The versatile Brazil Nut

[Mistwalker]

Due to weather work was delayed today...so...I took the opportunity to go out back and experiment a bit. Using only one match, a Brazil nut, and some damp wood I started a small fire...it was small but enough to let me know how much Brazil nuts could come in handy out on the trail, serving the tripple purpose of being edible, making a decent candle, and as a firestarting material under some circumstances.

The conditions are very damp after three day of precip. with yesterday's being a wintery mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain.

I picked my smallest tinder from some dead vines hanging above the ground

and the rest from dead branches tangled in vines and other limbs

I prepare my tinder and kindling as always, smallest to largest and ready to go

then using only one match and a Brazil nut

I light the fire, you can see all the steam.

You can see the nut burning well and drying out the damp wood above it in this one

I didn't do enough prep to actually get a good fire going as I didn't have that much time to kill and didn't want to have to put out a big fire, but it was plenty to let me know how well it would work in the future.

 

[Toddy]

I wondered if you'd have a play with them
Surprisingly effective, aren't they ?

Cool photos thanks for sharing,

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Mistwalker]

Lol, I have to play with everything I learn. They are indeed surprisingly effective. Thank you for sharing that bit of info, I shall not be forgetting it. I'll be packing along a small bag of them on my hiking trips.

 

[John Fenna]

Pringles are good as well!
I can see cocktail parties with various spirits and snacks - plus open fires - being the Bushcraft trend this Xmas!

 

[Mistwalker]

Sounds good to me, I'll bring the nuts and some Bacardi 151...the rum will keep me warm untill I get the fire going. Lol. if I have one or two too many I won't even care if I get the fire going

 

[Ogri the trog]

Hmmmm,
Prawn crackers and Dorito's are good too.....

Now the only problem is whether to eat or light the fire......

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[rik_uk3]

When my two were young and usually around xmas time, they thought it was great fun to make brazil nut candles, one nut mounted on a cocktail stick, very smokey, but they loved it

 

[C_Claycomb]

"Save the Rainforest....burn Brazil nuts!"


Its gotta be better than eating them!

 

[Barney]

I cant believe this thread, on the strength of it I have just made a candle, to the delight of both children, from ASDA extra special Chinese Chicken flavour crisps.

 

[Mistwalker]

I've known that Fritos, Doritos and the like would work for years...ever since the first time I dropped one in camp as a kid and wtched it burst into flame when I tossed it into the fire and spent the next few minutes sticking the ends of perfectly good chips in the flame and watched them burn. However those are man made products cooked with formulated oils (I know natural oils such as olive and rendered fat will burn nicely) What caught my attention about this is that it seems that it burns as is..., naturaly...to test this I have to go buy some fresh ones and shell them. Lol, now....because of this I am going to be puting all of the nuts that grow wild here in this area; Walnuts, Hickorynuts, Pignuts, Acorns (Oaknuts as the misses calls them) to flame to see if any of them produce a burnable oil such as the Brazil nuts produce.

As for eating or starting the fire...it only took one Brazil nut for this one, and I have started a fire with one Frito before so....unless we partake of TOO MUCH of the alcohol and really botch things up there should be plenty for both

 

[John Fenna]

ld burn the booze you know - you dont have to drink it!
I had some Hungarian booze that worked well in a Trangia and Croatian Rekia is BETTER used as a fire lighter than as a drink!

 

[Mistwalker]

No...I don't suppose we'd have to drink it, but at times it sure can be fun

 

[BOD]

Ha. I thought it would be the match and the husk of the nut!

Your work seems to be always delayed or cancelled Mistwalker.

Do you get paid if that happens?

If yes, Let us know how we can get a job like that and go bushwalking instead!

 

[Mistwalker]

Ha. I thought it would be the match and the husk of the nut!

Your work seems to be always delayed or cancelled Mistwalker.

Do you get paid if that happens?

If yes, Let us know how we can get a job like that and go bushwalking instead!

Not always..., but often this time of year....there was once a time when I took this whole part of the year off and pretty much stayed in the woods. As for getting paid anyway..., well, sometimes yes..., sometimes no...,sadly I'm not on Salary on this project like the last one. So I go to the woods to take my mind off the fact that I'm not getting paid. I often go to the same woods that are in this thread....which is merely twenty five paces out my back door in my own back yard..., lol, costs less to go there.

 

[Mistwalker]

Well....so far no luck with other nuts working this well but....

Last night I did a little experiment.

This is a store brand can of mixed nuts from a local grocery store...cheaper than the name brand but tastes about the same to me. It does list in it's ingredients; Peanut and/or Canola and/or Cottonseed Oil.

These are the materials I chose to experiment with. I bent two paper clips into little stands, and using the lifeboat matches I am evaluating I tried to light them. I knew that Brazil nuts will burn like candles so I wanted to see if they will light like candles. I will say here that if the intention is to use these as "candles" they should be placed on a more suitable surface for burning such as a saucer, plate, metal pie pan, or maybe even some aluminum foil. I have yet to see how they do when burned completely out except when starting fires with them.

The lifeboat matches I have lit so far from this bottle have all flared for at least ten seconds. However,as a note on these matches, while they will light and and flare very hot and very brightly even in a wind they will not ignite the the stem in a breeze but they will ignite the stem when out of the wind. I've yet to test their other claim on immersion.

The Brazil nuts will not light in this position with a match, perhaps with a lighter but it would use up a lot of fuel. They have to be turned on there side nearly upside down to light well.

and as this photo shows they need to get going good before being turned upright in order to burn continuously.

But if you let them get started good before turning them upright they will burn well and actually burn quite brightly with a larger flame than most candles albeit a somewhat orange flame.

I have yet to see just how long they will burn as they do put off a little smoke, and my wife finds the smell annoying lol. I'll burn some all the way down while she is gone one day