Large Fierce Mammal

There’s a saying I heard about 30 years ago uttered by a seasoned hunting guide who was describing the way inexperienced “woodsmen” build camp fires – “White man build big fire, sit far away. Indian build small fire, sit up close.”

He was talking about inefficient use of resources, and today I want to sing the praises of a piece of gear that is anything but an inefficient use of resources – the Kelly Kettle.

I first learned of the Kelly Kettle from an article I read in the long demised Survival Guide magazine. Impressed all to hell at what I read, I pretty much abandoned hope of getting my hands on one anytime soon because they’re made in Ireland, and that’s not on my daily route.

Coming forward though, I was delighted to learn that the original Kelly Kettle can be had in my neck of the woods, and in two sizes no less – the individual 20 oz size and the camp 50 oz size – from Lee Valley Tools, the Bayer’s Lake branch of which is a mere hour drive from where I’m sitting. Mrs. LFM and I scored ourselves the 50 oz size for $99.00 plus the damnable harmonized sales tax, and gave it its first boil a couple days ago. Following are a few pictures that illustrate that experience. One word of advice – our ancestors were used to working daily around open fires and steam. You, most likely, are not. If you buy a Kelly Kettle, read the instructions and remain clued in while using it, or a number of things will happen that make me point at you and laugh.

As usual, clicking on the pictures will enbiggen them somewhat.

Here you can see the water filled Kelly Kettle sitting next to its fire box, along with a small amount of twiggy forest debris and a little birch bark to get things going (already in the fire box - what's off to my right is part of my stash). The fuel you see here was MORE than enough to boil 50 ounces of water faster than our electric kettle could ever hope to accomplish. (Mrs. LFM photo)

Birch bark lit, the Kelly Kettle is placed on top of its energy source. (Mrs. LFM photo)

Fuel is fed down the chimney, starting with the smaller bits. The beauty of the Kelly Kettle is that anything that burns will fuel it. I used Birch bark to start and followed with dry twigs from our Maple trees, only because that's what I had readily to hand. If you have pine cones or prairie grass and cow chips, so be it! (Mrs. LFM photo)

The engine room, in all its glory. (Mrs. LFM photo)

Thay don't call these "volcano kettles" for nothing. (Mrs. LFM photo)

Mere minutes later, we have a most palpable plume of steam, and any food or beverage requiring hot water is seconds from reality. (Mrs. LFM photo)

There will be more to come as we adventure with our Kelly Kettle, but both Mrs. LFM and I feel safe in saying that this item bears the LFM stamp of approval.