I was recently contacted by Tim Lloyd, a blacksmith from Dorset, who asked if I would be interested in reviewing some of his bushcraft products, I told Tim I would gladly do it but with the understanding that I would be honest in my review and that in the past other would be makers have then backed out when they heard this thinking that just because they sent it free that I would give a glowing review, well I'm afraid that's not how it works!
Anyway, Tim duely sent the items of what he calls his 2 in 1 tripod, and below you can see what comes with this package
left to right..a trammel hook, chain and hook, S hook, 2 uprights and a cross piece
Tim explains his set up thus..
"To give you a bit of background. The tripod is what I call a 2 in 1 design. Conventional tripods are normally attached at the top, with mine the three legs are separate. This means that you can either use it as a tripod by placing the 'U' shaped leg into the ground first then adding the other two legs. (I normally add the two legs over the thicker and doubled back bit of the 'U')
Or it can be set up by driving two of the legs into the ground and placing the third between them. This is really good for cooking multiple items. For example hanging a Dutch oven on one side and a kettle on the other. You have two sets of hooks if you want to try that. "
all seemed very straight forward and I've tried it out a couple of times in the past few weeks so here follows my initial impressions
Made from 3/8" steel rod, a little over 4 feet long and weighing in at around 4lbs, it's actually a very nice little set up. Not a particularly aesthetic design lacking twists and turns in the steel like some I've seen, but then it doesn't need to be, it just needs to do what it's intended for and it does that very well.
I taped it all together and used it as a walking stick when walking into the woods, a little heavy maybe but it was ok, easy enough to carry without having to tie it to my back or use a carrying strap, so provided you don't have miles to walk it's actually not too much to carry as long as you're not going ultralite!
Very,very easy to set up, string the chain from the top and using the extra hook allows for multiple heights when cooking over embers or heating over flame, the tripod is always a handy design if ground is rocky or frozen and is a tried and tested design particularly from Pioneer days.
set up as a hanging rack it's really lovely, very simple to do and gives absolutely loads of room to cook, heat or just keep food or coffee warm, this is my favourite way of utilising this setup and you can see why, easy enough for a base camp when it could be used by a number of people at the same time. If I was to make one addition to the rig it would be to weld a U shape to each upright about 18 inches from the end, the cross piece could then be lowered and could also then be used as a spit for roasting rabbits or pheasants, but this is just an idea.
the chain and hook could be used here but this trammel hook is just superb and allows height adjustment extremely easily, I've seen these used in old cottages in the past so not only is it effective but it gives a great sense of nostalgia too especially for the would be wild west pioneer!!
I really love this little item!
easily adjustable and very effective, just a brilliant addition to this set up.
All in all this is a superb campfire set, easily carried, versatile and effective and you can't ask for better than that, it really does come with a very high Buzzard recommendation.
As I said this is an initial review and I will update the post in 6 months time after it's been used thoroughly, but from first impressions this will end up being a favourite piece of kit!
If you are in the market for a similar rig I would suggest you get in touch with Tim, I don't want to mention price at this point just suffice to say it's probably the best price I've seen these for sale at ever considering what you get.
Tim can be contacted at
drop him a line and get yourself a great christmas pressie that will last a lifetime..A brilliant rig!
Nice!
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