SIGG Billy Grips or Pot Lifters

Biographical information

Name:	Roger Caffin
Age:	57
Gender:	M
Height:	1.66 m (65")
Weight:	64 kg (140 lb)
Email address:	r.caffin@acm.org
City, State, Country:	Sydney, NSW, Australia
Date:	12-Mar-03

Backpacking Background:

I started bushwalking (the Australian term) when I was about 14 yrs old, took up rock climbing and remote exploration walking at University, later on took up ski touring and canyoning. These days I do all my trips with just my wife. Our preferred walking trips in Australia are long ones: about a week in the general Blue Mts (East coast of Australia) and Snowy Mts (alpine) regions, and up to two months long in Europe and the UK. We favour fairly hard technical trips and prefer to travel fast and light. Our ski touring trips are usually 5-7 days long as well, with full packs and tents.

Having discovered that a 20 kg pack (44 lb) is no longer fun, I have become a believer in ultra-lightweight walking. Typically I carry an ultra-lightweight tent (we need full insect proofing), a Thermarest (10 hours asleep on it!), a lightweight sleeping bag, a lightweight gas (butane/propane) stove, a lightweight pack, light climbing rope and a very light parka. I would carry about 12-13 kg (26-29 lb) total for a week (more skiing of course).

I am also the maintainer of the aus.bushwalking FAQ web site www.bushwalking.org.au/FAQ/.

 

Product information for SIGG Billy Grips

Year of manufacture:	pre 1988
Manufacturer URL:	www.sigg.ch (but item is not shown)
Listed weight:	not available
Weight as delivered:	36 grams (1.27 oz)

Product description:

This is a tool for picking up and handling a hot full cooking pot. It is the complete solution to the problem of burnt fingers, dropped pots and spilt dinners. The SIGG unit reviewed here is the one I have, but several variations exist (generally heavier and more expensive).

Technically, they are a little like a pair of bent pliers, but rather than describe them any further I have attached a picture. Visible in the picture are small notches in the jaws where the arrows point, right near the hinge (the black dot). Most pots have some sort of reinforced rim: a curled edge or similar. These notches go over that rim, and they mean the pot is not going to slip out of the grips even if held loosely.

Performance

To open the grips I can either hold the lower lever and push the top lever up with my thumb, or hold the upper lever and let the lower one drop. Either way, with the grips now open, I put them over the edge of the pot and close my hand. This is very easy to do and the pot is firmly held: I can pick it up, tilt it, pour it, stir it or whatever, with complete safety. Very little force is required: there is a lot of leverage in the design.

The one thing I do not do with these grips is leave them attached to the pot while cooking. The very hot air (or flames) from the stove comes up the side of the pot and heats the grips, making them far too hot to handle that way. I usually hold the pot with the grips while I am stirring the contents, then I remove the grips, put the lid back on the pot and the grips on the lid. Since the lid I use is just a flat sheet of very light aluminium it could slide off the pot, but the weight of the grips keeps the lid in place and helps it seal the steam in. Keeping the grips there means I know where they will be when I want to whisk the pot off the stove quickly: no groping around the floor of the tent.

Origin

I do not know the origin of this wonderful tool. I do know that versions made from two bits of bent fencing wire were around in Australia possibly before WW II, and were subsequently known as "spondonicals", for reasons given at the end of this review. Today they are generally called "Billy Grips" in Australia, but Pot Lifter or Pot Holder will do and is used in America. "Billy" is an Australian term for an old-fashioned cooking pot bearing a startling resemblance to a large tin can, with a handle made from a curved bit of fencing wire. The reader is left to deduce the origin of that.

Likes:

• Bombproof
• Light
• Cheap

Dislikes:

• None

Would we buy another one?

Immediately. As it is, I have two but only take one with me.

 

Spondonicals

It's from a Three Stooges movie where they are performing a surgical operation. Larry (the guy with the straight hair anyhow) is the surgeon and the other two are helpers [taken from aus.bushwalking].
Larry: "anaesthetic"
Helper passes large rubber mallet, Larry dongs patient on head.
Larry: "scalpel"
Helper (passes scalpel): "scalpel"
Larry: "scissors"
Helper (passes scissors): "scissors"
Larry: "spondonical"
Helpers:"spondonical?!" (rummage frantically through piles of instruments)

The original wire ones LOOKED like a surgical instrument for opening incisions or holding slippery bits of intestines.