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A Few Practical Fire Starting Tips
To start a fire in wet weather, you can use dead grapevines for kindling. They are up and off the ground and are therefore dry. The vines are hollow and burn hot. The vines will leave a small bed of coals which will help dry out larger diameter wood & kindling.
Also, rotten logs or branches lying on the ground ( sometimes called ‘punkwood' ) are a good source of firewood. This wood feels spongey, but these rotten branches have an almost paper-like interior. Some hardwood limbs will have a more solid core that will be dry and burn quickly and hot. Simply scrape off the saturated outer surface and you'll find good dry starter or firewood inside.
Keep that greasy paper you may have used to wrap a bacon ration or the cooked bacon itself. That oily paper makes a jimdandy starter. Burns hot and fast.
Once a fire is started, criss-crossing logs log cabin fashion generates a bed of coals for cooking quicker than other methods.
Some good books to read on general 19th C woodcraft are: "Woodcraft" (published 1883)by George Washington Sears ( a Civil War veteran, by the way) also known as "Nessmuk" and "The Prairie Traveler" by Capt. Randolph Marcy ( published in 1859). An interesting note here is that Marcy was Geo. B. McClellan's father-in-law and served as his Chief of Staff during the Civil War.
Duke - good information. I moved it to the COI as it is a "how to" type thread, more so than the autenticity discussion. Thanks - Mike Chapman
To start a fire in wet weather, you can use dead grapevines for kindling. They are up and off the ground and are therefore dry. The vines are hollow and burn hot. The vines will leave a small bed of coals which will help dry out larger diameter wood & kindling.
Also, rotten logs or branches lying on the ground ( sometimes called ‘punkwood' ) are a good source of firewood. This wood feels spongey, but these rotten branches have an almost paper-like interior. Some hardwood limbs will have a more solid core that will be dry and burn quickly and hot. Simply scrape off the saturated outer surface and you'll find good dry starter or firewood inside.
Keep that greasy paper you may have used to wrap a bacon ration or the cooked bacon itself. That oily paper makes a jimdandy starter. Burns hot and fast.
Once a fire is started, criss-crossing logs log cabin fashion generates a bed of coals for cooking quicker than other methods.
Some good books to read on general 19th C woodcraft are: "Woodcraft" (published 1883)by George Washington Sears ( a Civil War veteran, by the way) also known as "Nessmuk" and "The Prairie Traveler" by Capt. Randolph Marcy ( published in 1859). An interesting note here is that Marcy was Geo. B. McClellan's father-in-law and served as his Chief of Staff during the Civil War.
Duke - good information. I moved it to the COI as it is a "how to" type thread, more so than the autenticity discussion. Thanks - Mike Chapman
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