Home Hacks
How to make heatproof grips for your pots and pans
Pots and pans often come with insulation-free metal handles, and when they do it's easy to end up with a mucky tea towel during a busy cooking session (or worse, burnt hands!) Luckily Sugru Mouldable Glue is heat resistant up to 180°C (356°F) and therefore perfect for making heatproof grips on your kitchen kit. It is also waterproof, so washing it all up is as easy as ever!
Careful with the hot stuff: If you want to try out this project, please ensure the thickness of your Sugru around the surface that gets hot is approximately 3mm thick (roughly the thickness of a UK £1 coin). To be sure the barrier is adequate after you've applied Sugru, test it out.
Kit
- 4 single-use packs of Sugru
- Toilet paper
- Masking tape
- Soapy water
Step 1
Work out the size of your grip and then tape off the area on the pan handle.
Step 2
Split the Sugru into one larger and one smaller piece. We will first be working with the larger piece so put the smaller one aside - we'll come back to that in a minute.
We've done a bit of colour mixing here to get this lovely blue. If you want to try it yourself then be sure to check out the page: How to mix Sugru to make custom colours.
Step 3
Take the larger piece and split it into a 3/4 and 1/4 piece. Put the smaller piece aside for now, but be sure not to mix up with the other.
Step 4
Split the larger piece into two. Make a half into a long flat piece almost the length of the grip. Press it roughly into the handle.
Step 5
Spread the Sugru on the handle over the top and over one of the sides. Make sure that you spread it slightly over the edge of the masking tape.
Step 6
Take the second half and press it into the underside of the handle.
Step 7
Spread the Sugru so that the entire grip area is covered. Ensure that the Sugru is even by smoothing with your finger.
Step 8
Take the piece that you separated from the original larger piece before applying it to the handle. Roll this into a sausage, long enough to wrap around the sides and bottom of the handle. Place this sausage about 1cm back from the edge of the masking tape.
Step 9
Smooth the sausage into the Sugru grip so that you see no join.
Step 10
Remove the tape.
Step 11
Press in the edges of the grip to tidy and ensure a strong bond.
Step 12
Smooth with soapy water and leave to set for 12-24 hours.
Before using your pan for cooking, test out your grip to ensure it is an adequate heat barrier for your hands.
Step 13
Now to concentrate on the pot lid. Take the original smaller piece of Sugru that you had split. Divide it into two and make into sausages that are a little longer than the width of your index and middle fingers. Press one sausage into each side.
Step 14
Flatten the sausages into the handle and wrap the edges slightly around the top and bottom.
Step 15
Using soapy water, rub a trough into the centre of the Sugru, roughly a finger's width.
Step 16
Repeat on the right...
Step 17
...and left of the centre.
Step 18
Repeat until you have a distinctive three finger grip. Do the same on the other side. Leave to set for 12-24 hours.
The next day, take a moment to admire your handiwork. As with your pan, test out your grip to ensure it is an adequate heat barrier for your hands.
Then cook up a storm!
