How do u make the fire burn all night when ur camping out?

[bushcraftbob]

Is this just a case of wacking on bigger logs? Or does certain wood burn longer than others?

What with the nights drawing in and the temperature dropping it'd be nice to keep the fire going all night, but usually im finding myself having to put more wood on every hour or so to keep it going.

any ideas or tips appreciated...

 

[commandocal]

From my Knowledge I can keep a fire going for an hour maximum and then it will be very hit embers for 2 hours and can be stoked back up with a log so i dont think you can keep it going all night long you must keep getting up and adding new fuel but i guess thats the price of being warm as over tired

 

[Pignut]

You need a large fire with large logs!

We often keep fires going all night.

a 2' x 2' fire stacked tightly with logs of 6" diameter will burn for a good few hrs! you will only hve embers left in the morning so you will need to rekindle.

It also depends on what time you go to bed!

Regards

 

[gregorach]

It also depends on what firewood you're using... A good bit of oak will last much, much longer than the same sized bit of birch (to use an extreme example). Using oak I've often found that a regular small campfire will still have enough heat in it to rekindle in the morning.

If you're looking for a fire that will actually keep you warm all night, you're probably looking at a good-sized parallel log fire.

 

[weaver]

Set two posts in the ground with about three to four feet above ground and leaning away from the fire pit. Brace well these posts. Lay in a good supply of 8 - 10 inch logs and cut to length about 2 - 3 feet each.

Stack the logs on the braced posts so that they will slide down and continually feed the fire all night.

 

[Biddlesby]

Heh, cool idea, but I don't see how the frame that they slide down can be stopped from burning.

 

[Martyn]

Set two posts in the ground with about three to four feet above ground and leaning away from the fire pit. Brace well these posts. Lay in a good supply of 8 - 10 inch logs and cut to length about 2 - 3 feet each.

Stack the logs on the braced posts so that they will slide down and continually feed the fire all night.

An auto log feeder? Cool - does it actually work?

 

[commandocal]

Im going to try that

 

[Lostdreamer]

Generally:

Use a fire surround. Put some nice big solid logs, or rocks, or banked earth or something around the fire to keep the heat in.

Collapse the fire. All of that air space you want around logs so that they burn nicely? You want them to take their time burning now, so drop them into the embers.

More Fuel. Throw on a good heap of logs (don't worry about suffocating the fire an established fire can take it). Rake up any scattered embers and the like and throw them on too. As mentioned already, hardwoods burn for longer than softwoods so you may want to save any hardwoods or so for later in the night.

Party 'till dawn. The later the last guy goes to bed, the more fire there will be first thing in the morning.

Environmental factors can make a big difference. If the ground is wet, it rained heavily over night, or the fire is in a brazier then you may well just be out of luck.

In the context of your question:
If it is just a small cookfire, don't bother. Getting enough fuel to establish a decent hot set of embers that will still be going is way more work that just lighting another fire in the morning.

 

[commandocal]

I think they wont burn because he said they fall into a firepit, But how would you stop them all falling at once?

 

[Greg]

It sounds feasible as long as you use green sticks for the support frame.
A long log fire (two base logs approx 4" apart with a third on top supported by the two base logs) will keep going for a long time, most of the night from experience. Using a reflector to direct the heat back onto you. Even with this though you might find yourself waking up and needing to add a bit more small stuff to stoke it up. Again as already mention it also depends on what wood you have available to burn.
I take it you want to ruff it instead of using a sleeping bag to keep you warm, or are you giving yourself a survival challenge?

 

[Shewie]

Here are a few woods which burn slowly yet still give off good heat, you will still have to build big for the fire to last all night though.


Blackthorn
Cherry
Hawthorn
Hazel
Ewe

 

[steve a]

Are you French or just someone who likes to burn female sheep LOL

 

[Martyn]

Found an illustration, looks a bit dangerous to me....

 

[loz.]

Martyn,

can you post the url to your pic - as the server seems to have an issue with it

 

[bushcraftbob]

Ive just been using a summer sleeping bag on a bed of bracken with a basha and will soon need to rely on the fire a bit more to keep warm!

Like the idea of a self feeding fire I will see what i can engineer at the wkd.

cheers everyone

 

[Grooveski]

I was smoking some fish a couple of months ago overnight. Had made up a wee smokey fire of short stubs of 1" dia driftwood mixed in with broken up rotting birch, the whole thing covered over with rotten stuff.

The driftwood kind of charcoaled and the birch kind of smouldered and even though the pile was only six inches high it was still smoking away the next morning.

...and breakfast was still there. Surprising considering there were a pair of gulls sitting on a rock twenty foot away staring at it intently.

 

[mazeman]

If it's just about keeping it going, rather than chucking out a lot of heat, then bank it up and then chuck an old sod on the top and rake in the ashes around it/him/her.

 

[bushwacker bob]

If it's just about keeping it going, rather than chucking out a lot of heat, then bank it up and then chuck an old sod on the top and rake in the ashes around it/him/her.

Thats similar to what I do.'settle' the fire/embers as flat as possible,then put on as large logs you have,the thinner they are the more you'll need.Then put thinner sticks in the voids to make it as full of wood as possible then put a turf or soil or even damp leaf mould on the top and the back of the fire.Your immediate heat is reduced for an hour or two but it will be burning in the morning and provide a reduced output over night.

 

[Greg]

Thats similar to what I do.'settle' the fire/embers as flat as possible,then put on as large logs you have,the thinner they are the more you'll need.Then put thinner sticks in the voids to make it as full of wood as possible then put a turf or soil or even damp leaf mould on the top and the back of the fire.Your immediate heat is reduced for an hour or two but it will be burning in the morning and provide a reduced output over night.

Only the man is after heat because he only has a summer sleeping bag!