Winter Firebuilding Techniques (Video)

@ Brian UL, your point that small belt axes are much more dangerous than full size axes is very important. More skill is required.

Kochanski demonstrates using five or so wooden wedges of varying lengths to split a larger diameter round of wood, using a baton. He talks about reusing them until they wear out.

Here is a GREAT video of Terry Barney making a fire in the rain using only a non locking folding knife and a firesteel.

Good find Justin. Thanks.

That video is worthless? Really?

In the beginning of the video he shows that he is under a tarp. Being able to get a nice fire going in the cold and wet while laying under a tarp is amazing. It can warm you up after a cold day and help to dry out some of your clothing. After being soaking wet and cold all day, it can be hard to warm yourself up with just your body heat.

Yeah, he could keep that fire going for hours but it was just a demonstration. If you put wet wood on the fire carefully, the heat will dry it out to where it can catch. The rain wont put a fire out unless it's a torrential downpour. Even with a torrential downpour, if you place the fire under heavy tree cover it will block enough of the rain.

Thanks for the post Ryan. I'd love to see more videos, especially about winter or shoulder season backpacking.

"That video is worthless? Really?"

No, I said worth less, not worthless : ) And there are some good ideas in both videos I have filed away in my memory bank, thanks.

A lot of times when I build a fire in marginal conditions, I can get it to burn for a while, but then it sort of fizzles out. You need an hour and at least 10 times as much wood before you really know you've got it going.

If a fire is big enough, like a bonfire, it won't make any difference if it's raining.

And if it's raining hard, there's no way you'll dry out as fast as new water is getting you wet.

If you can find a sheltered spot, like under a tarp, but not melt the tarp from the fire, then you could make a fire and get warm and dry. A tree maybe, but after a while most trees start dripping.

So much easier to wear as little as possible that gets wet, set up your tent, take off wet jacket and put on dry clothing and get into dry sleeping bag.

"Nice video. I'm glad to see it here on BPL.

One small quibble. I don't really see the need for an ax. It is the heaviest and by far the most potentially dangerous implement of the three used in the video, especially in a survival situation where you may be shaky and stressed. You can do limbing very easily with a pruning saw, without worrying about limbing yourself in the process, and save a lot of weight and bucks in the process. Other than that, an excellent tutorial well executed. Thank you, RJ!

Jerry said:

>And that video is worth less – let's see him keep the fire going for several hours.

Lighten up, Francis.

The technique demonstrated is fully applicable to getting a fire going when everything is soaked but it's not still raining.

>James, he was referring to the video I posted, not the video in the main article.

I know. That's why I posted what I posted.

I enjoy watching your videos, you keep it fun and professional.

I would echo what others have said.

I like that a video on technique was provided and I think firebuilding is as good a topic as any. That being said, there are a lot of excellent video series on firebuilding easily available on youtube. It would have been nice if bpl had assessed what was already available to members for free and found a way to present something that would be uniquely beneficial to the membership.

Such as:

-best tarp configurations for cooking with fire under/appropriate positioning of gear, sleeping system, fire and person under said tarp set up.
-strategies for firestarting in winter with only a knife/only UL knife typically carried by bpl members
-strategies for firestarting in damp conditions without the use of carried-in kindling/firestarters ie, no cotton balls, esbit, paper etc, only natural indigenous materials

I'm a K-9 guy. I'll take my buddy along. He's great with me in a sleep system. I'm a believer in cotton balls and vasilene. We take very little along, but do take a good knife and cotton balls.