[Spit-project] Heat reflector?

[Saint Phlip]

Uh, Gunthar, and all, the very basic lean-to shelter is actually
designed as a heat reflector ;-) I would suspect that temporary fires
would use temporary wind and fire reflectors.

On 6/25/07, Michael Gunter <countgunthar at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >Is there any historical antecedent to having a portable heat reflector
> >behind the fire, to help retain and direct the heat to some extent - and to
> >give the cook somewhere safe to stand that is somewhat protected?
>
> I'm sure there were but I have no idea where to find it.
> The people in the past weren't idiots and were masters of
> open fire cooking. So I am pretty sure they figured out what
> us novices have discovered: fire is hotter when reflected off
> a back wall.
>
> The problem is that I haven't seen any kind of illustration of
> any kind of portable heat reflector. The manor and castle
> kitchens all have tile or stone backed hearths and obviously
> designed to give radient heat up and outwards.
>
> >I've seen the importance of a wind-shield lean-to in the survival shows, to
> >retain and reflect the heat of a campfire, and I wonder if something
> >similar
> >could be done on an open fire cookery set-up
>
> Of course it can and I suggest it. Countess Regina and I
> talked about making a canopy safe for putting over a cooking
> area with moveable walls in order to be able to cook in the
> rain or hot sun and to keep the wind off.
>
> Making some kind of heat reflector would be very nice. Even
> if it is something so simple as a hunk of wood or steel supported
> with poles. I just haven't seen anything reflecting this setup
> in period sources and would love to find one.
>
> The period way of cooking seems to involve large quantities
> of wood over which cauldrons are hung and meat is placed
> around it. Then coals are scooped out of the bonfire and placed
> on the ground for smaller pots or more delicate heating requirements.
>
> >Of course, being the mad engineer sort that I am, now I'm wondering if a
> >three-legged arrangement could be made, with an open side, and two 'banked'
> >sides, and the fire spread in a V-formation. It would certainly give one a
> >'hot spot' in the bottom of the V...
>
> I was thinking of something similar.
>
> >Si'le inghean ui MacAoidh
>
> Yers,
>
> Gunthar
>
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-- 
Saint Phlip

Heat it up
Hit it hard
Repent as necessary.

Priorities:

It's the smith who makes the tools, not the tools which make the smith.

Blessed be the self-righteous, for they shall inherit themselves.