Any harm in boiling water in a coffee can?
Just wondering if it's fine health wise to boil water in a coffee can. If there are chemicals that can occur when boiling water in whatever metals it's made of that could harm a young child?
I plan on starting to bring my son along when practicing survival skills.
Coffee cans, and most all cans, now-a-days, are all lined with plastic. It is a little hard to see the coating. As long as that doesn't bother you......
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boiling coffee in a can on a campfire... BEST COFFEE EVER!
If you can still find steel coffee cans then be very careful about what's in them. Until recently, metal cans were sprayed with a thin polymer lining that contained BPA. The BPA was shown to leach into the foods at household temperatures. I certainly would not want to heat the food or boil water with that kind of lining. Since all the hulla ballu over the last year or so about BPA some companies have gone to an Oleoresin spray derived from oil and tree resin (fir and pine). Your guess is as good as mine as to whether there are any harmful stuff leaving into the food. And you can't tell just by looking inside what kind of lining it has.
Bottom line, I personally wouldn't do it unless I simply had to and then I'd burn the inside of the can to thoroughly remove the lining. There are so many inexpensive commercial camp and backpacking pots out there I just don't think it's worth the risk for a young child.
Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.
I agree with Rick: it isn't worth using a coffee can if you don't know for sure when there are much more suitable and affordable alternatives.. You can get a grease storage can like this one for a few bucks and they have a lid and a strainer thingy on it. And it will hold 1.5 qts of water.
Wilderness Survival:
Surviving a temporary situation where you're lost in the wilderness
Only causes cancer in California,
I always check my coffee cans first with an ohmmeter to make sure there is no plastic coating on the inside. Just touch each lead from the meter to the inside of the can like you would a wire when testing for continuity, a plastic coated can will not show any continuity but a plain metal can will show very little resistance. So far I have not found any metal coffee cans that have a plastic coating on them but almost all vegetable cans do have plastic coatings on them. I buy Master Chef coffee in the 14.5 oz steel cans at Walmart for $1.88 per can. Its good cheap coffee and the cans are very solid too. Even got a multi fuel backpack stove made out of one of then that will burn alcohol or sticks by cutting a 2 x 3 inch square hole near the botton on the side with enough of the bottom to hold a couple ounces of alcohol and on top I used sheet metal screws to attach a stainless steel grill from an old computer power supply cooling fan (perfect fit) to support the pot. If I run out of alcohol, I just burn sticks in it !
Last edited by Lamewolf; 02-03-2014 at 12:23 PM.
The VOM is an excellent idea. Thanks!
Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.
+1 on what Rick originally said.
Lamewolf- that is an awesome tip!
”There's nothing glorious in dying. Anyone can do it.” ~Johnny Rotten
Oh yeah? Well I said excellent. That trumps an awesome. Everyone knows an excellent is more better than an awesome. Hmmmpppffff.
Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.
Well, I say it is a more better tip. More better is more better than excellent.
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And more gooder beats everything!
@Lamewolf - that's an excellently awesome more better....dare I say more gooder idea.
Les Hiddens (The Bush Tucker Man) used nothing but coffee cans for boiling water and cooking.
Well..... I guess I could break out the "that was a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious idea".
Yeah..... Top that!
”There's nothing glorious in dying. Anyone can do it.” ~Johnny Rotten
Well, my tips are always better than the best, more awsome that the most awesome, and more excellent than the most excellent, so pipe that in your smoke and put it and I'm not under the alcofluence of incohol like some teeple pink I am !Originally Posted by natertot
Well..... I guess I could break out the "that was a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious idea".
Yeah..... Top that!
Coating cans with plastic is a "new" thing they do now. So, we can't really compare to the past.
I've taken a vow of poverty. To annoy me, send money.
http://www.youtube.com/user/FinallyMe78?feature=mhee
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