Dutch ovens let you cook much more than s'mores while camping.
Dutch ovens allow you to bake, stew, fry and boil almost any dish you want to make while camping. A Dutch oven table keeps you from having to stoop and bend over the fire while cooking. Dutch oven tables need to be strong, portable and easy to set up and take down. This Dutch oven table is made from angle iron and expanded metal, with screw-in legs so you can take it apart quickly.
Instructions
1. Take all the metal parts to a welding shop and have the welder create a 2-foot-by-6-foot-by-6-inch open box frame with the angle iron pieces. Your welder will assemble the pieces as he sees fit. But if you are a welder, you can do the job yourself. Lay two of the angle iron pieces parallel to one another, with the flats of each piece facing one another, as shown in the diagram. Have the expanded metal welded to the bottom of the frame.
2. Have the pipe caps welded to the corners of the underside of the open box frame, with their flat sides to the frame and open sides out so that the legs can be screwed into them. Have the cross brace welded across the center of the bottom of the box frame to provide added support to the expanded metal sheet, as shown in the diagram.
3. Have the corner supports welded in place, as shown in the diagram, making sure that they are squared and flush with the corners of the bottom. The remaining two long pieces of angle iron will be turned upside down so that the flat sides face the sides of the angle iron on the bottom, completing the box frame. The top of the frame will remain open.
4. Twist the four pieces of pipe into the pipe caps. Attach a flange fitting to the other end of each leg for feet by twisting the pipe into the fitting. The photo that accompanies this step shows examples of flange fittings.
5. Set the stainless steel feed pans 3 inches apart on your Dutch oven table. Fill each pan with the correct number of charcoal briquettes for the cooking technique you intend to use. See Resources for the correct number and placement of charcoal briquettes for each cooking technique.
6. After you finish cooking, allow your Dutch oven table to cool completely before dumping the coals and rinsing the ashes from the table. Unscrew the legs and roll the oven in a canvas tarp to transport.
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