Bat Marshmallow Roaster

Autumnal & occasional wintery weather is on our doorstep, but doesn't stop the outdoor entertainment. The firepit comes out, some blankets and a witches brew or two plus the new additional marshmallow roaster!

Not just the basic skewer to poke into your pink goo but a black winged creature of the night!

This is a long handled 6 prong marshmallow roaster.

Tools:

1. Welder (arc, MIG would be better though)
2. Welding hammer, mask, wire brush etc
3. Hacksaw
4. File
5. Grinder

Materials:

1. Steel rod - 4 & 5mm. Recycled from an old clothing dryer. Cut it up and stripped the plastic off. Various lengths upto 600mm.
2. Steel washer - apx 40mm
3. Handle material - oak or ash or whatever to hand

Heath & Safety Warning: All the above can harm. Sharp edges, sharp tools, hot surfaces as well as the welding arc and gasses given off are harmful to eyesight and lungs so do your research and take care.

In the past we have used sharpened hazel or willow withies or steel skewers and used these to poke into single marshmallows, It works but I thought it'd be nice to have a multi-fingered roaster. So the ideas rolled around and sketches done of various creatures like hedgehogs, spiders, spiney fish but the bat shape was the favoured.

Now this is basically sticking something into fire. Its hot. Therefore whatever its made of needs to be fireproof to be long lasting, so obviously a metal - steel. But steel is not something you really tie or glue together. You could rivet or twist it I suppose to get a fixing, but in this case it seems prudent to weld it.

Small problem...I can't weld....or own a welding machine.

I bought a second hand basic arc welding unit. It was cheap and came with a handheld mask and some rods.

(Please note: handheld mask is a pain - get a proper self darkening helmet - far better in hind sight).

So...I thought I'd teach myself to weld. YouTube vids make it look relatively easy...and I also know now why its called stick welding as that is what it did 99% of the time!

But I persevered and kept practicing so that at least I could get it started....I won't bore you with the details.

*Please don't comment on the welds. I have seen some beautiful work done by some very skilled people but you have to start somewhere and this was my messy little project!

Bat wings have curves.

I was aiming to make something apx 200mm wide and about 100mm deep.

I needed to form the steel rod to be a certain radius and make several of them. Initially I tried hammering a rod on the curve of my vice but this was difficult and I needed consistency. Luckily we have a wood burner and it came with a round steel plate (I guess to plug the top hole if the flue was to go out the back) which has been kicking around in the workshop. This is 150mmDIA and about 8mm thick.

So this was clamped into the vice with a little G-clamp to keep the rod tight to the edge. The 4mm steel was inserted under the G and the length of the rod allowed me to put pressure on it to start the bend, but you need to hammer it along its length as you go. This puts a gentle curve into it.

By creating one I could use this as a template to draw on some scrap wood the curve I could get and the length I needed it to be - somewhere between 90 and 110mm long, The idea was the outer fingers would be longer than the inner ones. So I set about marking up, bending and cutting until I had 6 pieces.

Feeling like there needed to be an element of 'blacksmithy' work here I got the gas torch out, heated up the ends of the rods and hammered them flat.

In my head its bulging muscles, sparks flying and the ring of a hammer on red hot steel.

Reality is .... I could have just hammered it flat without the heat. But that's no fun.

I have a bench grinder so refined the 'point' - not too sharp but I was aiming for a shape that allowed the marshmallow to be gripped to try and prevent rotation. Edge finished off with a file.

So I need to weld this up, but on what?

I'm a woodworker mostly, so metal surfaces are not common. I decided to knock up a makeshift 'table' from some steel mesh (salvaged from a skip). All that was done was cut a suitable size and screw it to a block of wood. The base wood I cut a slot out of to allow space to place the weld clamp onto to complete the circuit.

Yes its wood, yes it got burned but it kept the mesh flat and it did the job.

Also the advantage was I needed to clamp the finger rods down to keep them in place and I could screw wood blocks down into the wood base so made it easier.

3 fingers positioned, clamped and welded (not brilliantly). Cleaned up using grinder, file and wire brush. Then repeated.

Apologies....lack of photos. (all blurry for some reason)

I now needed to attach my 'fingers' together and needed 'cross braces'. A top arm and lower wing edges. This was pretty much a case of 'winging-it' and bending, checking, bending until I had a form that was about right for the top arm piece and a more rounded lower wing. The other small pieces were just straight rod cuts to span the space between the fingers. All of this was made from 4mm rod.

I needed the fingers long enough and spaced enough to support one marshmallow per finger.

Due to my poor welding skills and the fluxed welding rod 'sticking' (a lot) I did find it really useful to be able to use screwed down holding blocks and positioning screws to keep things from moving around. Having regular breaks kept my patience intact.

The bat body was to be a steel washer - the biggest I had was 40mm. I filed some little points at the top to give the impression of ears. This also acted as another clamp for part of the welding process too. I was aware I didn't want to burn a hole through this washer so I was cautious about applying too much weld which was OK but not the neatest. Ideally I wanted smooth filled joints and a brilliant polished surface but that was never going to happen!

Again...apologies for lack of photos.

The handle section was made from 5mm rod apx 550mm long. I applied a bend around 60mm from one end. This was to create a 'lift' so when in use the bat fingers would not be pointing down and help prevent marshmallow slide off. I also filed a groove into the top arm central to the body so that the handle rod could sit in this - again to help with the weld up.

Generally a mix of filing, grinding and emery cloth was used to clean up and shape all the joints where possible. Once done I wanted to apply a finish but something that was natural and not toxic. Paint would eventually burn off so was ruled out. I instead heated the bat form and handle with the gas torch and using a vegetable oil soaked rag, applied the oil. This basically burnt onto the steel. Its a bit like priming a wok or cast iron pan to become 'anti-stick'. This will aid in preventing rust to an extent and gives it a black bat appearance.

I can't just have the handle being a steel rod! Now I suppose you could bend or weld something to create something to grip but ....no.

I had an offcut of oak and I'm lucky to have a wood lathe so turned a handle. This is apx. 135x20mm. Finished with some boiled linseed oil and glued the rod in using epoxy resin. This is slim enough for a smaller (child) hand if needed.

Not everybody has a lathe so if you cut the wood to the dimensions then use a combination of file, rasp, plane or spokeshave you can create a rounded handle.

Or if this isn't possible use a few wine/champagne corks with holes drilled through them.

So that's it. A little batty marshmallow roaster. Its long enough to keep you away from the fire, but light enough to use easily. Several finger prongs to snag a sausage onto, or mushrooms and peppers.

From here I want to make a spider version and maybe a 'claw' type - something that could grip, and hopefully along the way improve my welding.

IN USE....

I had to wait a few weeks till Halloween to put into action, but got the fire pit up and running. I also stuck my charcoal maker (thats the odd shape in the pit, in the photos if you're wondering) in as well - might as well do multi-jobs!

Its simple enough - skewer the light fluffy blobs, roast them, eat them!

Once you've finished and you end up with a sugary sticky mess on the bat fingers. No issue - stick it in the fire to burn off for a bit and next morning just wire brush the soot off.

NOTES:

1. The bend in the handle was useful to keep the bat wings level
2. the bat wings could also hook over the fire pit side if not wanted to be held or a gentle warm up required (or for storage later when not in use)
3. The bat wings being flat can also rest on the lip of the fire pit to prevent twisting
4. The overall length was decent to keep you at a distance but not make the item heavy

Thanks for reading.