About Us
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In late fall of 2012 Harley Sproul, the founder of Campfire Cookware handed the business to me, Chas Gill of Bowdoinham, Maine. Harley, of Lincoln Maine, had spent 10 years perfecting the Sproul Baker and the equipment to build them. A great deal of time and energy went into the creation of this oven. I thank Harley for both keeping the traditional oven in production and also for allowing me to continue where he left off. I have been Master Maine Guide for over 30 years; grew up leading wilderness trips down the Allagash River and St. John River as well as hiking in Baxter State Park and through the woods of Maine. I reside in Bowdoinham, Maine with my wife Linda and two children.
"The key to a fun and enjoyable wilderness trip is the quality of food. Being able to cook fresh breads and desserts on the trail is easily done with a reflector oven. With a little bit of planning, practice and a campfire you can bake any food in the same time as using your oven at home."
The Sproul Baker is the finest campfire reflector oven on the market today. Based on traditional design using modern materials these ovens will last a lifetime. Each Sproul Baker is individually hand made.
Harley and Chas put together a great forward in the Sproul Baker Cookbook, available on this website, explaining the extensive use of reflector ovens in the lumbering and river driving camps of the Great North Woods in the early 1800s. In fact, reflector ovens were used much earlier going back to colonial America where most cooking was done indoors at the hearth of the “cooking fireplace”. Heavy cast iron cook stoves were not available to most early settlers so hearth side cooking was the norm for the colonists. Although some homes had massive masonry center chimneys with built in beehive baking ovens those structures were not common in most early colonial homes. Often referred to as “tin kitchens” back then, the term refers to their extensive use for much more than just baking and were used to prepare meals such as fireside roasted game, fish and meats. Tin reflector ovens were also used extensively by frontier people as they traveled through the great wilderness to settle the west. Inside many a covered wagon, these light weight reflectors ovens could be found among the cookware heading west.
REFLECTOR OVEN FEATURES
Features of the "Sproul Baker" Folding Reflector Oven.
1. The SPROUL BAKER reflector oven makes campfire cooking easier and better.
2. The oven features are superior to the features of the only other reflector oven available on the market commercially.
3. Will bake any food that you would bake in your oven at home, in the same recipe times.
4. With the oven assembled, it is a strong one-piece unit, with a handle cool enough to be picked up and moved to facilitate proper baking results.The handle remains cool to the touch, not requiring the use of hot mitts.
5. The food grade baking pan allows complete heat absorption to maintain proper baking temperatures in the food being cooked.
6. The shining surface of the oven gives complete reflection of the heat coming from the open bright flame from the fire.
7. The angles of the top and bottom reflecting surfaces give proper reflection of the heat for the total absorption of the heat in the food.
8. The weight of the oven, baking pan and trail bag is only three pounds, compared to the weight of a #12 dutch oven, sometimes used for the same purpose, weighing 17 1/2 pounds.
9. The resilience of the oven material allows for spring back when bent moderately, allowing for the oven to be packed in with normal camping gear.
10. With proper washing and drying, the " SPROUL BAKER " will give years of use with superior results.
FIREBAKED GOODNESS
INDIVIDUALLY HAND MADE