A little fire prep

Gareth · **on:** April 27, 2015, 02:32:05 PM

The joy of making bigger pieces of wood into smaller pieces of wood.

We got a patio wood burner a little while ago and thought we might enjoy an evening out with it tonight (of course it's since gotten overcast and feels like rain might be on the horizon). With the fire in mind I decided to break out a couple of older items that made up my first axe and knife combo from around 10 years ago.

The bigger chunks of wood are readily available but aren't really very good for making a short lived fire, hence the excuse for the splitting. I do however need to get a proper chopping block. $:-\$

Cudeman knife and Cold Steel tail hawk.

Gareth · **Reply #1 on:** April 27, 2015, 02:36:53 PM

Given that the trail hawk isn't really designed for the job of splitting it actually does an OK job. The knife got a turn at battoning to reduce the wood into properly small pieces, though I did give it a chance at some of the larger bits and, again, it did a good job.

Gareth · **Reply #2 on:** April 27, 2015, 03:38:56 PM

Oh no! The bane of splitting wood, a dirty great big knot. Now there's no great reason to try and split this, but where's the fun in that?

First off I knocked a couple of slices off the sides.

Then I made up a couple of rough wedges with the hawk and started a split.

Using the hammer end of the hawk I drove the wedges further in.

Sadly not quite the clean split I was hoping for, but it did make the wood into smaller pieces.

SAK Guy · **Reply #3 on:** April 27, 2015, 05:00:09 PM

Enjoying this thread!!!!

Gareth · **Reply #4 on:** April 27, 2015, 05:57:55 PM

Sadly I was right about the rain. No fire for me this evening.

Gareth · **Reply #5 on:** April 27, 2015, 06:06:01 PM

It's not raining any longer!

Now it's snowing.

David · **Reply #6 on:** May 01, 2015, 08:02:52 AM

thread Gareth really enjoyed it.

Have you had some reasonable weather so you could enjoy a fire?

Mike, Lord of the Spammers! · **Reply #7 on:** May 01, 2015, 08:49:44 AM

Who needs a gym when you can have a work out like that

Gareth · **Reply #8 on:** May 01, 2015, 09:57:25 AM

Cheers gents.

Quote from: David on May 01, 2015, 08:02:52 AM

thread Gareth really enjoyed it. Have you had some reasonable weather so you could enjoy a fire?

Nope, not really. The first half of April was just perfect, with clear blue skies and lovely mild evenings, this last week though has been a real case of "four seasons in one day", every day. $:-\$

Gareth · **Reply #9 on:** May 01, 2015, 10:13:16 AM

So, back to the prep, if not the actual fire.

One habit that some folks have that always makes me cringe a little is holding a piece of wood directly under the cutting edge while "setting" the axe. OK, if your axe is blunt and it slips then you'll likely be fine, but I keep my axes sharp. If I'm going to do it this way then I keep my fingers well down the wood and away from the axe.

I'd ask why you need to be holding the wood at all. It's to stop the piece from falling over, right? So why not lay the piece down and attack it this way? If your aim is good then there is no need to hold the wood at all. If your aim isn't so good then hold the axe to the wood as shown, hold the wood and axe together, lift and then bring them down together. Fingers are well out of the way and, hopefully still attached to your hand.

3F · **Reply #10 on:** May 01, 2015, 10:18:02 AM

Great tip Gareth!

Gareth · **Reply #11 on:** May 01, 2015, 10:40:56 AM

Cheers buddy.

One more tip for today; feather sticks. No need for firelighters, petrol or gels etc. What you need is a great feather stick.

Sadly, I'm not great at making these, so a mediocre feather stick will have to do.

Lots of tutorials on making feather sticks (though ironically the picture on Wikipedia is a terrible example), but here's a quick video from the man himself.

comis · **Reply #12 on:** May 06, 2015, 10:19:29 PM

Gareth, great read and really enjoying this thread!

I am an axe newbie and lately had been researching/practicing on various skills as much as I can. You probably know this...but just adding on top of what you said about chopping semi-narrow wood vertically, one trick I have learnt was to have the spare hand holding another piece of wood horizontally, and use the tip of that wood to hold the standing piece steady. So my spare hand is further away from axe falling path.

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #13 on:** May 06, 2015, 10:36:39 PM

Fantastic thread, Gareth

Quote from: comis on May 06, 2015, 10:19:29 PM

Gareth, great read and really enjoying this thread!

I am an axe newbie and lately had been researching/practicing on various skills as much as I can. You probably know this...but just adding on top of what you said about chopping semi-narrow wood vertically, one trick I have learnt was to have the spare hand holding another piece of wood horizontally, and use the tip of that wood to hold the standing piece steady. So my spare hand is further away from axe falling path.

Comis, the issue there is that if your axe doesn't penetrate properly, the whole thing can topple, potentially damaging the axe, you, or something else. Horizontally, with the wood already touching the axe blade, and both brought down together as one, is FAR safer

Gareth · **Reply #14 on:** May 07, 2015, 12:49:07 AM

Cheers gents. Would you believe I've still not had a dry day in which to enjoy a little fire?

Comis: as Al says that is indeed a valid technique, but I do find it a lot less stable than laying the piece flat. It will definitely work, but personally I prefer the way I do it. Might give your way a go again though.

ducttapetech · **Reply #15 on:** May 07, 2015, 12:53:04 AM

This is my kind of thread! Nice work so far.

Nate
That's us mobile

Sparky415 · **Reply #16 on:** May 10, 2015, 04:07:31 PM

Quote from: Gareth on May 01, 2015, 10:13:16 AM

One habit that some folks have that always makes me cringe a little is holding a piece of wood directly under the cutting edge while "setting" the axe. OK, if your axe is blunt and it slips then you'll likely be fine, but I keep my axes sharp. If I'm going to do it this way then I keep my fingers well down the wood and away from the axe.

That’s just one of my many bad habits

Nice post Gareth

Gareth · **Reply #17 on:** May 10, 2015, 08:27:52 PM

Cheers Tony.

P.S......I WANT IT TO STOP RAINING EVERY TIME I HAVE SOME FREE TIME TO LIGHT A SMURFING FIRE!!!!

Sparky415 · **Reply #18 on:** May 23, 2015, 07:09:47 AM

Quote from: Sparky415 on May 10, 2015, 04:07:31 PM

Quote from: Gareth on May 01, 2015, 10:13:16 AM

One habit that some folks have that always makes me cringe a little is holding a piece of wood directly under the cutting edge while "setting" the axe. OK, if your axe is blunt and it slips then you'll likely be fine, but I keep my axes sharp. If I'm going to do it this way then I keep my fingers well down the wood and away from the axe.

That’s just one of my many bad habits

Nice post Gareth

$:-\$ I wasn’t sure if I was going to post this or not

Gareth can say ‘I told you so’ if he likes

A week or so ago I was dismantling something in the garage with an axe when...
Went quite deep

wasn’t going to say

healed up nicely

David · **Reply #19 on:** May 23, 2015, 07:23:34 AM

Looks like your healing up nicely Tony!

David · **Reply #20 on:** May 23, 2015, 07:26:34 AM

Gareth, me thinks you've sent your weaather to Kansas. Been cool and wet forever it would seem.

Gareth · **Reply #21 on:** May 23, 2015, 10:05:13 AM

Ouch Tony.

Are you left handed mate? I'd forgotten.

Sorry about sending the weather over David. It's not actually rained every single day since I started this thread, but opportunity and good weather haven't managed to coincide yet. Now my wife wants to steal the fire pit and all the wood for an event at her church tomorrow, so I'll have to start over.

Sparky415 · **Reply #22 on:** May 23, 2015, 12:30:08 PM

kept a dry plaster on it and wore clean gloves at work
It healed very nicely/quickly

Yep mostly a lefty

On the up side David, the weather is great here

Gareth · **Reply #23 on:** July 07, 2015, 08:23:55 PM

OK, I admit it, I'd actually forgotten about this thread.

I have had at least one fire since I last posted here, but I think I forgot to take any pictures.

So, while trying out a cutlery drainer as a little hobo fire container, I though to take some.

Gareth · **Reply #24 on:** July 07, 2015, 08:31:19 PM

The basics:

As I said before, I don't normally feel the need for any kind of fire lighter as a good feather stick is normally enough. Here you can see the fire container, feather sticks and kindling.

Also, BEFORE you light ANY fire you should have some way of putting it out.

In this case I've got my garden hose to hand, but clods of wet moss, sand or similar will do in the wild. A 500ml bottle of water doesn't have a great amount of effect on a camp fire that is getting out of control.

Gareth · **Reply #25 on:** July 07, 2015, 08:39:10 PM

One feather stick, a lighter and some finely split kindling and we're off.

Let the fire take the smaller stuff and go for bigger pieces. With a camp fire you don't want to go too big too soon. All you'll end up doing is smothering the fire.

A rule of thumb I go with is: wait until the flames are established well enough that they are well above the height of the last layer of wood you added. Don't wait too long as then the flames can die back and are less likely to catch hold of the added wood.

As you can see I had no problems with getting a good flame going.