It strikes me how much the old Boy Scout manual is still relevant...I remember seeing all of these in there...
Article: Building a small cooking fire
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I prefer making a shallow rectangular pit (maybe 18"x8"x2") and building a fire in half of it. I can then rake the burning wood to one side to create a cooking area while keeping a few sticks going. coals can be raked into the cooking area as needed.
Reduced risk of burning wood falling out of the fire, fire less effected by wind and easier to cook over. Also easier to put out and hide.
Don't do this on peat, obvious reasons.
Reduced risk of burning wood falling out of the fire, fire less effected by wind and easier to cook over. Also easier to put out and hide.
Don't do this on peat, obvious reasons.
There are some old Scout manuals here. Numbers 17 on this page have some on cooking. There are some other pages on the site which may be worth exploring.
Late on this thread. Often I make a very small fire indeed when on the move and I just want a quick brew or light snack refresher before pushing on. Usually I don't carry anything special for supporting pot and place direct on fire using a couple of thicker sticks to put pot on (to avoid excess smoke I try to pick dry as possible twigs in hedgerows not damp ones off the floor, hawthorn often has dead twigs in the hedgerows I've found, but thicker sticks for pot support found lying on the floor are often damp so cause excess smoke not always desirable depending on location), however of late I have been playing around with a little d.i.y. pot support I have made, with this I only need to use a very small amount of thin twigs to make a quick brew, I have found I need less twigs with this than when sticking pot direct on fire. I travel lightweight and don't like carrying anything for supporting a pot on a fire (those trivets are heavy and very expensive) but this little one I have made, though suitable for small light pots only, weighs hardly anything so I've been trying it out. it's handy when walking in places where you have to use a normal meths/esbit/gas stove but can occasionally make a little fire for a change and you don't want to carry excess items (I have in the past occasionally used three tent pegs shoved in the ground but this seems a little more stable).
d.i.y. folding pot support made from that single strand fencing wire, comprising of three bent legs each with an eye on one end, nut and bolt through the eyes to hold the three legs together, will support small pots the typical backpacker carries but not heavy pots (which most backpackers don't carry anyway). each leg is 14cm height x 10cm wide (though it could be made smaller), weight about 30-40 grams. Pics below taken for demonstration only in my own garden, apologies for their poor quality.
shown here folded away, I stick a bit of silicone tube on ends when it's in backpack so the ends don't poke holes in backpack.
shown here in use with an msr titanium pot.
shown here with stand only and no pot.
There you go, ATB.
d.i.y. folding pot support made from that single strand fencing wire, comprising of three bent legs each with an eye on one end, nut and bolt through the eyes to hold the three legs together, will support small pots the typical backpacker carries but not heavy pots (which most backpackers don't carry anyway). each leg is 14cm height x 10cm wide (though it could be made smaller), weight about 30-40 grams. Pics below taken for demonstration only in my own garden, apologies for their poor quality.
shown here folded away, I stick a bit of silicone tube on ends when it's in backpack so the ends don't poke holes in backpack.
shown here in use with an msr titanium pot.
shown here with stand only and no pot.
There you go, ATB.
Scots_Charles_River
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
If you are using a fire then use a Mound to avoid leaving a trace. It's not right or wrong just a fact. Leave as you find is another LNT principle. It's not right or wrong just being empathetic for the next person to use the area.
Survival Skills ... What we're trying to do is make a nice cooking fire.Cooking by coals is actually a much better, more easily controlled way to heat your food on a camping trip. cooking food efficiently and effectively, open fire cooking usually just isnt the way to go. Have u any new ideas?
Among one bit of wisdom I remember from an old Scout manual was a probably made-up bit of "native wisdom" along the lines of "white man builds big fire, can't get close, gets burnt face and cold back; redskin builds small fire, gets close, gets warm".
"Get the fire going so it can burn down for us to cook on (the coals.)"
"Find more rocks for the fire ring."
I see roaring fires and attempts to cook in open sooty flames. Pots on coals are practical.
No stone to surround what you call a "fire scar." Or somebody already owns the rocks and you can't use any?
If anything here, an established fire site gets used over and over again.
Not 2 dozen fire sites, scattered across the area.
Every wild campsite has a fire site, just look for it and use it again.
Lots of fire sites where it's clear that nobody went to the trouble of putting out the fire.
Here, we are expected to do such a job that you can put your bare hand in it.
For little cook-ups, BCUK has shown me a greater variety of natural fuel stoves
than I cold have ever imagined. Entirely justified, I think.
Somebody went through the old Scout's Manuals to figure out how much wood was needed to make everything in the book.
With hundreds if not thousands at a Jamboree, many square miles of forest must be logged off for every scout activity.
I'm told that the "tone" of the book has been changed.
"Find more rocks for the fire ring."
I see roaring fires and attempts to cook in open sooty flames. Pots on coals are practical.
No stone to surround what you call a "fire scar." Or somebody already owns the rocks and you can't use any?
If anything here, an established fire site gets used over and over again.
Not 2 dozen fire sites, scattered across the area.
Every wild campsite has a fire site, just look for it and use it again.
Lots of fire sites where it's clear that nobody went to the trouble of putting out the fire.
Here, we are expected to do such a job that you can put your bare hand in it.
For little cook-ups, BCUK has shown me a greater variety of natural fuel stoves
than I cold have ever imagined. Entirely justified, I think.
Somebody went through the old Scout's Manuals to figure out how much wood was needed to make everything in the book.
With hundreds if not thousands at a Jamboree, many square miles of forest must be logged off for every scout activity.
I'm told that the "tone" of the book has been changed.
Scouting has changed since baron Baden-Powell's time!
Unfortunately.
I have his book, Scouting for Boys. My print is from before WW1. One of my pleasures is to read it..
I like Tin Tin too. Have them all.
'Tin Tin in Congo' took me a couple of decades to find. Politically uncorrect these days!
Most guys do a fire that is waaay to big. I used to, but a Same showed me the correct way.
Unfortunately.
I have his book, Scouting for Boys. My print is from before WW1. One of my pleasures is to read it..
I like Tin Tin too. Have them all.
'Tin Tin in Congo' took me a couple of decades to find. Politically uncorrect these days!
Most guys do a fire that is waaay to big. I used to, but a Same showed me the correct way.
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Wannabe white indian.
First Nations people are wonderful teachers for kids willing to learn.
Europeans don't have much history here.
First Nations people are wonderful teachers for kids willing to learn.
Europeans don't have much history here.
We still do have people that are on the level of your First Nations ( should be Second Nations really...) in Europe.
Our pre industrial history goes back far, far more in time than in the Americas. All the way back to the exodus from Africa.
Humans ( pre-Clovis people) only reached the Americas what, less than 20 000 years? The AmerIndian (Clovis) is about 12 000 years old. Those are the people what are called First Nations. Should be Second Nations, but that does sound so good.
we have the Same and some other arctic people in Russia. The 'white' people living in remote areas in northern Fenno Scandinavia (and even more - Russia).
Those people live not only IN nature, but WITH nature.
The rest of us 'townies' have forgotten most skills. Hence the value of Bushcraft people like on this site.
Baden-Powell was a military guy, he created Scouting to instill some useful skills in the largely urban population, many who would join the British Army. He wanted the new soldiers to be able to live outside the populated areas and to be able to perform the soldierly duties well.
He saw the problems new recruits had when they were shipped to the Boer War, a war that was fought in inhospitable (for a townie) areas.
Our pre industrial history goes back far, far more in time than in the Americas. All the way back to the exodus from Africa.
Humans ( pre-Clovis people) only reached the Americas what, less than 20 000 years? The AmerIndian (Clovis) is about 12 000 years old. Those are the people what are called First Nations. Should be Second Nations, but that does sound so good.
we have the Same and some other arctic people in Russia. The 'white' people living in remote areas in northern Fenno Scandinavia (and even more - Russia).
Those people live not only IN nature, but WITH nature.
The rest of us 'townies' have forgotten most skills. Hence the value of Bushcraft people like on this site.
Baden-Powell was a military guy, he created Scouting to instill some useful skills in the largely urban population, many who would join the British Army. He wanted the new soldiers to be able to live outside the populated areas and to be able to perform the soldierly duties well.
He saw the problems new recruits had when they were shipped to the Boer War, a war that was fought in inhospitable (for a townie) areas.
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