idea for a self centering pot

[Hog On Ice]

As some of ya'll know I use a beer can pot for boiling my water for the zip lock cooking that I do. One of the features of my system that I really like is how the beer can sits on the pot support - the pot support fits just inside the ring on the can's bottom and as a result the can is very stable because it is always centered on the support. Anyways on another forum there was some mention of problems people were having keeping their pot centered on the stove (this was one of the stoves that you put the pot right on the stove). The idea came to me that the same technique that I have with the beer can's concave bottom could also be applied to ordinary aluminum pots so long as they were not coated. The idea is to take a block of wood of sufficient size to fit in the pot and to support the pot while the pot was bottom side up and such that the center of the block of wood would also be in the center of the pot. Then drill a large diameter hole in the wood centered such that when the pot is on the block of wood the hole is right under the bottom of the pot (remember the bottom side is up). Pick the size of the hole to be slightly larger than what the pot support would need. Once the hole is in place and the pot is positioned over the block of wood then just use a ball peen hammer to slowly stretch the aluminum bottom to form the concave "dimple" in the bottom of the pot that is just the right size for the pot support (or stove if the pot is going to be right on the stove).

This idea comes from an aluminum ashtray my brother made about 50 years ago in shop class.

Note I do not think this technique would work for titanium cookware due to the nature of work hardening that occurs as you work titanium.