Gear Care: Cookware, Stoves & Kitchen Items
Snow Peak Titanium Double Wall 450 Mug
How To Care For Your Gear When It Is Not In Use
You return from an amazing weekend trip, tired, taxed but happy. Now the real work begins- cleaning and caring for gear post trip. Cleaning cookware in the field doesn’t equate to total care. Like many things in life, cookware needs attention to last and continue being useful. Keep reading to learn how and why this is the case.
Snow Peak Solo Titanium Cookset
Why Post Trip Care Is Important For Cookware
Despite the possibility that you may have cleaned your cookware prior to returning, you want to make sure everything is good to store until it’s next use. Depending on the material of the cookware there are several things you can do after getting back. Since we are huge advocates for titanium cookware, this is a good place to start but will apply to other materials as well. Caring for titanium is very simple.
Even though there may have been a field cleaning, a best practice is to wash the cookware by hand with soap and water. Getting into all of the small pockets, corners and crevices is key. Next, completely drying all moisture is the focus. After every piece has been cleaned and dried, keeping in a ventilated sack is best. The key here is to avoid residual moisture growing into unhealthy mold. Another benefit of post trip care is the removal of any micro-sized sediment that seems to be omnipresent in some backcountry environments.
Vargo Alcohol Ultralight Stove
Post Trip Care For Stoves
This item may require minimal but key maintenance. The stove you choose to cook with needs to be in operational condition. Otherwise it may have no use at all to you when you need it to work. Keeping metals free of moisture and clean will help the stove work longer and efficiently. Another basic practice to make habitual is to purge the stove of any left over fuel which may linger. Removing this keeps the grommets, seals and fittings in working order. One thing you want to avoid is storing a stove with fuel still inside then going to use it only to find it doesn’t hold pressure. Not all but some stove models have repair kits available which include small parts, seals and other consumable or replaceable components. Keeping your stove in working order is a small but important step that will save you money and aggravation over time.
There are some stove designs which use very small holes to feed air or fuel through which need to be clear. By making sure everything is as designed to be used, you are increasing your gear’s reliability. Having said this you want to be gentle as forcing or damaging via cleaning is possible. Basically, if you care for your stove it will in turn care for you.
Pre Trip Inspection & Testing
Before you wander out into the wild, testing gear should be a mandatory practice. One of the last things you want to happen is get out 15-20 miles after a very long morning of activity only to find that you won’t be having the warm meal you packed. Obviously a fire will mitigate the use of a stove but some areas don’t permit campfires while other areas may not have suitable fuel for fire. Making sure that your gear is operational before leaving will reduce the risk of this from happening all together.
It is very easy to visually inspect your cookware quickly. If you notice any mold or growth that shouldn’t be there, you have time to get rid of it. Waiting until you are away from the house will make this task much more difficult.
