Hot footing

[Janne]

The smoky scent keeps the mosquitoes and gnats away. Old trapper trick in northern Sweden, to place the clothes in the smoke.
Plus the lice vacate the clothes, which is useful too!


It was a traditional way in wintertime too, to take a 'smoke bath'.
Water to precious during winters.

 

[demographic]

I just try not to roll about in the flames like a stuntman for Game Of Thrones dragon scenes.
I mean, you can wear a full on silver covered blast furnacewear, or just build a smaller fire and don't fall asleep in it when you've has too much single malt.

 

[Erbswurst]

If you use fabric that has minimum 65% cotton, you get less spark holes, but the fabric is still fast drying on the body if you get whet.

Heavy pur cotton like the old Bundeswehr trousers is nice to use if you want to burn something in the garden, but in my opinion not the best option for bushcraft in a rainy country. Before they got dry you became I'll in a camp situation.

That's why I prefere the civil looking Decathlon Solognac clothing and the recommended Austrian stuff. If you order it, you should tell them that you want polyester cotton mix clothing, because all that Austrian stuff exists in pur cotton versions too.

 

[Janne]

If it rains you just take shelter. No?

 

[Erbswurst]

If possible yes.

If not, I wear a a thin plastic rain suit. What I wouldn't recommend to every beginning boy scout. German boy Scouts usually use the rubberised Bundeswehr ponchos, around 800 g each, you get it for round about 20€ in very good conditions in the surplus shop. They are relatively spark resistant.

I know very well how far sparks of common German wood are able to jump and usually avoid pinewood if possible and similar stuff.

I am able to avoid sparks and smoke in most conditions, but probably it's raining a bit more in Britain than in Germany, and it isn't so easy to find dry firewood in British forests.
In March and April we dry the relatively dry firewood usually around the fire before we burn it, by the way. And if the fire is smoking, we usually sit at the side where the wind comes from, in cold conditions a lean to poncho shelter behind us or something else.

 

[Janne]

UK and Norway have the same yearly precipitation on average. Rest of central and northern Europe a bit less.

That is why the real bushcraft experts, the Saami, make fires that can be covered with your hand.
Difficult to find enough dry stuff for a large fire, plus hard work.

When was most active year round in Nature, I used a Alcohol burner ( Trangia or Optimus) and small wood combo.

If it started raining during a weekender, I just went home. no fun sitting under shelter staring on falling rain drops!

 

[Erbswurst]

Usually German boy scouts go for hiking with a small portable cotton lavvu, constructed in 1929, after a German Scout leader visited Lapland.

We make a small open fire inside the tents and usually use the Bundeswehr ponchos as waterproof ground sheeds.

 

[Janne]

Lapland in which Country?
Russia?
I know many Germans visited Russia in the late 20's and early 30's.

 

[Erbswurst]

He visited on solo hikes Sami in Finland in the early and later twenties.

https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eberhard_Koebel

 

[Erbswurst]

That's another relatively cheap boot in traditional production:

https://www.schuhjaeger.at/shop/marken/schladminger-eigenmarke/schladminger-art-100-zwigenaht.html

I don't own it, just got the recommendation.