Make Your Own Portable Camping Grill That Fits In Your Pocket

Going on an adventure in the wild outdoors is a great way to unwind and give yourself a break from the everyday hustle. It gives you time to reflect and simply marvel at the beauty of nature. When going backpacking, food is a must, which is why there are now portable grills available to make it easier to carry around a cooking device. However, if you don’t want to spend money on a portable grill, you can always make one yourself.

Your very own DIY portable camping grill will help you save a lot of space in your bag. You may ditch the bulky stainless steel grillers because this DIY grill can fit in your pocket! Thanks to stvn of stvn.eu, you can now make your own griller using only copper pipes and bicycle spokes!

These are the tools you need…

And the materials…

To make this portable camping grill.

Step 1: For this project, you will need:

1. Hacksaw (or at least the blade)
2. Cutting pliers
3. Drill and bit
4. Utility knife
5. File (or sandpaper)
6. Ruler

For the materials, you need to use two pieces of copper pipes, with one able to fit in the other. Stvn used an 18-mm and 15mm copper pipes, but any metal will do just fine. Copper, however, is a good choice since it is lightweight, has thin walls and it won’t bend easily when exposed to fire.

Next is to get two copper tube caps that would fit the pipe with the larger diameter.You will also need a handful of bicycle spokes measuring 2 mm in diameter. A tip from the original poster is that you go for a stainless steel – after all, you’ll be cooking food with it. Another tip is to visit your nearest bike repair shop and see if they can give you broken spokes, which only means you might get them for free.

Step 2: Cut the two copper tubes in equal length and make sure to file the rough edges after.

This DIY made use of a 20cm tube, approximately eight inches.

Step 3: Mark, measure and drill

After cutting your copper tubes at the right length, mark and measure holes where the bicycle spokes will go into.

Step 4: Cutting the spokes to the right length

The number of spokes to get will depend on the number of holes you’ve made on your tube. The spokes should have the same length (or a bit shorter) as the tubes since they will be placed inside the tube after use. Cut off the bent end of the bicycle and cut to the desired length. Do these to all except two spokes.

Two spokes should have the threads intact on one end and the other end should be bent at about 90°. Keep in mind that the two should also be longer than all the spokes.

So you’ll have these:

Step 5: Assemble the grill

To disassemble, simply unscrew the end of the first and last spokes.

Voila! Packing it up is easy and it can even fit in your pocket.

This DIY portable grill is ideal for one or two people camping or backpacking.

After making the grill, some people were concerned about the harmful fumes that copper can emit when heated. However, the original poster explained that this copper pocket grill is perfectly safe.

Citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, exposure to toxic copper and brass fumes only occurs during the “welding of copper alloys.” This means that copper has to be melted for the harmful gases to be released.

According to the original poster, melting of the copper pipes will never happen over the campfire – “not even close.”

Watch the video below to learn how to make your own portable camping grill.

Share this genius project with your family and friends who love camping!