Purcell Trench manufacturing company
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q. I see you are going to make titanium grills. Won't they be awfully expensive? Seems pretty exotic for a campfire grill.
A. Titanium is an abundant element that can be smelted into a strong, light metal with excellent corrosion resistance. It is subject to oxidation and general atmospheric degradation at elevated temperatures. It should work well as a campfire grill material as long as the user avoids extreme heat. The Packers grill in stainless steel weighs about 3.3 ounces. Our titanium Packer weighs 1.9 ounces. For some customers, that is an important weight savings. Nothing is more important than food. A useful cooking implement that will last your lifetime for about the price of a tank of gasoline doesn't sound unreasonable to me.
Q. I notice you don't take credit cards. Why not; everyone takes credit cards?
A. We are going to start accepting credit cards again because we are selling more products to people in foreign countries. For some of them, credit card purchase is the only viable option.
We used to accept credit cards. The credit card companies raised our rates along with rates for other small businesses, despite our excellent transaction record. And I made the mistake of reading the latest agreement with the bank, which made me responsible for everything, even allowed the bank to audit my records and files at their discretion and send me the bill.
Q. Do you actually make these products, or are they made in Asia, or Mexico, or somewhere and you just put your company name on them?
A. We make them. The products are hand crafted in the USA of American made materials.
Q. Do you have the grills and bags in stock, or are they made after the order is placed?
A. Grills and bags are normally in stock and shipping is next day unless I am out of the shop on work or play.
Q. Why don't you make grills out of aluminum or titanium.
A. Because aluminum is not heat tolerant enough for campfire use. We do make titanium grills. Titanium has a high melting temperature but degrades in air at much lower temperatures. Welding titanium, for instance, requires complete shielding from air to prevent degradation around the weld. By applying advanced welding techniques and shielding inside and outside the tube, we are able to produce grills of high strength titanium aerospace alloy that will serve hikers for years.
Q. Why don’t you put legs on your grills? Some places don’t have rocks for fire rings, what do I do then?
A. “One of the poorest grills on the market is the type that has folding legs.” Bill Riviere, The Camper’s Bible. Bill advised anyone buying the little folding wire rack backpack grills to take a pair of pliers and remove the legs pronto. Legs are OK on big, sturdy car camping grills. Small grills with legs are usually unsteady. Purcell Trench grills are lightweight accessories for backcountry travelers. I don’t want to carry legs and you shouldn’t either. If no rocks are available, I dig a trench or pit, or I use green wood and earth to support the grill. It is best to use some form of ring, pit or trench for your cooking fire. A grill on legs over an open fire is a poor cooking arrangement, primarily because convection heat is uncontrolled. A Weber kettle style barbecue is efficient. Think of a Weber kettle when you build your cooking campfire.
Q. Why do some of your grills have a tapered construction?
A. Mother Nature isn’t symmetrical. A taper increases chances of finding a better fit on your support. In addition to increased technical difficulty associated with putting a taper on larger grills, the taper isn’t needed because the larger grill is inherently more stable. Besides, a grill with a bit of taper slips more readily into a pack.
Q. There isn’t much to your grills, why are they so expensive?
A. The grills are made of an industrial grade, made in America thin wall stainless steel tubing. The joints are precision TIG welded. TIG welding thin stainless steel is one of the most demanding types of welding. Our titanium grills are made out of best quality aerospace tube; welding requires purging air from inside the tube and completely shielding the weld from degradation. Thin wall stainless tube requires inert gas welding too, but now as much shielding as titanium.
Americans have lost their sense of value because for most products there is little relationship between basic input costs and price. I try to put money into materials and labor to produce simple products that provide a lifetime of simple pleasure. Consumers are free to exploit sweatshop foreign labor and smokestack industries, ship greenbacks overseas and support the most heavily advertised, media touted products. I think America needs a different vision and lifestyle.
Q. I remember hikers cooking on campfires when I was a child, but this is the 21st century. Campfires are environmentally destructive and dangerous. Why are you building campfire grills when light, safe, compact stoves are readily available?
A. The ability to build a fire and cook real food on it is the definition of real camping and the essence of North American woodcraft. Many of the most important conservation campaigns in this country were born around a campfire They weren't born around a Jetboil or Peak 1.
The Wilderness Act emphasizes primitive recreation, not gadgetry, ease and convenience. There are certainly times and places when fires are inappropriate; however, humans have been using fires all around the world for warmth, protection, cooking food and spiritual sustenance for thousands of generations. The domestication of fire is our greatest technological achievement. Celebrate it when you can.
Q. You say the mesh grill surface warps over a fire. How much does it warp? Do the mesh grills last as long as the all tube grills?
A. The mesh surface is expanded stainless steel. Stainless has a relatively high expansion ratio. The expansion can cause a pot to tilt a bit. A few users have noted their Streamside Voyageur grill bent into a shallow U when placed over a campfire for the first time. I don't know why a few of our grills have bent this much while others have not. My tests indicate a much higher probability of significant deflection if the first fire is hot. I recommend users break streamside grills in over moderate heat fires the first use or so. The Streamside Voyageur grill has a lot more expanded metal on it than other Streamside grills, so there is more potential for expansion related problems. The Streamside Voyageur grill has increased substantially in popularity and I have never had a customer complain about grill warp or deflection. Mesh grills almost certainly will not last as long as all tube grills, which we assume will last a lifetime. However, we have no record of a mesh grill burning out, or weld failure.
Q. This is probably a dumb question, but I just purchased a Streamside Traveler grill and I am wondering if it matters what side I cook on. Putting the mesh down can keep some food from sliding or rolling off, no?
A. I normally use the mesh facing up, but I don’t see why it would matter. I had one customer write and mention he usually cooks with the mesh facing down and uses the grill as his plate, too.
Q. Why do you make two different bag types for both the Traveler and Packer series of grills?
A. Customer choice. The medium weight, Velcro closure bags hold up well and the ultralight Soar Coat bag provides good service from something feather light; it is especially suitable for the titanium Packer.
Q. It is difficult to know which grill to buy without actually seeing them. How do I choose?
A. Try cutting out a sample grill from construction paper or cardboard. Lay it on the floor and put your pots and pans on it. If you like to cook everything in one small pot, you can get buy with a small grill. If you like to fry a trout, bake bread in a pan and have a kettle of water on the fire at the same time, you need more grill, even if you travel solo. Remember, a larger fire area will retain heat longer and allow the use of larger fuel. A very small fire area will not hold heat as well, so if you like to simmer some items, for example, you will do better with a larger grill for a larger fire.
Q. You used to make a great tarp style shelter that was real light - any chance I can still get one?
A. The Selkirk Shelter was the first or one of the first ultralight tarp shelters on the market. Customers liked them. The design was sophisticated and materials first rate, but we didn't sell as many as anticipated. We have none in stock and have no plans to reintroduce the product.
Don Tryon, Revised, October 2011