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Chapter 1. Around The Fire

Finding the Right Type of Wood | Kindling a Fire | Different Types of Fires | Cooking Sites | Baking Bread | Drilling a Fire

From books and moving pictures we all know that Indians had the ability to maintain smokeless fires, and that trappers could blot out the sites of their fires without leaving the slighest trace behind. But we're not always able to imitate these models. We gaily follow the recipe: take some wood and light it. ... But there's far more to it than that.

FINDING THE RIGHT TYPE OF WOOD

Before you build a fire, you must first have a good supply of firewood on hand. It's embarrassing to realize that there's no more wood when your hot dog is only half done. For a smokeless fire you need completely dry, brittle wood. The dryest branches are those that have lost their bark and never feel cold; cold wood is damp and heavy, and it is useless to you unless you want to dry it out at a fire first. You can find dry brittle wood even after a rain. Look for branches under dense shrubbery (that's a bit of old gypsy lore) or find the lowest dead branches of young pine trees, which are especially suitable for starting fires. Only a greenhorn would start a fire with wood that still has green leaves hanging on it. Such wood is usable only if you already have a strong fire. Thick, dead limbs of old oaks, dried roots and trunks make good heating material. In rainy weather, cut away the top layer of wet sticks; the center will be dry.

KINDLING A FIRE

This is almost like a game of skill. First, clean the site where you are going to lay your fire, and scrape the ground all around it so that you leave nothing that may be ignited by a flying spark. Then, start with paper, dried grass or reeds, dried leaves and twigs, birchbark or paper-thin shavings. Set up a little pyramid of the thinnest, driest twigs over this. Then, to get a strong flame, lay brittle softwood branches on top of the pile. Finally, to produce effective heat and a good glow, add pieces of root and thick hardwood sticks.

The hardwoods include oak, beech, poplar, birch and hickory. Hazel, spruce, pine and fir are all softwoods. The paper-thin outer layer of birchbark is ideal for kindling.

Set fire to the core of the pyramid only when it is finished. If kindling piles are skillfully built, it is possible to light them with a magnifying glass if the sun is out brightly. As long ago as 278 B.C. the inventive Archimedes saved the Sicilian city of Syracuse with this principle. He erected a huge reflector on the city wall and set fire to the enemy fleet with it. Soon the fleet was swimming in bright flames on the sea. I wasn't there myself, but I have often lighted a well-prepared, dry kindling pyramid with my pocket burning glass.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF FIRES

If you need a fire for cooking, add some heavy blocks of wood on top of the thicker branches as a final touch for a pile of strong, glowing heat. The best thing is a few short thick logs laid around the fire in the form of a star or the spokes of a wheel, so that only one end of each stick touches the flame. As the burning progresses, push the sticks further into the center and new glowing ashes will be formed.

Would you like to fry an egg in a primitive way? Use a flat, sun-heated stone from a dry stream bed as a hot plate, or you can even heat the stone in the fire. Remove the soft center from a slice of bread, so that you have a ring in the middle. Then lay this bread on the stone and break the egg into the ring. When the egg has cooked, you can eat it right off the stone.

You can slice or notch hot dogs at the ends and spear them on a green twig, then cook them over the fire or the glowing coals. Don't ever hold meat directly in a flame, or you will char it.

Raw meat should be salted and wrapped up, first in butcher's parchment paper and then in a few layers of damp newspaper or wrapping paper. Shove this package into the glowing coals, and continue to keep the fire going. In about an hour, a piece of beef that isn't too thick will be done. The damp paper keeps the meat from burning.

Even today certain islanders cook their meat this way, except that they use green plant leaves instead of paper. In this case, the moisture of the leaves protects the meat from charring.

A "caterpillar fire" is good for a campfire, because it needs little or no attention. However, you should build this kind of fire only when the wind direction is steady and there is no danger of rain. Build the wood pile as pictured below, beginning the pile in the

direction of the wind. The supports underneath and at the sides should be green branches. The thickest support must always be under the middle of a log, and the thinnest under both logs. If there is a little wind, make the pile shorter by pushing the pieces further over each other.

In order to keep a fire overnight or for a longer period, cover it with a pile of ashes. This way it keeps glowing, and even after many hours you can rekindle it by blowing on it.

But only in the rarest cases should you ever leave a fire or glowing embers unwatched. On an empty sandy beach you might leave it untended for a short time, but always keep in mind that a strong rising wind can carry sparks from glowing coals. At best, you might escape with a few holes burned in your tent; at worst, you could start a forest fire.

For a fire that will dry wet clothing, you need a strong glowing mass of coals. Around it build a pyramid of sturdy, green, branchy tree limbs and hang your wet clothes on this. Turn the garments every few minutes. And stay there as long as there is still wood in the glowing mass. Glowing embers will spring into open flames in a rising wind.

COOKING SITES

In the fall, when there's a tang in the air and the trees begin to shed their leaves, there's nothing so satisfying as a pot of hot soup or tea cooked over an open fire, with the unavoidable taste of wood smoke and the usually unwanted addition of pine needles.

You can invent and construct your stove on the spot. The type you build depends upon the circumstances and the available materials. Four possibilities are shown on the previous page.

But whatever kind of fire you use, there are some important precautions to take. Forest rangers and nature lovers do not like to see careless people building fires in the woods. And not without reason. Fires incompletely extinguished or sprays of sparks left unwatched have caused numerous, often devastating forest fires.

You should build your fire only in the middle of a clearing, in a pit, or on a stony spot. There should be nothing that can burn within 8 to 10 feet all around the fire site. Trees or bushes within this distance from the fire would be damaged by the heat.

You must completely extinguish the fire afterwards. It certainly is not too much for you to get some water for this from a nearby brook. If you merely want to stamp the fire out, at least leave yourself enough time for the job it's really not so easy or fast. In addition, you are likely to burn your shoe soles doing this, although you may not notice it until later. Never scatter the fire in all directions so that the coals fly under leaves and are hidden from you somewhere. They keep on glowing!

BAKING BREAD

At home, before you set off for your camping grounds, you can make dough with a teaspoonful of baking powder, about six ounces of flour, a pinch of salt, and some water or milk. Knead the mixture into a tough dough and pack it in a clean handkerchief or a can when you are ready to go.

While your fire is building up the strong heat necessary for baking, cut two forked branches and a straight green hazel or birch stick. Set the branches at each end of the fire. Then make a long roll out of the dough, somewhat thicker than your thumb, and wrap it around the green stick in a spiral, keeping the individual turns at a little distance from each other. The dough will rise while it is baking, and the twists should not bake together. Lay the stick across the forked branches, and turn the spit frequently. The bread is done when you can insert a smooth bit of wood and pull it out dry.

If you want to be even more like a woodsman, and if your camp site has fresh running water, you can mix the ingredients at home without any liquid, and put the mixture into a paper or plastic bag. Then, when you are out at the site, you can add the water and cook your bread on a flat stone.

DRILLING A FIRE

The Indians protected their wigwam cooking fires like prized possessions, for naturally they had no matches or lighters at their disposal. If they had to build a new fire, they could do this only with a fire drill. As a matter of fact, even today many gauchos on the Argentine Pampas, the natives of Samoa, and the Eskimos still make their fires this way, and recently I learned that drilling fires is a part of the NATO pilots' training course, so they will be capable of managing for themselves behind enemy lines without any technical resources in case of emergency. To drill a fire, you need a bent branch, string, a hardwood stick, a bit of wood for a mouthpiece, and, finally, a softwood drilling board and tinder.

Bow with cord and hardwood stick	Softwood board

The piece of softwood serves as a base. Cut a little hollow in the surface. Then place the hardwood stick vertically in the hollow and twirl it energetically back and forth between the palms of your hands. This drilling produces a hot, fine powder. Make a notch at the side of the hollow so that the powder will fall out, and put some tinder there. You can use shredded bark or fine wood

Eskimo drilling a fire	Fire drilled by two people

shavings for tinder. The hot powder will light the tinder, and you have a fire. In order to increase the friction in the hollow (and thereby the heat produced), put in a few dry grains of sand. In order to speed up the revolving hardwood stick, catch up the stick in a bowstring the way the Eskimos do it. Since the person who is drilling the fire alone has to hold the stick, he makes himself a mouthpiece for this purpose. The mouthpiece is also used when two people drill without a bow.

Other methods of drilling: turning a pliable hardwood stick or scraping vigorously with it

Another way of starting a fire without matches is by rubbing cotton between dry wood until you can smell it burning, then start it glowing with a quick wave through the air, and light a wood fire with it.

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