Up in Smoke: Backcountry Fire Building Videocast

[Tad Englund]

>Maybe I'm a bit slow on the uptake. What's the purpose of the wax in the egg carton method< Jane, I don't know a nicer way of saying this so here it goes- have you ever seen a candle burn, and look at what it’s made of? The wax slows the burn of the cardboard. I help the scouts make these- I put wood shaving in them along with a small bit of dryer lint in the cup part then drizzle wax over them. They really burn for a long time and stay lit very well. They are too heavy for my use- I use Vaseline and cotton balls (much lighter), but the boys like to make them and then watch them burn. The Vaseline/cotton balls are a little anticlimactic for them.

[Jane McMichen]

Tad,
Thank you for your kind reply. I had never (obviously) considered what wax actually does for a candle. I hope that's the dumbest question I ever ask, but somehow I'm thinking 'not'.

I do appreciate that one can ask such questions on this webiste and not be flamed into humiliation forever.

Thanks

[John S.]

Good video Sam. I'd like to see more of these too. People should list suggestions for short video podcasts they want to see.

I've always heard the three components of fire being fuel, heat and oxygen (instead of air).

http://www.smokeybear.com/elements_triangle.asp

[Michael Ray]

I've not done it in the rain yet since I don't expect to ever build fires in general, but the one fire I have built while backpacking (just for the heck of it really) was after a rain. I simply built 2 "walls" with larger sticks and a "roof" with tinder and slid my lit Super Cat under the roof. Worked like a charm.

[Thomas Choat]

I came over this video on starting fires when its really wet, haven't tried it yet, but someone might find it interesting.

[Don Christensen]

In Central & West Texas, and parts of New Mexico, mountain Juniper (aka Cedar) is the best tinder available. Even when conditions are wet, you can always strip some bark off of the side of a tree and crumple it up until it begins emitting dust. Then throw a spark and give it a few puffs of air, then Viola, you have fire.

Works every time.

[Mary D]

In these days of freeze-dried food and/or Freezer Bag Cooking (really hydration), cooking on a campfire has become a lost art.

Back in the 1940's and 50's, campfires were all that was available for cooking. My mother was a true gourmet camp cook! She used to make pie, cake and yeast rolls, using aluminum pie/cake tins (lighter substitute for a dutch oven) and coals from the campfire. Yes, once in a while (usually not more than once a week) we had to scrape off a little burn, but even so they were delicious! Of course back then hardly anyone was in the backcountry (we'd go for a week or more without meeting anyone, and then it was usually a sheepherder), so wood resources were not scarce, even around timberline, as they are now.

I have gotten lazy in my old age, so I do the Freezer Bag thingy–no dishes to wash, and no worries about scarce wood resources or fire scars. I suspect that if I were in an area where firewood was plentiful, no fire danger and plenty of existing fire scars to use, I could relearn those skills she taught me, given sufficient motivation. Which I don't have, sorry!

[Ken Thompson]

classic

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