As mentioned in the first installment, it was very windy. To be fair as the afternoon wore on , it calmed down quite a bit, but the area we currently use for fire lighting is a bit exposed at this time of year.
This shows a view of my demo fire, using a 6 or 7 inch diameter oak log as a windshield, the idea is not to actually burn the log, rather to stop the wind turning your fire into a short lived inferno. There are of course, many different methods of lighting fires in high winds but in the time available I didn't want to complicate things by digging holes or constructing fences etc.
as it was, my log turned out to be a bit punky and so started to lend it's weight to heating up my billy later on!
To get everyone started, we "trained" everyone on the firesteel with cotton wool balls.
then moved on to shaving up birch bark collected while wandering earlier and also some pine resin ( in this case carried in a container improvised from a mini jaffa cake pot found as litter!):
Then it was blast off!:
There were some potential "close shaves" with man made fibre clothing,although no damage.The main thing was that our students all cottoned on quickly to the fact that you need to mix and match your gear, to suit what you intend to do.
A very interesting was point was raised by Eric Methven regarding the fact that; by the simple act of lighting a small camp fire, I had transformed a fairly bleak, windswept area into a campsite. He was absolutely right! The atmosphere changed as soon as the flames started to lick through the bundles of matchstick twigs, all eyes and I think, minds, had a point upon which to focus. Everything seemed to go quiet as if a spell had been cast.
Then it was time for Eric to weave some of his magic, Myself and David looked after the fires, while Eric and Ken launched into how to make your self comfortable using sticks and string
We'll take a look at this, as well as looking forward to our next event, in the last bit, sometime next week.
Thanks for looking
best wishes
R.B.
This shows a view of my demo fire, using a 6 or 7 inch diameter oak log as a windshield, the idea is not to actually burn the log, rather to stop the wind turning your fire into a short lived inferno. There are of course, many different methods of lighting fires in high winds but in the time available I didn't want to complicate things by digging holes or constructing fences etc.
as it was, my log turned out to be a bit punky and so started to lend it's weight to heating up my billy later on!
To get everyone started, we "trained" everyone on the firesteel with cotton wool balls.
then moved on to shaving up birch bark collected while wandering earlier and also some pine resin ( in this case carried in a container improvised from a mini jaffa cake pot found as litter!):
Then it was blast off!:
There were some potential "close shaves" with man made fibre clothing,although no damage.The main thing was that our students all cottoned on quickly to the fact that you need to mix and match your gear, to suit what you intend to do.
A very interesting was point was raised by Eric Methven regarding the fact that; by the simple act of lighting a small camp fire, I had transformed a fairly bleak, windswept area into a campsite. He was absolutely right! The atmosphere changed as soon as the flames started to lick through the bundles of matchstick twigs, all eyes and I think, minds, had a point upon which to focus. Everything seemed to go quiet as if a spell had been cast.
Then it was time for Eric to weave some of his magic, Myself and David looked after the fires, while Eric and Ken launched into how to make your self comfortable using sticks and string
We'll take a look at this, as well as looking forward to our next event, in the last bit, sometime next week.
Thanks for looking
best wishes
R.B.
