A Ranger's kettle

I ran into Jeffrey Hildebrant of Royal Oak Armory some time ago on etsy, and just fell in love with his work. He’s got an incredible eye and brilliant hand at his craft. While he mostly does arms and armor, he had a fantastic portfolio of cauldrons. He’d done a previous larger cauldron for me (pics of that sometime later) - but I still wanted a small little kettle such as a Ranger might carry on the go.

Even knowing the Romans had sheet copper cookpots and utensils, even knowing about Frodo’s copper cans at Crickhollow… the things just always read “18th century” to my eye. My mental image of a 12th c.-ish Middle-earth wanted iron. Practically, I also wanted something that wouldn’t fall apart at the seams if I ever managed to get careless about letting water boil out. So that’s where we started: merf-dunedain-trail-kettle-02-hanger.jpg merf-dunedain-trail-kettle-02-hanger.jpg (103.23 KiB) Viewed 21330 times

You’ll notice it’s hanging from a hinged potholder - those are an old hearth cooking trick for moving things about on the fire. Plus they work as nice ember tongs in a pinch for tossing bits into a tinderbox. All the accoutrements are kept in a simple linen toolroll inspired by Greg’s: merf-dunedain-trail-kettle-01-storage.jpg merf-dunedain-trail-kettle-01-storage.jpg (93.38 KiB) Viewed 21330 times

I chose to leave off the oilcloth backing though, knowing that no matter how careful I am I’m going to get grease and soot all over it, and wanted to be able to easily and thoroughly give it a deep cleaning, which I didn’t think I could do if it was on a waterproof backing. You’ll also see another skewer and one of Odigan’s lovely sylvan spoons in there.

The toolroll then fits in a little carrybag to keep everything orderly.

And finally, here’s the real neat trick - you see that other long metal handle in there? It slides into the pot lid to make an improvised skillet. merf-dunedain-trail-kettle-03-skillet.jpg merf-dunedain-trail-kettle-03-skillet.jpg (58.44 KiB) Viewed 21330 times

I’m overjoyed with this piece of Jeffrey’s - I think he’s managed a just incredibly useful little treasure.