SPECIFICATIONS

The Finbar Folding Fire Grate is manufactured by Innovations by Fin.

Web: http://www.finnovations.org/

Year of Manufacture: 2004
MSRP: U.S. $24.00

LONG-TERM TESTING

TEST LOCATIONS

I used the Finbar Folding Fire Grate on a number of overnight trips and several day hikes.  Terrain was variable, and included sandy beaches, river sandbars, bottomland hardwoods, and rolling hills.  I used the Finbar Folding Fire Grate in weather conditions ranging from clear and cool to hot and stormy.  I used the Finbar Folding Fire Grate as my sole 'stove' during the Long-Term Review period.

FIELD USE

As described in the Finbar Folding Fire Grate Initial Report, the grate consists of three pieces of stainless steel tubing, and two stainless steel end braces. The pieces are riveted together in such a way that allows them to pivot when folding and also to interlock when in the open position.  The Finbar Folding Fire Grate slides easily out of its nylon storage sleeve and sets up in just a few seconds. 

I thought that a few photographs detailing the use of the Finbar Folding Fire Grate (FFFG) might be useful.  

Supports of about five inches (12.7 cm) seem to work well for the FFFG.  Here I have cut two pieces from an oak branch that had broken off in Hurricane Ivan.  I don't often go through such trouble, and usually I use anything I can find lying about.  I was testing my new backpacking saw for trail maintenance, though, and figured that it would be neat for the pictures.   I like to check the distance and stability of the supports before laying out my fire.

Here I have started a small fire with dry twigs.  I used two sticks stacked in the back so that I had a support for the twigs that was about 4 inches (10.16 cm) high.  This can be variable, certainly, within a wide margin.  I then laid many tiny twigs down, then some larger ones, then some larger ones to the left of that, and even larger ones to the left of those.  I then lit the right side, as seen here.  From the time I started laying the fire until I lit it was about three minutes.

As the fire caught, I slid the unburned sticks and twigs to the right, into the flames, then added some additional fuel.  This gives me a one-sided fire between the supports.  I let this burn well until coals are established and little smoke is evident.  This is about ten minutes after lighting, or about thirteen minutes after I started.  During this time I have been heating the foil pack of hamburger that I brought.  (I also heat foil packs of tuna in the same way.)  I lean the pack against one of the supports outside the fire and warm it. I use this burn time to set up my kitchen, get out my food, and warm my hands if it's cold.  Water can be filtered during this time as well.

I then lay the FFFG across the supports.  With the one-sided fire, I can adjust the cooking temperature by sliding the pot left or right on the FFFG.  Yes, Virginia, I can even simmer.

I apply the pot and arrange the coals a little.  With the meal I'm making here I'm using Kraft Easy-Mac, and the water has to be brought to a boil as quickly as possible.  The pot in use here is an AntiGravityGear 2 quart (1.9 l) capacity pot.  I have just over 1 quart (.95 l) in the pot.  The water was filtered straight out of the cold creek, and came to a boil in just over two minutes.  As soon as that happened, I knew that the Easy-Mac was perfect, so I pulled the pot off the stove and poured off the excess water.

The rest of the ingredients are then dumped into the pot in order (cheese, stir, meat, stir, heat on fire for a few seconds) and then served out in fancy paper bowls.  Serves two.  The bowls go into the fire, so there is no cleanup.

In this case I wiped out the pot with a paper towel, which then went into the fire.  I did this because I was lazy.  Under normal circumstances I would have put more water in the pot and set it on to boil while I ate.  A quick stir, and the non-stick pot comes clean from boiling and I just dump that water.  After that I fill the pot out of my shower bag and boil that and dump it back into the shower bag.  Usually it takes three times and I have a shower bag full of HOT water with which I can take a hot shower.  Then I put on more water to boil and go take my shower.  Once the shower is finished, the tea water is ready.  

For dayhiking and lunch time use when I don't want to build a 'real' fire, I setup the fire grate and build a small fire with little twigs under the pot.  This burns quick and hot.  Twigs are fed into this little fire as needed and once the water is hot or the food is cooked, the little fire is allowed to die out.  Once it dies out, there are few residual coals, and these can be stomped into the ground or covered with a little dirt.  It is, of course, preferable to wet the area thoroughly with water to make sure that the fire is out.  

Such small fires are generally much sootier than cooking over a bed of coals as detailed above, but the soot is still quite manageable.  The FFFG can be wiped with leaves, which removes most of the soot.  Once stowed in its nylon slip case, it is totally contained and can then be stowed inside my pack without any fear that the rest of my gear will get dirty.  I likewise carry a nylon stuff sack that fits my pot perfectly, and the packed pot does not come into contact with any other gear.  In this way everything stays clean.  When I get home, everything goes in the dishwasher and comes out nice and clean.  

On one trip I couldn't find decent sized logs for the supports.  I notched some twigs with my knife and stuck four of them in the ground so that they supported the four corners of the grate.  This was perfectly successful.  On another occasion I camped on a river sandbar and had a similar problem.  I simply dug a small pit in the sand, lit my fire in the pit, and placed the grate across the opening.  In the morning I scattered the ashes into the river and filled in the hole.  

SUMMARY

Full real meals can be easily cooked on the FFFG.  In my experience with backcountry cooking, I feel that the FFFG is well suited to weekend and long distance hiking equally.  Being able to actually cook rather than just heat water allows me a range of options that I would not have if I had to carry fuel with me.  In many areas wood is nearly limitless, and in the deep south I never have to range far for enough wood to make a meal, have a hot shower, and all the hot beverages I could desire.  In the case above, all the wood used was collected less than 20 feet (6 meters) from the fire site - and I could have cooked for days without stepping outside that range.  Properly supported, the FFFG will support three 2 quart (1.9 l) capacity pots simultaneously, or one 2 quart (1.9 l) capacity pot and a frying pan.  At 7.1 oz (201 g) I think that it is safe to say that the Finbar Folding Fire Grate out performs any other backpacking stove on the market today.  There just isn't any other stove that can take three pots at a time that doesn't weigh a couple of pounds, and for all the liquid fuel or Esbit tabs that I would have to carry to match the performance, multi day trips would quickly become burdensome.

From now on, when I hike where I can have a fire, the Finbar Folding Fire Grate will come along with me.  

THINGS I LIKE

1.  Very light compared to other grates I have used.
2.  Folds up compactly and slips inside a pack readily.
3.  Quite sturdy.

THINGS I DON'T LIKE

1.  The Finbar Folding Fire Grate is heavier than it needs to be.  

Now somebody might think, "Wait a minute...  You just said that it beats everything else...", and so I did.  I was thinking about it though, and the entire FFFG is made of stainless steel.  This is very nice, and the stainless tubing is actually quite light.  The ends, however, are made of heavy gauge stamped stainless steel.  Since the ends don't actually get very hot because they are resting on the supports, the ends could be made out of aluminum (or even titanium) with no loss of strength or performance while making the FFFG a few grams lighter.  While I did not try it, a fellow tester suggested that I might even be able to remove the ends entirely, but I did not have the foresight to test the theory during the test period.  I will endeavor to do so and make an addendum to this report after I have had sufficient time to try it.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

I have prepared a list of additional resources for those wishing to learn more about cooking with wood fires and other fire making and fire starting resources that are beyond the scope of this report.  This is hosted on my own hiking website and is not a part of this report.

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Thank you for your time.

Shane Steinkamp
shane@theplacewithnoname.com 
www.theplacewithnoname.com/hiking