upside down firelay?

[Man of Tanith]

Seen this few times mentioned around t'internet but I've never tried it nor do I really understand it?
anyone got a good how to or pics?
is it a good lay? Worth adding to my skills list?

 

[Teepee]

It's a very efficient fire, a great way of getting a batch of wood to burn slowly.

The heat from top of the fire causes the wood underneath to smoke, which then passes up through the layer of glowing char. The glowing char acts as a catalyst to split break the smoke down into more readily combustible gases.

As the heat of the glowing char and dropping embers only causes the immediate layer underneath the heat to smoke , not the whole stack at once, it's effectively self feeding.

Very useful on snow as it insulates the bottom of the fuel and slows it melting down into the snowy pit for which it is destined.

The long and short of it is it's a Bushcraft TV stand

 

[Man of Tanith]

Worth a try then.
you'll have t gimme a demo when we meet up next?

 

[Teepee]

Yes mate, well worth a try and definitely.

The Swedish candle is a good one to do, that's an upside down fire too.

 

[Minotaur]

An explanation is in the 4 hour Chef book so might be worth checking out his blog.

 

[Man of Tanith]

Yes mate, well worth a try and definitely.

The Swedish candle is a good one to do, that's an upside down fire too.

Aint that the four slices in a piece of pine?


four hour chef?

 

[Teepee]

.....Aint that the four slices in a piece of pine?

....

That's the one. Seoras recently did one from birch branches too.

If I just wanted to see how an upside down fire burnt compared to a bottom up for minimal work, I'd lay a tidy funeral pire lay and just light the top

 

[SJStuart]

I was out last night doing my "bivi bag challenge" and opted for the upside-down fire method.

Basically, you prepare a log cabin in the exact reverse way: largest wood at the bottom, working your way up to kindling and twigs at the top. You then have to light the fire from the top with your tinder, and build a small teepee twig structure over the top (in order for the fire to catch).

Of course, it's a damned site easier to do if you prepare your firewood in daylight, and when everything's not soaking wet. I did mine at ~11PM (including wood collection and processing) and everything was just soaked through. Worse yet, part of the challenge involves using only natural tinder... and as easy as it is to get bulrush seed pods to catch a spark, they tend to be more of a flash in the pan than anything else.

Anyway, yes... this is a great method for preparing an overnight fire, as you stack enough wood before lighting it to ensure it'll continue burning all night.
In my case, I stacked enough wood at the base of my fire to keep it burning until around 8AM, when it duly burned down to embers in time for me to clear up, pack down and head home

 

[lannyman8]

its a very good fire lay sam, and stacked correctly would work very well as a long fire lay for very cold weather heating the entire shelter front, very probably save some fuel and work too...