I hate to keep resurrecting (my own) dead threads, but I went solo-camping this weekend and tried, once again, to build a fire and keep it going.

This time I hiked to a back-country campground, spent two nights there, then hiked back. My initial intent was to carry a small sack of pre-cut firewood for 8 kilometers, but after about 500 metres I realised this was a fool's folly, so I "donated" the firewood to an existing stack at the trailhead picnic site and continued on.

I did get a decent fire going for about a half-hour, using found deadwood from the surrounding forest, but the largest log (about 5 inches diameter) simply would not sustain combustion once the smaller pieces burned out. However, I had an epiphany while watching it.

It occurred to me that what I am missing is to have two large logs, of approximately equal thickness and composition (e.g., one long log broken into two smaller ones) side by side, and with an air gap underneath. If you can get the logs burning on the inside of the gap between them, then you would create a "chimney effect" - as the hot air from the fire rises between the two logs, it sucks air in from underneath. The narrower the gap between the two logs, the faster the air will travel; the faster the air travels, the hotter the fire will burn. (You would get the same effect from a single log that was split or cracked, if you could get the wood on the inside of the crack burning.)

Most likely, this is just so obvious that nobody thought it needed pointing out. Or maybe I just have a scientific mind and need to put something into the context of a physics experiment before I can understand it.

Anyway, I'm going back out there this weekend (in a van, not on foot) so I'm going to bring along a supply of firewood and test my theory. Will let you all know if I succeed. <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

P.S. The Wilderness First Aid course was cancelled due to lack of interest. <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />