Since we've been talking recently about fire building, I thought I'd share this story:

We've been on a little mini vacation with my in-laws the past few days. It was a standard tourist kind of trip, but we did have a fire pit and some trees around at the cottage we were staying at. So, since everyone loves a campfire, we bought some split wood, my son and I gathered tinder and kindling and then bacpacdad taught bacpacboy how to build a log cabin fire. Here's a little picture show of the fun:

Tinder and Prep

Twigs - pencil lead thick, pencil thick and thumb sized


Hornet's Nest - found this one laying on the ground, nice and dry, and just like paper




Shavings and Newspaper - we used my BGUSK to shave up some punk wood and a sliver of dried old tree stump.



Fire Building

Platform - they built a platform to help raise the tinder out of the ashes so the fire could breath better


Log Cabin - the smallest stuff, hornet's nest and newspaper are in the middle and the bigger stuff is on the outside, so the fire burns inside out. It's also an upside down fire, with the bigger stuff on the bottom outside level of the log cabin, so as the smaller stuff burns and falls, it lights the bigger stuff on the bottom. The newspaper got stuffed on the bottom to help ignite the bigger stuff






Lighting the Fire - The shaved up stump took a spark from the ferro rod really well, but it got buried in the log cabin so bacpacboy couldn't reach it. Instead, bacpacdad made him a mini torch with a twig and some pine sap, which he lit with a lighter.
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Enjoying the Fire - friends, family, marshmallows and spider dogs. It was a great fire! It was also bacpacbaby's first campfire.
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Thanks for looking!

spiderdog?

Spider dog = regular hot dog cut to make spider legs when it cooks.

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I just make 2 cuts in each end, like a +, with a nice solid piece intact in the middle. The legs will spread and curl as it cooks. If you make the legs too long or too many they tend to fall off or you lose the dog completely.

My scouts will love that!