List of all Blog Posts
Updated, New and improved Products. Now more Camp Goodness!
In the winter darkness of the past couple months I have upgraded, enhanced or created a new variety for 3 of the Camping Kitchen Box products. And now that it is almost spring I have gotten around to blogging about them...
Menu / Checklist Holder - A Customer Customization
A customer customization that adds a menu / checklist / duty roster hanger to the camping kitchen box.
Redesigned Headlamp Hangers
There are some new design for the Headlamp Hangers. Why? Because I am working on my Fusion 360 skills, and needed a practice project. And in the end I thought it was really neat the way it came out, so thanks to the miracle of 3d printing you can get one. The first new design incorporates the initials "CKB" (for Camping Kitchen Box) and second design removes the B, since it does not perform a functional purpose, for those who really all about function. You will also note that they glow in the dark, or you can get it in black if being a ninja is your...
Little Things for Little Products
Some little product improvements have happened recently, and though small, I did not want to lose sight of them. First is for the headlamp shade... a new smaller cord lock. The picture below compares the new cord lock (on the left) to the old one (on the right) and a a triple AAA battery for scale, The smaller cord lock also allows the use of thinner cord, making the whole arrangement even lighter and more compact The pictures below show the old and new cord locks on the shade. The other small thing are also related to your headlamp.. the headlamp...
Hippie Headlamp Headbands
Something fun from the workshop.. a tie dye themed replacement headband for your headlamp. It is stylish and useful. the band is one inch wide, which is what most headlamp are, so if you have a one inch headlamp it will fit. If you are bored with your current headband , here is the solution.
A Snake Shaped Headlamp Hanger
I recently bought a new toy for the workshop, a 3d printer. First, as required, I printed the sample cute animal statute, which the wife immediately confiscated. Since I am not one to just print other people's designs, the next thing I did was design a headlamp hanger and printed it. It worked well , but it lacked pizzazz, so after futzing and noodling and fiddling around with it some, and then a bit more futzing , I settle on this. It is suppose to be a Rattlesnake.. I hope you can see it. Here it is being useful as a headlamp hanger, which is sort of...
Camouflage Webbing Now Available
Camouflage webbing is now available for the Camping Kitchen Box. It might not be a HUGH leap forward but some folks have been looking for it. And if Camouflage is not you thing, We still offer Fire Red, Safety orange, Royal Blue Kelly Green, and Tacticool Black (which looks like normal black, but is tactically cooler)
The Tent Stake Bag, a new product.
I am excited to present my / our next product, a tent stake bag. I understand there are already bags for tent stakes, but hopefully our take is unique and useful. It has been sized to handle your typical stake hammer as well as a generous amount of stakes. The material (600D Polyester Twill) has a design that identifies the contents of the bag, and should stand up well to its intended purpose. Instead of the typical drawstring bag, ours is a zipper making it easy to get to the contents and secure them. Check it out here.
Camping Spice Rack from a Tackle Box
I am always thinking about camping problems and potential solutions that I can make in the basement. These solutions have to be useful, and still unique (as in there is not already a thousand examples on Esty). One of the problems I have been noodling over is how to store and carry cooking spices in a convenient way. After much thought and experimentation I have come up with... nothing. At least nothing I can make and sell. But during this process I did notice something that you might find useful. Certain tackle boxes are the perfect size to hold standard spice jars. Pictured above...
A Toilet Paper Dispenser for Camping
We are excited to "roll out" our newest* product the Camping Toilet Paper Holder. This box will keep your most important papers cleaner, dryer and makes them easy to access. If you are sick of dealing with crushed, dirty toilet paper when you are in the great outdoors, I believe you have found the perfect solution.
New from the Workshop.. a Flatware roll for the Camping Kitchen Box
Fresh from the workshop is the new Flatware Roll created for the Camping Kitchen Box. This is designed to hang from the back of the box in place of the paper towel holder. When it is not hanging, you can roll it up and stash it neatly in one of the drawers of the Camping Kitchen Box, keeping your flatware organized and rattle free. If you are interested in purchasing one you can check out on the store here. The cutlery roll is sewn by me on my mother's 1956 Singer, which had recently come into my possession. Sewing was not my mom’s passion,...
A Stand for the Camping Kitchen Box Chuck Box
Some one wrote (messaged? that is what we do now right?) the other day and asked about a stand for the Camping Kitchen Box. We don't make one as we have not been able to come up with a better solution then what is already available. What follows are some suggestions arranged them from lightest to heaviest, which also pretty much corresponds to "Might be a little wobbly" to "Very Sturdy" Coleman Stove Stand The first solution is the Coleman Stove Stand It weighs less then 4 pounds and it will hold up the box no problem, but will probably have the most sway compared to other...
Paper Towel Holder for the Chuck Box
The Camping Kitchen Box now has a paper towel holder
Making a Cover for the Camping Kitchen Box
I have had multiple inquires about a cover for the Camping Kitchen Box. It has taken a while but I have final come up with something that meets at the intersection of inexpensive, useful and easy to make (to match my rudimentary sewing skills). I am offering them for sale, but I wanted to put the direction out there for those of you who can sew. First here is the finished cover: Besides being easy and inexpensive to make, this design also allows easy access to the handles, allowing you to carry the box without removing the cover Materials The cover is...
Presenting the Social Distancing T-shirt
The social distancing t-shirt, because why not?
Winter's the Time to Practice Good Camp Cookery
While cleaning up at my parents house, my brother found this page cut from the Longmont Colorado Daily Times-Call , dated Wednesday March 3, 1971, which appears to be part of a regular feature called “Cooks’ tour of the Valley” . The headline sums it up nicely, as a good headline should. Enjoy! Winter's the Time to Practice Good Camp Cookery PHOTO FEATURE by DIANNE BOONS Come spring and summer, many Cooks' Tour readers will be taking to the trail or the campground. They may be on foot, or horseback, in a canoe or in autos or campers. No matter how...
Black is the new Black
It took a while to get here but we are now offering the Camping Kitchen Box in another color…Black Available now at the Camping Kitchen Box store and Etsy The Camping kitchen Box in Black.. very elegant isn’t it? Same great functionality, but it goes with everything… of course so does white :)
Introducing the Sample Camping Kitchen Box
The almost useful sample camping kitchen box Even for people that are familiar with the concept of a chuck box, I understand that it might be a little hard to wrap your head around a chuck box that is made out of corrugated plastic. Once again the miracle of internet shopping was thwarted by the inability to touch the product, but what could I do? First couple of not totally silly sample Camping Kitchen Boxes I have been using some of the leftover pieces of 4mm plastic from making the drawers to make bins that are useful for small parts...
Colored Webbing
We added a new option for the Camping Kitchen Box... colored webbing for the buckles and the drawer handles. This will be very useful for those who need multiple boxes and want to be able to easily tell them apart. Of course it is also nice if you just want a little splash of color. If your favorite color is not here contact us and we can probably order it for you. The New Webbing Color Choices are Black, Blue, Green, Orange and Red
Beating up the Camping Kitchen Box.
Some people can’t believe a chuck box made out of plastic can be very tough. I made a video to correct that misconception I dropped the Camping Kitchen Box loaded with gear repeatedly from 10 feet onto concrete. How did it do? Well watch the video. I can’t wait for some else to repeat this experiment with their wooden or aluminium chuck box!
D.I.Y. Pour Over Coffee Maker
I made a pour over coffee maker out of a plastic cutting sheet and zip ties. It weighs next to nothing and can be folded down, which makes it great for the backpacker (as well as anyone else) who can’t live without freshly brewed coffee in the morning. I purchased both the cutting sheets and the zip ties at a the dollar store, so cost for this project is just 2 bucks! The tools required for this project are very basic , just a ruler, a straight edge, a utility knife or scissors and an awl. To start cut two pieces from...
A Smaller Chuck Box
IT LOOKS COOL, BUT CAN YOU MAKE IT SMALLER? One of the more common comments about the Camping Kitchen Box is "It looks cool, but can you make it smaller?" Well after some noodling, some head scratching and some prototypes that went straight into the recycling bin, the answer is "Yes!" I am proud to present the "Camping kitchen Box 650" the little brother to our classic chuck box, which is now know as the "Camping Kitchen Box 1000". The new Camping Kitchen Box 650 on the left, and our traditional chuck box on the right. SO WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN...
Camping Kitchen Box vs Cabela's Deluxe Camper's Kitchen
I just had someone email me and ask me how the Camping Kitchen Box stacks up against the Cabela's Deluxe Camper's Kitchen. I guess I should mention that I have never actually seen this particular item in real life, so my opinions are based on what facts I can get from the web site and experience with similar products. I am sure that the Cabela's kitchen is a fine product, I am just making a comparison of functionality and features. My response follows: I don't know all the reasons folks purchase one or the other, but when comparing the Camping Kitchen...
Connecting Corrugated Plastic Sheets with Pop Rivets
Since I have been making the Camping Kitchen Box I have been using plastic ratchet rivets to hold the box together, and they have worked well, except for two of issues. First, if you really pull on them they can come apart, which was not an issues except for a couple of boxes where I used them to hold the straps for the buckles.. When I replaced rivets that held the straps with some pop rivets and fender washers and that worked great. The other issue is that occasionally the plastic rivets would break when I assembled them. This was...
DIY Rope Cutter
I have posted a quick video on my very simple rope cutter made with nichrome wire, a PC Power Supply a some bits laying around the shop. Please use common sense when playing with electricity and hot wires.
Camping Headlamp Lampshade Take 2
If you follow this blog you may notice I that some posts are experimental projects . This was the case with the Head Lamp lampshade made from thin plastic cutting sheets (link). I thought it was sort of an interesting idea, and I actually continued to play with the concept event after the blog post, until I stumbled across the Monte Bell Crushable Lantern Shade, which is basically a small stuff sack that you slip over your headlamp and it diffuses the light. Once I saw that I realized that the cutting sheet derived lampshade was kind of silly, and was...
Patriotic Coleman Stove
A while ago the Mrs. bought me home a grungy, rusty Coleman Stove (a 413). I thanked her and put it in a pile of things I might get to one day, but recently inspiration hit. After some elbow grease and a wire brush removed most of the rust and dirt, I busted out the masking tape and the spray paint. The result is what you see here. First I did the top, just trying to do I pretty accurate American flag... On the rest of the case I just went a little more artsy, but tried to keep with the...
Custom Camp Box
Recently a customer who bought a Camping Kitchen Box contacted me with a request. Could I make a companion storage box? After some hemming and hawing on my part, I agreed to come back with some ideas. The final result is displayed below. I do get a lot of requests asking about customizing the Camping Kitchen Box. The writer loves the idea of the Camping Kitchen Box, but they want to know if I can change some of the dimensions If they want to make it taller or shorter that is easy, but if they want to change the width...
Headlamp Lamp Shade
When I switched plastic colors (to neutral) I took a picture with it lit up from the inside (inspired by this). I started thinking about making a lantern / lampshade for my headlamp out of some of the corrugated plastic. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts. I came to the conclusion that it was the wrong material for the job, but I was not ready to give up on the idea. It turns out that I had the perfect material just sitting in my Camping Kitchen Box... plastic chopping mats. After trying some more complicated designs, I ended up with a...
New Color for the Camping Kitchen Box
The Camping Kitchen Box is now being made in white...or is white the absence of color? If you want to get really technical, it is not even white, it is "Opaque". Why the change? Well no one has ever said "Gee I really love that blue".. since it was time to order a new batch of plastic so I decided to mix it up. While I am showing off the new box I figured it would be a good time to take a look back at the previous versions of the box, which are pictured below. The first version of...
Buy Plans for the CKB Chuck Box
You have seen the Movie! Now read the book! Some folks have suggested that maybe I should write up plans and instructions on making Camping Kitchen Boxes and sell the plans , so I have, and they are available here. What you get for your money (nine dollars and ninety five cents of your money) is a 25 page downloadable Adobe PDF document full of photos and illustrations on how the Camping Kitchen Box Chuck Box is made, cutting diagrams for parts and information on where to get unusual parts and supplies. Below is a sample page in Adobe Reader.
How Light is the Camping Kitchen Box?
The most unique feature of the Camping Kitchen Box, compared to other chuck boxes, is its weight, which is only 12 lbs. How much lighter is the Camping Kitchen Box compared to other boxes? Below I compare the CKB to a home built chuck box, and then some popular commercial chuck boxes. The Home Made Chuck Box REI recently had a blog post with plans on how to make a chuck box out of ½ inch plywood. There are hundreds of chuck plans out on the internet, but these particular plans are good for making a direct comparison to the CKB, because...
Camping Hand Washing System
DIY Camping Hand Washing System There are many solutions for washing your hands while camping. One solution that seems to work well is what I call the “Fuel Bulb Primer with Five Gallon Buckets Systems”, or FBPWFGBS. (OK I really dont call it FBPWFGBS, but I did spend a couple moments seeing if I could pronounce it) . This system uses 2 five gallon buckets, one as a water supply and one to catch the water, and a fuel pump primer is used to move the water. The video below gives an overview of the system. This system has several...
Racoon vs Camping Kitchen Box
Johnathan Aulabaugh, who did the review for Living Overland, let me know via Facebook that a raccoon worked his way into the camping kitchen box. For Jonathan's picture of the perpetrator, follow the link below, and don't forget to like us! So yes, you can store food in the Camping Kitchen Box, but it won't keep the determined critter at bay! For more of Jonathans pictures can be found at www.johnathanaulabaugh.com.
CKB Review on Living Overland
Living Overland just did a nice review on the Camping Kitchen Box. Like any good review they found some things they liked and some things they did not ... They were of course absolutely correct on the things they liked.. as far as things they did not like... they were also correct. One issue they had is with the height of the box, and yes, It is tall. The stove compartment in particular is sized to fit the tallest of camp stoves. If the box height is an issue and is what is keeping you from purchasing a CKB we can actually make you...
Constant Little Improvements
I am always striving to make improvements to the box… Each box I build is hopefully a little better than the one I made before. Sometimes it just comes out a little nicer because I have even more practice working with what is sometimes an unforgiving material. Other times I have an idea to do something differently that make the box better. In this second category my latest improvement is using pop rivets and washers to fasten the straps for the buckles to the box. Previously I have been using plastic rivets to attach these straps. The plastic rivets do...
Coleman Stoves 413 414 vs 424 425
For the past 50 years Coleman has essentially made two models of liquid fuel two burner stoves, the 424 / 425 and the larger 413 / 414. The 424 and 414 are Dual Fuel stoves that burn both Coleman fuel and Unleaded gas. You can tell the Dual fuel stoves at a glance because they have silver fuel tanks as opposed to the red tanks for the traditional Coleman fuel (white gas) only stoves, the 413 and 425 models. Comparison of Dimensions (in inches) 424 / 425 413 /414 Unit Closed 18 X 12 X 4 1/2 22...
Video on Making The Camping Kitchen Box
A video on making the Camping Kitchen Box. The four hour process compressed down to 8 minutes.
Making Drawers for the Camping Kitchen Box
A video of the making the drawers for the Camping Kitchen Box. This is a warm up for a possible video on making the whole Camping Kitchen Box.
Advantages of a Corrugated Plastic Chuck Box
The Camping Kitchen Box is a unique product as it is the only chuck box that is made of corrugated plastic. Corrugated plastic offers three advantages over traditional plywood chuck box construction. These advantages are light weight, noise reduction and durability. Light Weight Advantage number one is weight. A wood chuck box made of 1/2 inch plywood that is a similar size to our chuck box would weigh 35 pounds empty, by comparison, the Camping Kitchen Box is svelte at 12 pounds. Sure 35 pounds sounds manageable, but as you start adding gear that is when you will notice the...
New Drawers for the Camping Kitchen Box
I am always tinkering with the design and construction of the Camping Kitchen Box Chuck Box, and yesterday I did a pretty major revision on the drawers. Below is the end results front and back. Beautiful aren't they? OK beautiful for drawers made out of blue corrugated plastic... But how are they different from the old drawers? Below is a comparison shot... New on the left and old on the right. You may notice the main reason I did this, to eliminate the exposed 'End Grain' edges. With the new drawer all the edges are nice and smooth as a...
Coffee Percolation
Brewing Coffee Like Grandpa Start by adding water to the pot for the desired amount of coffee. Place the pump in the pot and place the coffee basket on the pump tube. Make sure that the water level is below the bottom of the basket.Add one tablespoon coarse ground coffee per six ounce cup to the basket. Put the basket lid / spreader plate on the basket and then put on the pot lid.Start heating the water. Watch the clear knob on the lid for water rising through the tube. When the water starts to bubble, you may need to...
Camping Chili Recipe
Here is a pdf version for easy printing Below is the same information with a couple of embellishments. Throw the following in a pot, bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes. Meat one pound of cooked ground meat (beef, chicken, turkey, pork, venison or other or maybe in combination. if it is greasy meat, drain it. If you are a vegetarian you can skip the meat part and add an extra can of beans. A Cooked Onion Chop (1) onion and cook it up in some oil. If the meat you chose is fatty, you can cook the...
Camp Dish Cleanup The 5 Step / 3 Tub Method
There are many ways to clean camp dishes, some more effective than others. Some people are fine with making them look clean, but I try and be a bit fastidious in my camp dish cleanup. Maybe I have an out of proportion fear of dysentery, but the following method is health department approved. Washing the dishes themselves is a 5 step process. Pre-Wash, Wash, Rinse, Sterilize and Dry. The Following equipment and Supplies are required (3) Wash Tubs Water Hot water Soap Sanitation chemicals Scrub brush and/or a sponge Step 1 Pre-Wash The first step is to scrape off as...
Cooler Corn Infographic
What is a Chuck Box
What is a chuck box? A chuck box is a dedicated box that carries your camping kitchen gear in an organized fashion. Having your gear organized has several advantages. First if you have a dedicated Camping Kitchen Box (Chuck Box or Grub Box, or Patrol Box (as the Boy Scouts call it) ) loaded up with your camp kitchen gear, your packing for your next adventure is already half done. A proper chuck box is not just a box though. It should have dedicated shelves and drawers that keep your camp kitchen gear organized and easy to access. What makes...
Camping Kitchen Check List
Here is everything you may want to consider when you provision your camping kitchen. You may not need everything, but you don't want to forget anything! Equipment POTS AND PANS Pots Pans Pot holders / Oven Mitts Coffee Pot Colander Dutch Oven Pie Iron Griddle COOKING UTENSILS Turner (Spatula) Serving Spoon Slotted Spoon Grilling Fork Ladle Whisk Tongs Skewers Can Opener Bottle Opener Cork Screw Mixing Bowls Measuring Cups Measuring Spoons Cutting Boards Chef Knife Paring Knife Grater Vegetable Peeler SERVING Plates Bowls Drinking Cups Coffee Cups Flatware (Knives, Forks, Spoons) Water Jug Pitcher CLEANUP Dish Pans Dish Drainer /...
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