How do you not leave a fire scar?

[Yorkshire Boy]

I know how to start a fire. Not by friction I might add.

I was in the Scouts as a kid.
I have made many fires in a responsible way.
I don't cut down trees. I gather fallen wood.

Looking back through the threads, I saw remarks about not leaving fire traces.

Please tell me how to do this.

The only way I could think of it was to take the turf off carefully, then after the fire was finished, was to put the cut out turf on top.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Eric_Methven]

That's exactly it mate. Remove the turf, stack it face down and water it. Do your thing with the fire, keeping it within the excavated area and when finished, soak well with water. Remove any large pieces of wood, scatter the ashes within the excavated area then carefully replace the turf pressing it down gently with your feet. Then water it again. If there is a shortage of water, pee on it. The potassium salts released by the ash and the water will act as a fertiliser and speed the recovery of the grass patch.

Eric

 

[fredcraft]

That's exactly it mate. Remove the turf, stack it face down and water it. Do your thing with the fire, keeping it within the excavated area and when finished, soak well with water. Remove any large pieces of wood, scatter the ashes within the excavated area then carefully replace the turf pressing it down gently with your feet. Then water it again. If there is a shortage of water, pee on it. The potassium salts released by the ash and the water will act as a fertiliser and speed the recovery of the grass patch.

Eric

Well, I've learnt something new today !

Cheers,

 

[spamel]

If there are any dried cowpats about, bung one in before watering and replacing the turf. It can only help!

 

[Wayland]

One thing I would add is either remove turf to twice the area you are going to use or dig soil from the pit to cover the edges of the remaining turf or debris.

Save some of the bigger peices of wood to make a barrier around the edge of the fire and replace them as they burn through.

In this example you can see the barriers front and back with soil piled up at both ends.

In the morning the soil was used to cover the ashes which had been watererd even thought they were completly cold and in this case the forest debris replaced on top.

 

[woodwalker]

I can only go along with what has been said already. However you could make a raised platform covered in earth if you were planning to stay in a location long enough to justify its construction, or carry a fire pan that can be suspended on a tripod.

oh, and why is this thread in the kit chatter section?

woodwalker

 

[Wayland]

I suppose fire is kit in a way....

I should have said my preference is to use a fire tray if I'm in striking distance from my vehicle or a hobo stove if the area looks bad for a fire such as peat.

Never light a fire in an area where the slightest lack of attention could allow it to spread and digging down into peat for a fire pit can be disasterous.

 

[MagiKelly]

I use a small firebox made by Tentipi. You can see it in use in this picture.

It is raised up on stones or pieces of green wood and under it is the foil from a disposable barbecue. This protects the ground from the heat. Below is the picture of the site in the morning after we had packed up. The firebox had been about a foot or so the the right of the left tree. Sorry I can't be more exact but to be honest once we had cleared the camp even we could not be 100% sure where it had been and it had been burning for a good 4 or 5 hours.

 

[Jared]

Another method is to use a fire blanket, and pile some soil on top to further insulate the ground from the fire.

http://www.outfitterssupply.com/prodinfo.asp?number=WCA113
http://4koutdoorsupply.com/

 

[wilts-bushcraft]

i think this is one of the most relevant threads i,ve read in some time.
truly a must for anybody making a fire in the field !!!!!!!
WELL DONE !!!!

 

[Yorkshire Boy]

Sorry about putting it in the wrong forum.

It's just that I saw Wayland's comments and I wanted to ask.
Sorry.

Thanks for all your replies.
It's midnight over here.

Do you guys use a shovel for the grass removing or your knife?

I want to take my lass (since 2001) off to the hills (mountains) to do some trout fishing and live a night or two under the stars. She's a city girl but I reckon she'll love it if I can make it comfortable for her.

Thanks for everything.
JC.

 

[Wayland]

A lot depends on location.

If I'm near the vehicle I have an old folding shovel available. If I'm off the beaten track then I usually have a small folding trowel for "shovel recce" use.

Failing that a knife could be used but I'd probably just use the hobo instead.

 

[British Red]

Sorry about putting it in the wrong forum.

It's just that I saw Wayland's comments and I wanted to ask.
Sorry.

JC,

Don't apologise - best thread in a long time - I've learned a couple of things here!

Red

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

Do you guys use a shovel for the grass removing or your knife?

Use the light wt trowel you bought for 99p in BandQ for digging a latrine.

Nick

 

[Too Much Kit To Carry]

As I camp mainly in woodland I firstly scrape away all the leaves from the surrounding area and put them in a pile at one side of my fire site. I then remove the leaf mould until I hit the local clay. I also pile the left mould to one side.

Then I set my fire onto a cleared area.

In the morning I drench the embers and ashes with avialalbe water, including urine if I have little water, and mix the embers into a wet slop. Once I am totally certain that there is no smouldering embers whatsoever after mixing this with my hands I then scatter through the surounding area, rake back the leaf mould and leaves. My final effort is to gently rake/sweep the whole surrounding area I have camped in with, normally, the fine leafey branches of hazel left over from cooking the previous night on a green grill. Like to leave my site as close as I can to how I found it.

Cheers,

Phil.

PS -had to edit due to my dreadful spelling!

 

[SMOKOE]

It's not exactly travelling light, but this is what I use when I can drive up to the camp.

It's the ends off an oil drum, cut off to about 9". Place the bottom one upside down with three house bricks on top, then the simply place the other on top and away you go.

I've used this on my lawn with no scorch at all.

 

[Wayland]

This is the fire tray I use. ( Ignore the chip fat hobo on the top of it, that was and experiment. ) ( Photo by Fishaben )

It's an old iron wheel rim welded to a metal plate. It stands on three steel pegs with a right angled spur, that fit in the tray when packed.

Too heavy to backpack but useful in a vehicle.

 

[fred gordon]

I like Hobo stoves and have used quite a few. Wayland, I like the look of your setup but was wondering if that was a failed IKEA flatpack project you were burning to get rid of the evidence

 

[Wayland]

I re-roofed my workshop recently so I took a whole load of off cuts to the Delamere meet for kindling.

That looks like the end of theT&G that i used for cladding.

Most of the weekend I was cooking on pine cones.

Funilly enough the frying pan was from Ikea....