Purcell Trench manufacturing company
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Frequently Asked Questions page
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 here in the Northwest of American made materials.
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 wire rack backpack grills to take a pair of pliers and remove the legs first thing. 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, and larger groups usually spend more time on a fire support. Smaller grill, more taper, larger grill, less taper - over time, most users will find wisdom in the design.
Q. There isn’t much to your grills, why is the price so high?
A. The grills are made of an industrial grade, pressure tested, made in America stainless steel alloy thin wall tubing. The joints are precision TIG welded. Without expert welding, the steel simply burns up.
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 kid, 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. The Wilderness Act emphasizes primitive recreation, not gadgetry, ease and convenience. There are certainly times and places when fires are inappropriate, do not use fires under those circumstances. 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. By the way, when I hear someone say campfires are environmentally destructive, I assume they have no formal environmental training. I am amazed anyone who drives around in an automobile would dream of complaining about campfires.
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. My partner, Chuck, has developed welding techniques and fixtures to minimize warp. The most significant expansion occurs on the Streamside Traveler grill because it has the largest unsupported mesh surface on any of our grills. The expansion can cause a pot to tilt a bit. This is one of my favorite grills and our largest selling mesh grill. I have never had a customer complain about grill warp. Mesh grills almost certainly will not last as long as all tube grills, which we assume will last a lifetime. We have no record of a mesh grill burning out, cracking 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. I was going to order a Guides Grill for our annual group canoe trip, but my wife thinks we should order two Voyageurs Grills; do you have an opinion?
A. Here is appropriate comment from one of our customers. “My sons tell me that they would rather use two Voyageur Grills when necessary for the group rather than one big Guide Grill. Makes sense to me since the Guides won’t fit in our wanagan anyway.” “Using two Voyageurs instead of one Guide Grill has several advantages: You can set one a bit higher or slightly away from the fire to keep food warm while cooking something else. Also, using the two gives you more cooking space than the Guide.” Andre Hagen This is a major reason why the Guides Grill was dropped from our product list in January 2008. A good grill, but not as good for backcountry travelers as the rest of our inventory.
Q. Why do you make two different bag types for both the Traveler and Packer series of grills?
A. The first bags Gail made for the Traveler were black pack cloth with royal blue binding and a Velcro flap. Along with Debra’s graphics and silver ink silkscreen, they looked nice. This is our most popular bag. I felt a lighter bag would be serviceable, so we developed a lighter oxford, cord lock closure bag. Both work fine. The Packers used an oxford cord lock closure bag exclusively until we started building the Selkirk Shelter. I decided to make ultra-light, black Soar-Coat bags for the Packer Frame. They are OK for any of the Packer Grills. I like the oxford bags better, but the UL bag is nice for the Frame.
Don Tryon, January 2008