OK. Bear with me. I'm tasked with getting rid of all the boxes and wrapping paper from the old Griswold family Christmas. I'm outside last night down by the water with a fire in the fire pit. It's about 25 degrees plus there's a nice breeze coming off the water. So whatever's closest to the flames stays warm, while everything else is cold. I decided to actually practice using a heat shield to see if it made a difference, and decided to use only what I had on me at the time. Now given that the fire was already burning with Scooby Doo wrapping paper, I recognize this wasn't exactly a perfect replica of a survival situation, so please keep the wise cracks to a minimum.

So here's what I did:

Using a Petzel Zipka and a Cold Steel Mini-Hunter, I located and cut down two small saplings about an inch in diameter and about four feet long. I sharpened one end of each and drove it into the ground about 3 feet from the fire and about four feet apart from each other. I then took out the emergency space blanket in my kit (I carry a heavily loaded PSK in a Maxpedition Vulcan when I am at the lake or on the water), and the amall roll of duct tape. I wrapped one edge of the blanket around each pole and secured it with a small strip of duct tape at the top and bottom. I left the resulting shield at about a 90 degree vertical, and sat between it and the fire.

Obviously, there was a noticeable improvement in the effectiveness of the fire, but to be honest I had no idea what I was doing. I had read that reflective material could be used as a heat shield, so this was a best guess.

So, my request to the group is for a merciless critique. Given the most common contents of a PSK, should I have used aluminum foil instead? Is it better for this purpose? What's the best way to craft the shield? Should it be at more of a 45 degree angle? Are the distances from the fire right?

While I'm on the subject, any other "exercises" like this that anyone has tried, or that would be good practice? Obviously, fire starting - but any others?

Thanks in advance for any feedback, and have a Happy New Year.

Rod