Fire - finding wood!!

[Pattree]

Not sure where to put this so I’ll bung it here.
Those of you who camp in established sites: where do you find enough wood for your fire?
A typical cooking fire can easily burn six pieces of quartered log. A evening friendship fire, very much more. That’s a lot of wood over a season on even a moderately popular site. If you are burning fallen brushwood it will burn even faster. I used to camp by the Pystill Rhaeadre waterfall and by October you couldn’t find a twig under the trees and that’s when I typically start camping.

I’m a car camper so carrying a bag of logs isn’t a difficulty but my nearest supplier gets them from Latvia - which sort of increases their carbon footprint.

My 15cm dia (6”) Kelly Kettle is very fuel economic for boiling and cooking but it’s hardly a camp fire.

 

[Mesquite]

Foraging storm felled wood, friendly tree surgeons and FB market place are good places to look.

 

[Pattree]

Oh I do it and a mill will give me off-cuts of lumber.
It’s a load to carry if you aren’t a car camper.

 

[Broch]

I'll get on my soap box here
Dead wood is far more valuable on the woodland floor or hung up in the trees for the wildlife it supports. It's a fundamental part of a healthy woodland eco system. Whereas I love a communal camp fire, I will normally pack it in or not have one. If we cannot be conservation aware I despair for the rest of society.

 

[Wander]

/\
That

If you get to where you want to camp and there's no wood left then take the hint - it's been over foraged.
The wood is not there just for you to burn.
Broch said it all so I won't repeat.
But no sympathy from me either, I'm afraid.

 

[Pattree]

I’m looking for neither sympathy nor conflict. I have my solution thank you and it doesn’t involve the extraction of petrochemicals for cooking fuel - but I’m not on any soap box, I’m just reflecting on the thoughts that emerge from my identity as are we all.

I tended to think of bushcrafters cooking on open fires some of which they started using naturally available materials. Many of the discussions and photographs on this site seemed to confirm that view I’m sorry if that is wrong. If you are cooking in recycled cardboard and foil solar ovens then all power to you. They are very effective in the appropriate environment.

I just know how heavy wood is just sitting in the back of my car and that thought gave rise to my question.

 

[Broch]

My post was certainly not directed at you personally and I apologise if it appeared critical. I just think that we all have a responsibility to look after the land, the wildlife, and the biodiversity of this overcrowded little island as a priority; our recreational needs come second. If we don't discuss the subject, many people wouldn't even think about it.

However, I appreciate, that's my perspective and others' opinions will differ

 

[crosslandkelly]

On my groups permission, we have the landowners permission to manage the ten acre woodland we use. We coppice, remove dead standing and dangerous trees. In the thirteen years we have been there, firewood has never been a problem.
However on other sites I use, I carry it in, or use other cooking methods.

 

[Wander]

Oh well.

 

[Pattree]

Serious question:
Is my impression of bushcrafters predominantly cooking on open fires wrong?

 

[Broch]

Ah, now you're opening up a can of worms

First one has to define what 'bushcraft' is (it's been discussed a number of times). Then, having realised that none of us can agree what it is, you realise there is no such thing as a definitive 'bushcrafter' and, consequently, what they do and don't do, is merely conjecture

My personal view is there is no such thing as 'bushcrafting' as an activity and therefor, no such person as a 'bushcrafter'. As some people will be tired of me saying, bushcraft, to me, is a set of skills which I apply when playing or working in the outdoors, not an activity in itself. So, I use my bushcraft skills when working in the wood, when trekking in the canoe, when backpacking in the hills, and, yes, when sitting in camp having a good chinwag. But, I'm never bushcrafting. The skills just allow my other activities to be safer, more productive, and more fun.

 

[Wander]

...bushcrafters...

And what would one of those be, then?
Personally I would never describe myself as that. I would call myself 'a walker who likes to do things the old way every now and then, but just as likely to do it a modern way.' You can read those Four Seasons articles on the front page to get an idea of what I do.
Is that bushcraft? I neither know nor care.

I'm being slightly disingenuous though, because I do know what you mean by 'bushcrafter' if we are talking the popularly held image of what it means as popularised by Ray et al.
In which case, for the UK, then I would say that you are indeed wrong. Mostly. The UK is too small, too over-populated, too privately owned (!) for that to be common in the UK.
Yes, it can be that if you have permission or your own land. Or if you are careful and descreet.
For the most part, therefore, that's not what a 'bushcrafter' (sorry for the apostrophes, but I just feel so uncomfortable - rightly or wrongly - using the word) is. But it can be on special occasions.

 

[SaraR]

Serious question:
Is my impression of bushcrafters predominantly cooking on open fires wrong?

I think many would like to and it certainly is what a lot of YouTubers do (for obvious aesthetic and "looking bushcrafty" reasons) so even more people want to do the same.

I wish they didn't or at least stated clearly that they had permission to use dead standing wood and fallen branches.

 

[Pattree]

Well I think I can clarify my enquiry quite simply.

1. I am using the term Bushcrafter as a taxonomic link that encompasses the contributors to this web site. Is there another term that might better encompass all of us?

2. I draw my impressions of Bushcraft practice and behaviour from graphic and textural reports of BcUK members.
I defer to and enquire of those reports as I am a newcomer here.

3. Open fires and fire making are commonly reported here and presumably those fires are fuelled for cooking or social activity.

4. My OP does not refer to the whole gamut of the Bushcraft skill set but only to that of making and maintaining a wood fuelled fire to purposes typical of those described in this website.

My question is best avoided by not responding to it.
I am particularly interested in the views of those who have chosen or will choose respond to the OP.

Goodness this it’s difficult for a social web group. It’s easier to present a ruddy funding request!

 

[Wander]

OK, so I'll answer your question - I take it with me.

 

[Pattree]

So do I.

 

[FerlasDave]

So… If I’m on any kind of adventure that inherently means I am unable to carry wood in, then the next best thing is to plan ahead. I forage for wood long before it’s needed and just accept that there might be an additional burden for the rest of the journey to camp.

 

[Pattree]

For sure, done that (Some while ago now) You see a nice piece of branch you pick it up as you pass. Just as long as the main ascent is behind you!

Easy for me as 800gm of wood cooks supper, breakfast and coffee. Maybe a bit more if it’s windy.

 

[slowworm]

Well if you're talking bushcraft then to me the ethos of 'leave no trace' would mean leave a site as you found it which includes not stripping it bare of dead wood.

If you're talking camping with a fire then it can't be difficult to source UK firewood. If weight is an issue then what about UK produced charcoal?

In my lightly managed woodland I leave some stacked firewood behind for me to use when I camp. If a camp site allows fires then it would be worth encouraging then to supply sustainably sourced firewood.

 

[Pattree]

I’ve done that in my garden but then I get another problem. I get wildlife in my woodpile. I identify with mole and woodlouse so end up knocking chunks of wood together to shake the residents loose. A group of us met around a fire only last Monday. When I turned up the fire bowl (stored upside down in the open) there was a young vole under there. If there had been a nest we’d have done something different. As it was the vole wandered off and we now use fresh cut firewood.