Campcraft: Homemade Griddles

And we are disqualified as Ultra Light Backpackers.

You’d think with my skills in the fiber arts that we would start our gear-making with some bags, right? Instead we were hammering sheetmetal on an anvil one sunny morning, making hand-fashioned cookware.

I have been envious of a flat-ish metal griddle that I have seen a Youtuber using over the campfire. Its thin, and not too heavy for backpacking, but its much better at high-heat cooking than our anodized aluminum camping pots. I like cooking over a fire more than a little camp stove, but sometimes its not practical (like that first cup of coffee), so we always struggle with selecting pots that do ok at both.

The Outdoor Boys channel has a video about how to make his griddle, and one evening I finally watched it, was astonished at how simple it was (if you don’t bother with handles) and we constructed our own the next morning.

Making our own camping griddles from sheet metal. Our anvil is actually a discarded piece of railroad track, mounted on a stump. It was probably tossed in the woods when they were doing some repairs on the railroad.

It turns out all you need is a piece of steel sheet metal - and conveniently my husband was already at the hardware store when I texted him my request, and he came home with a 8”x24” sheet of 16 gauge steel. The next morning he sawed the sheet in half, making two 8x12 inch pieces. My kids then hammered the metal to create the bevelled edge (I got them started, but then they were fully invested in their griddles. And I am, of course, trying to be good about my healing hand).

Once they had the shapes they wanted, we filed edges so they were safe to handle. And then time for cleaning and seasoning! We needed to heat and wash the metal to get all the manufacturing oils and residue off our future cooking surfaces. My 13-year old wanted to heat it in a fire, and then cool it down quickly (quenching) for added strengthening. I wanted to follow the directions for seasoning in the oven, so we decided to finish our griddles separately.

Then we cooked flatbreads on my son’s griddle, over the campfire that he had used to finish his pan. It worked beautifully! And we have since cooked many meals over our griddles, only few of the charred.

Making flatbreads and Spam over the fire. Jim and I each bring our own touch to the camping cuisine.