick

It may not be PC but I raised mine on three steel "posts" to keep it up so I don't have to bend over to cook . ( Two back surguries will do that to you. ) In fact I made a larger one last fall so I can fit the dutch oven in to do my apple cobblers. ( Yes apple cobbler is period correct rendezvous food. Thomas Jefferenson prefered the Spitzen apples for "cooking with batter " And Doly Madison was known for her icecream dinner parties. So if you are at the Old Northwest stop in for some apple cobbler and icecream made with maple syrup and honey instead of sugar))

 

[ameling]

Smoke and Fire show a compact brazier 8 x 9" claims to be PC copy for under $65 and thats the cheapest I have seen.
Fox :thumbsup:

I just got the current Smoke & Fire catalog. From the picture, it looks just like the Crazy Crow brazier.

I think I've got a pic or two of an original brazier somewhere on this "infernal machine". I'll see if I can find and post it.

Mikey

 

[ameling]

Here are a couple pics of original braziers.

First are two views of an original square brazier - 18th century.

Then another drawing of a square brazier, plus a woman street vendor grilling sausages for sale using a larger brazier. Note -- she is a Food Vendor, and cooking for direct customer consumption. And the drawing was made over in England.

And then a pic of two ROUND braziers.

There are many other pictures out there. Check out Collector's Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Revolution, and companion book Early American Antique Country Furnishings for more pictures of originals.

Once you have seen a couple originals, the differences between them and the current ones being offered for sale nowdays, it's hard not to notice how ... modernized ... the recent ones are. A lot of little changes have been made to make them easier to make with modern iron and machinery. Plus that arc-welding really stands out.

Mikey


Plus one more painting of a woman grilling sausages for direct consumption, this time within an inn.

 

[Strawstalker/NM]

Horner: Not PC unit but the unit would work well for most Western Mountain Man Rendezvous. Great feature - for the almost yearly fire bans it has a propane option. You can burn - wood, chunk charcoal, charcoal & propane. Has storable legs to elevate unit off the ground. (No dug pit & no burnt grass) Can be used in conjunction with your existing fire pit irons & tools. The propane option can be adapted to fit into most tent wood stoves to burn propane. FYI - I have one on order.
View at strinztipi.com Re; "Above Ground Fire Pit"
Strawstalker, Colorado Territory

 

[LRB]

That appears to be the one C.C. sells.

 

[omarick1948]

Man!, that shipping costs keep soaring! MT wants $25 shipping for their brazer! It weighs 11 pounds. Their postage sounds a little steep!

Strawstalker, Don Strinz is a very old friend of mine, but didn't know he was selling stoves and such. Will have to give him a call. He lives about 45 minutes from me! Thanks Everyone!
Rick

 

[Blizzard of '93]

Mikey - any idea what the round ones would have been made Of?
I know malleable iron was around early 18th century (probably earlier) and of course cutlery steel and some little plate and rod/bar.
any idea if one made of steel to resemble iron could pass muster as HC?
I ask because as you may know many commercial campgrounds and some NF do not allow open fires except at the 'central pit' and I have made many firepits for motor campers (small-around 12" dia) to large (around 30" dia) out of rolled steel and even some hi$$ ones from s/s.

 

[Black Hand]

Man!, that shipping costs keep soaring! MT wants $25 shipping for their brazer! It weighs 11 pounds. Their postage sounds a little steep!

Strawstalker, Don Strinz is a very old friend of mine, but didn't know he was selling stoves and such. Will have to give him a call. He lives about 45 minutes from me! Thanks Everyone!
Rick

I bought mine at a local show so I had no idea on postage costs.....

 

[ameling]

Mikey - any idea what the round ones would have been made Of?
I know malleable iron was around early 18th century (probably earlier) and of course cutlery steel and some little plate and rod/bar.
any idea if one made of steel to resemble iron could pass muster as HC?
I ask because as you may know many commercial campgrounds and some NF do not allow open fires except at the 'central pit' and I have made many firepits for motor campers (small-around 12" dia) to large (around 30" dia) out of rolled steel and even some hi$$ ones from s/s.

Most of the originals were made from fairly thin sheet iron - almost like those thin "tin" sheets without the tin coating. Most modern made braziers are made from much thicker steel plate. Those round ones could be made from something similar to wood stove pipe - either the normal thickness or the heavier stuff. Just cut off that modern click-together edge, and rivet it together instead. The "thin" stove pipe would be closer to the originals, but more people would like the "thicker" material. If using new iron sheet material, probably 18 gauge for the thick, and 20 or 22 gauge for the thinner stuff.

Nowdays, people seem to want a brazier made of thick enough steel to park a car on top of without crushing! Those originals were pretty flimsy by modern standards.

Modern iron/steel sheet is around as close to HC as you are going to get - without going that whole extra step of working up Wrought Iron sheets. Just keep the thickness below "battleship armorplate" thickness! :wink:

Actually, old 55 gallon oil barrel sheet would be a good compromise. Just be sure to light that brazier a time or two outside at home to "burn" out any oil residue before you need to use it for cooking.

Mikey

p.s. Those round braziers are around 5 to 6 inches in diameter.