# Plow Disc Cooking



## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

A few years ago I had some Mexican masons working on one of my jobs, at lunch they pulled out a plow disc and cooked their lunch on it. I couldn't help but stand and watch which they invited me to eat with them and me being a fat foodie hillbilly I didn't turn them down. Lunch was fantastic and I went home I dug out an old disc welded up the center hole and added a couple of handles, cleaned and seasoned it. It has made the best pan for outdoor cooking we have ever used. I urge anyone that has the resources to make one to do it. There are several commercially built models now but I prefer the old disc that was repurposed.


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## bacpacker (Jul 15, 2011)

Looks good. What time is supper?


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## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

Nobody leaves here hungry.


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

Do you just set it on the coals or does it have legs? I've been intrigued by it every time I see it. I even dug out one to make my own. I've been using them as "gongs" for handgun and muzzle loading targets. I could spare a couple for this though! (One for here and one for our motor home in Nevada.)


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## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

that is a cool plan, I will have to keep an eye out for a decent blade and some handles


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

mosquitomountainman said:


> Do you just set it on the coals or does it have legs?


I see legs in one "wood fire" picture... 
but it's a separate item, more of a "cradle" than legs.

This reminds me of a large "Wok".

The last few pics, I see it's sitting over a Turkey Fryer!


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## Wanderer0101 (Nov 8, 2011)

I was introduced to plow disc cooking in Namibia. Those guys were really into cooking over the coals, they had all kinds of gadgets for it. It was a lot of great food and I intend to start doing it myself.


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

I got some what I use fer my dutch oven's. Keeps em up offin the ground (I just set it on a metal bucket).

I'm gonna have the boy weld up a couple on legs fer the same reason.

I've also used em like a wok er fryin pan to. They work real nice. I've just tossed em onta a bed a coals, an propped em up on a couple a logs. Nother project fer the boy be makin a base fer one ta replace the logs. I got a metal roller so I can make nice round rings.

They been a bit harder ta find since the price a scrap went way up a few years ago.


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## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

mosquitomountainman said:


> Do you just set it on the coals or does it have legs? I've been intrigued by it every time I see it. I even dug out one to make my own. I've been using them as "gongs" for handgun and muzzle loading targets. I could spare a couple for this though! (One for here and one for our motor home in Nevada.)


I bent up some square stock for a stand when cooking over coals. We use it most Sunday evenings when the weather is nice. It makes for a nice family activity where we sit around the fire cook and talk about the week to come.



Tirediron said:


> that is a cool plan, I will have to keep an eye out for a decent blade and some handles


Horse shoes make good handles.



LincTex said:


> I see legs in one "wood fire" picture...
> but it's a separate item, more of a "cradle" than legs.
> 
> This reminds me of a large "Wok".
> ...


We call it the Camp Wok

It is a stationary cradle leg thing I bent up. I built an adjustable stand that's more of a pain than it's worth. Some places we've been while traveling wont let you have a fire so I use a turkey fryer then.



OldCootHillbilly said:


> I got some what I use fer my dutch oven's. Keeps em up offin the ground (I just set it on a metal bucket).
> 
> I'm gonna have the boy weld up a couple on legs fer the same reason.
> 
> ...


Disc are damn hard to come by here since this is really not farm country. Drag a disk across my place one time and I'm sure it would be half the size when you got done from all the rocks.


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## BobR1 (Jan 13, 2011)

I have been doing this style of cooking for years on a Dutch Oven lid placed upsidedown on a triangle lid holder.

The disc has some advantages that I can see over the lid. 
ONE is size. A non worn out disc can be pretty large in diameter.
Two is weight. The disc is a sheet iron wok, much lighter than a large dutch oven lid.
The horse shoe handles are a great idea. 

Make a triangle stand from 3/8 - 1/2 inch square stock, and you should be set.

EDIT: I just came up with an idea for the handles. Cut the head off a Large land scaping nail, and heat and bend it to look like a staple I_I and weld one on each side.
OR use some of the square stock from the stand for the handles.

Bob


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## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

BobR1 said:


> I have been doing this style of cooking for years on a Dutch Oven lid placed upsidedown on a triangle lid holder.
> 
> The disc has some advantages that I can see over the lid.
> ONE is size. A non worn out disc can be pretty large in diameter.
> ...


I like the round stand that I built, it holds the disk really well.


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## BobR1 (Jan 13, 2011)

Hashbrown
Great job. That should work very well.

I live a couple hours East of you. Between Summersville and Houston. 

Just for information Lodge is now making something pretty close to your disc wok.
Lodge CRS15 is a 15 inch 2 handle sheet iron skillet made from 12 gage carbon steel. I am sure that us hillbilly's can get the disc wok up and running for a way less money, and the pride of manufactureing it yourself. However some readers on here might not have our resources to build one.

I need to get in gear and make one myself. A small one might even be river friendly for our kayaking and canoeing adventures.

Again Great Job.

Bob


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

BobR1 said:


> ONE is size. A non worn out disc can be pretty large in diameter.


I have seen them for farm use from 12" to 24" in diameter!!!

There are little discs sold by Sears to pull behind a lawn tractor, but I don't know what size those are.



BobR1 said:


> Two is weight. The disc is a sheet iron wok, much lighter than a large dutch oven lid.


The largest ones are usually almost 1/2" thick where the shaft goes through. Those big ones also weigh almost 100 lbs each.

I once delivered an unassembled 42 FOOT Vermeer disc to Doerfler Grass Farm south of Salem, Oregon about 20 years ago. They were going to pull it with a 550 HP Big Bud tractor. The pieces filled an entire 48 foot triple-axle flatbed trailer, and I think the weight was north of 60,000 lbs!


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## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

BobR1 said:


> Hashbrown
> Great job. That should work very well.
> 
> I live a couple hours East of you. Between Summersville and Houston.
> ...


Over around Jacks Fork?


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## BobR1 (Jan 13, 2011)

LincTex As Hashbrown said we are not in a big agricultural area for field crops. Mainly beef cattle on grass.
I have never seen a disc of that size or weight. It would need to be built heavy duty weighing as much as that disc did. 

HashBrown I am north of JacksFork (17 Bridge Buck Hollow Access ) about 18 miles. We have been putting in from Alley Springs on down this year. The upper JacksFork is best floated in the Spring when the water levels are up.
The upper JacksFork is plenty snakey also. Not nearly as many snakes from Alley Springs on down.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

It's funny because up here, us cattle guys were almost the only ones using discs for years (for dealing with sod and breaking). Now "no-till" guys are using them around the edges of the fields and they make "high speed" ones too so the grain farmers are all over that

Pretty much the best discs around today (Wishek) will handle rocks like you wouldn't believe, Flaman rents them out and sells them. I saw them demonstrate what they could handle on a ridiculous field and it still makes me shake my head.

As for weight, some of their models have so much frame they put down over 500lbs PER DISC!

I have always preferred a flat surface for cooking but the S.O and others like woks and such. This thread got me thinking about using some old spools and spacers for a stand as well. Maybe one disc up like this, a couple spools, then one disc down, build the fire right around the base. Obviously not very portable but I have that covered anyways.

I really don't need another way to cook outside guys


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## BobR1 (Jan 13, 2011)

My Dutch Oven cooking buddy has the disc up and disc down with a spacer set up that he uses to start his charcoal on.

Bob


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## crabapple (Jan 1, 2012)

That great for home & places where you can cook on the ground.
Places where you can NOT cook on the ground, we use a old washing machine tub(the part that holds the cloches with hole in it so the water can spin out).
This works well to keep the ash, burn marks off the ground & a disk cooker could sit on top.
Great job Hashbrown.


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