after seeing it on this Site...I bought a new Camp Oven Mate today...any tips on how to use it and what to watch out for.......would be appreciated :)

gday smokeydk, i reckon they are pretty good. i havent used mine all that much, but i found you have to have the gas turned down very low (no bigger than a match head) when i got mine there was a instructional dvd in the box. if you dont get the dvd pm me with your address and i will send you a copy

cheers, jack

Thanks Jack.......I got the Tommo DVD.....

Isnt that dvd great  :D I told Derek he is mad not having one when I got mine.

I cant find much I cooked using mine, I know everytime I put up the table with the wind protectors I get reminded by Sparky about the camp oven mate  :D

I know one time I made something and it didnt brown on top and Derek said to take off the lid of the camp oven, leaving on the lid of the camp oven mate till it browned.

This is one of my very early Youtubes and I am not sure with your experience this might be a bit basic for you.

[media width=640]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAD65ATfdbg[/media]

re tommo

i saw him a few years ago at a camping show at caulfield racecourse, i asked him what his favourite camp oven was, he said "i only use cheap chinese one's, after all its just a cast iron pot"  :-/

outback jack wrote on Sep 1^st, 2010 at 9:25pm:

"i only use cheap chinese one's, after all its just a cast iron pot"

From a cook's point of view that's true, you can't tell the difference between something cooked in a cheap Chinese pot or a $500 Furphy, but from a cook and collectors POV cooking in an old pot is a pleasure. I cook in a CO several nights a week and enjoy using my old pots, it keeps them seasoned and happy.
If you look at the camp ovens being used at cooking comps like Millmerran you rarely see old ones, 90% of them are Chinese or Taiwanese, lots of reasons for this but it tells you that the end result is the same.

PD

If you look carefully when Thomo is doing his demos he always uses a gas burner under his camp ovens with a few HeatBeads on top.  Sneaky old bugga.  :D

I have got one of his older DVD's here somewhere.  They are all camp oven cooking clips from his bush travels and I did learn a lot from them.


Derek

I've seen Thomo using old electric frypans to put heatbeads on then campoven on top then more heatbeads on top

Smokey,
I believe Derek was the first to use old fry pans and it is a very good idea I take one when traveling makes cooking of the ground a lot easier. I also use a round BBQ with shorter legs (I got mine on a council clean up day) a handy piece of gear.
Muzz

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I had a look around too....came up with........They have replaced what looked like a trivet ...with a wire frame to support the camp oven

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I forgot about this old video.  It's about 10 years old and is one of the first of the Camp Oven Mates that Bill ever built.  Has a diffuser in the bottom.  That's also an old 12" Chinese oven being used.  In fact it is older than most Furphy Camp Ovens you are likely to buy these days.  I should sell it as an antique.  ;D

Yep Muzz, I still reckon Thommo stole the frying pan idea from me.  But what the heck, it works.  ::)

The trick most definitely with the COM is low heat.  What you don't see in the video is that the damper was somewhat burnt on the bottom.  We had a lot of fun doing those videos.

[media width=500]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGdfNrHeQus[/media]

Thanks Derek..great viewing

we have been using our camp oven mate recently on very low gas heat but have noticed as it heats up  the diffuser seems to buckle & then the camp oven (which doesn't have legs) won't sit evenly  ....has anyone else had this problem?

Prob why they changed design.to a wire frame.......the makers said the defusers didnt last that long

Smokeydk wrote on Oct 19^th, 2010 at 7:15pm:

Prob why they changed design.to a wire frame.......the makers said the defusers didnt last that long

Yep you are right.  We never did put the diffuser in the 15" right from the start.  Believe it or not the 15" model was originally designed for a group of coppers down on the Gold Coast who all owned 15" Furphy Camp Ovens.


Derek

mummsy, I had the same problem while my COM was still relatively young so I made up a 150mm high steel tripod to sit the oven on....... end of problem !
pd

look at my previous pics on this thread...you can see what they replaced the diffuser with

Dave