Fire building
Splitting The Wood
There’s a reason for splitting firewood, and it’s not because the logs are too big.
Actually, a big log is useful, especially at the end of the night.
Throwing that big log on the fire just before going to bed, is a good way of making sure the fire will burn through the night.
But this still doesn’t mean that logs shouldn’t be split. One of the purposes of bark is to protect the tree from fire. While it is limited in its ability to do this, bark is fire resistant enough that it will make it hard for logs to catch fire. Your fire can literally go out with plenty of fuel there just because the fire doesn’t manage to make it through the bark to the wood inside.
Allowing Enough Air
How you stack your fuel is critical to a good roaring fire. If you look at any diagrams on how to stack a fire, you’ll always see a lot of space between the logs.
This is to allow air to pass through and bring oxygen to the burning wood. If this space is not provided, the fire will burn extremely slowly as there won’t be enough oxygen.
The reason a fireplace tool set has a poker with a hook in it is for moving burning logs around to create this air space between them. Often, while they burn, logs will fall on each other and block off this necessary air space.
In the wild, where you won’t have a fireplace poker to deal with this, the easiest thing to do is to use a stout stick to move them. If it catches fire, you can always just throw it in and let it burn.
Splitting The Wood
There’s a reason for splitting firewood, and it’s not because the logs are too big.
Actually, a big log is useful, especially at the end of the night.
Throwing that big log on the fire just before going to bed, is a good way of making sure the fire will burn through the night.
But this still doesn’t mean that logs shouldn’t be split. One of the purposes of bark is to protect the tree from fire. While it is limited in its ability to do this, bark is fire resistant enough that it will make it hard for logs to catch fire. Your fire can literally go out with plenty of fuel there just because the fire doesn’t manage to make it through the bark to the wood inside.
Allowing Enough Air
How you stack your fuel is critical to a good roaring fire. If you look at any diagrams on how to stack a fire, you’ll always see a lot of space between the logs.
This is to allow air to pass through and bring oxygen to the burning wood. If this space is not provided, the fire will burn extremely slowly as there won’t be enough oxygen.
The reason a fireplace tool set has a poker with a hook in it is for moving burning logs around to create this air space between them. Often, while they burn, logs will fall on each other and block off this necessary air space.
In the wild, where you won’t have a fireplace poker to deal with this, the easiest thing to do is to use a stout stick to move them. If it catches fire, you can always just throw it in and let it burn.
