Fire from an old log ...

[Adi007]

Here's a trick that's bound to impress your mates ... starting a fire with last night's log with a ferro rod.
The morning after a good campfire retrieve a half burnt log from the fire. It's best if it is dry, but a little scraping will get you to dry, charred wood. Now all you need to do is hit is with a good shower of sparks from a ferro rod and, once you have a glowing bit, blow carefully to get it going. Take your time and you will get a fire going from last night's log!!!!
Tip - if you have a real fire at home, that will give you materials to pracdtice with!!! :-D

 

[Rob]

Now you are just being a tart

But yes, all is not lost if your fire has gone out by morning :-D

 

[Adi007]

Also works with really old burnt logs!!! Just scrape off the outside and get to some fresh black!

No need to ever carry cotton wool again ... just carry an old log instead!... well, perhaps not!

I'd wondered about this for years and now perhaps I get a better idea of how fire was transferred and what primative humans would have done once the fore did go out.

Now you are just being a tart

But yes, all is not lost if your fire has gone out by morning :-D

 

[Keith_Beef]

A similar trick I use when we're at our hous in the country, is to light a fire in the morning from the previous nights ashes. OK, so it's an indoors trick, but you can do similar tricks with the camp fire.

I'm always the last to bed, so I always put a nice thick log on the fire about an hour before I'm going to retire. Then, just before I go to bed, I get the shovel, and cover the glowing log with pale white ash. This stifles the combustion, but keeps the heat in there.

The bricks in the hearth hold a lot of heat, too.

Next morning, I take a handfull of kindling, use the firetongs to pull out the log and sit it on top of the ashes and scrape off a bit of the black.

Usually, it's already orange by now, from being exposed to the air.

Turn the log, so the orange is in front, put the kindling against it and blow gently.

It catches straight away, add some small sticks, some other larger pieces (hidden under the ashes, but away from the log: keeps the wood warm and dry). Instant fire with no matches, firesticks. Just 45 seconds of easy work. Even with cold, stiff fingers, half asleep.


KKK.

 

[Ed]

just carry an old log instead!... well, perhaps not!

errrm.... I do... well I normally carry a couple of fire dogs from the last fire stuffed into my pack, or pick them up from a discarded firepit.

on a side note.... If I come accross a discarded fire pit I tend to take the dogs and clear the rest away leaving little trace. It amazes me that so many people when seeing a firepit jump to the conclusion that 'its ok to have fires here... someone else has!'..... then go and make a fire ten foot away leaving another horrible scar.....

Ed

 

[al]

those people being the same clever ones who build a fire at the base of a tree just after they have dumped a car in the woods man they really wind me up

 

[Madra rua]

Does anyone know the scientific principle behind the ability of relighting logs from a fire which has died out only using sparks?. . I've heard its got something to do with free radicals, but if somebody could elaborate I 'd be interested in hearing about it :-?

 

[Adi007]

You are adding a spark to dry, porous carbon in the presence of air which contains oxygen. A simple spark will light carbon as long as there is air present and the spark gives rise to an ember that grows until you have a good fire!

Carbon burning in oxygen is a great exothermic reaction (giving off a lot of heat) and as long as you add air it will keep going (carbon and oxygen gives carbon dioxide).

The principal is the same as that for charcloth.

Does anyone know the scientific principle behind the ability of relighting logs from a fire which has died out only using sparks?. . I've heard its got something to do with free radicals, but if somebody could elaborate I 'd be interested in hearing about it :-?

 

[steve a]

Are you ready?
Atoms are bonded together when they share or transfer electrons to form molecules.A covalent bond is formed when a pair of electrons is shared.When thebond breaks it can occur in two ways:
The more common way is heterolytic cleavage where one of the atoms retains both of the bonding electrons, and the other takes none.This generally results in the forming of ionic species. eg
H-H -> h+H-
However, it is possible that both atoms retain one electron each in a process called homolytic cleavage. The two atoms/molecules that are formed each contain an unpaired electron, making it highly unstable and reactive.These are called Free Radicals
e.g. H-H ->H- + H-
The - next to each H shows they are free radicals (each has an unpaired electron). These are highly reactive molecules that will react quickly with another nearby molecule.
Due to how reactive they are free radicals can be very dangerous. Free radicals occuring in the human body can attack and damage cells. This is one reason fruit and veg are so good for you as they contain anti oxidants which react with free radicals and stop them harming us.
How ever free radicals are also very useful in some reactions i.e. old fire dogs.
To summerise, free radicals are highly reactive short lived molecules that have one or more unpaired electrons.
Hope that clears that one up.

 

[Adi007]

Most (if not all) combustion reactions have a free-radicle precursor stage somewhere in the reaction ... :yikes: gaaaaaa! Too technical! :shock:

However, I don't think that free radicles play any more of a significant role in this sort of fire compared to another form of fire.

 

[steve a]

Charring wood or cloth oxidizes it producing free radical precursers therefore the material is in a more reactive state that it was pre-oxidated.
That's why a 4 inch thick piece of wood will light from a spark if charred and it won't if it isn't.

 

[Madra rua]

Thanks folks,that was crystal clear and very informative. :-D