Translations:AY Honors/Camp Craft/Answer Key/51/en

Campfire

There are many ways to prepare an area where you will build your campfire. If you are in an established camping area, look for a place where a fire has already been built. Do not start a fire in a new area if there are fire pits already available. If you must build a fire in a new area, dig out any sod first, and lay it aside. Keep it in the shade (perhaps beneath a vehicle) and water it every day so it does not dry out (perhaps with your rinse water). You will replace it before you leave. If there is no sod, clear out all the duff and debris so that only inorganic material is in the fire ring. Clear an area double the diameter of the intended fire. Then place stones inside this ring, building a small wall as it were. Try to fit the stones so that there are no gaps, or only small gaps. The stone ring should be six to eight inches high, and it should go all the way around the circle. Before you lay the fire, make sure you have a means to extinguish it nearby and ready to go. This could be a fire extinguisher, a bucket of sand, or a bucket of water. Means of extinguishing the fire should be on hand before the fire is lit. The fire ring should then be ready for a fire.

Gathering Firewood

If camping at a commercial campground, bring your own wood or buy some at the camp store. Note that in many states, it is not legal to transport firewood across state lines into that state. It is sometimes not legal to transport firewood from one part of the same state into another part. This is an effort to control the spread of invasive insects such as the emerald ash borer, Asian longhorn beetle, etc. These are important laws to respect and obey.

At a campground, do not gather firewood from the surrounding forest! Most campgrounds have rules against this, and it is not so they can sell you expensive wood. In a heavily camped area, the forest simply cannot sustain that level of use. Rule breakers will already have depleted enough of the forest - don't add to their sins!

If there was already a fire ring present, if it is allowed, and you are in the wilderness, gather firewood well away from the campsite. Do not cut down any trees, live or dead. Dead trees are an important habitat for many forest creatures. Instead, look for fallen limbs that are not lying in full contact with the ground and use those. Wood that is lying fully on the ground will likely be too wet to use as firewood.

Cutting Firewood

Once you have found a large, dead limb, it is time to cut it loose and drag it to the campsite. You can do this with either an axe, a hatchet, or a saw. Be sure you have firm footing before swinging an axe or a hatchet, and be sure no one is within six feet of you to the sides or to the rear, and within twelve feet of you towards your front. Axe heads have come off before (2 Kings 6:5), and they are very dangerous when they do. For this reason, it may be better to use a saw. A saw will also leave more of the wood intact with the log for burning rather than as wood chips that fly all over the place.

If you need to chop a log in half, do not lay it directly on the ground. Otherwise the axe blows will push the log into the ground. Instead, lay it on another small log (three inches in diameter is good). Strike the log to be cut at the point where it is in contact with the supporting log. Otherwise, the log may flip up and strike you or a bystander. This can cause a serious injury, so be watchful. Again, it is better to use a saw.

Splitting Firewood

Unless the log you wish to split has been sawn and has a flat end, it will be very difficult to split it. Steady it on its end, and make sure it can stand on its own. Instruct everyone to clear away from you, and do not swing the axe if anyone is near. Grip the end of the axe handle with both hands, and gently lay the blade of the axe on the top of the log, on the edge nearest where you are standing. Fully extend your arms when you do this, and back up if necessary. Spread your feet apart by about the same distance as your shoulders are wide, and make sure your footing is firm. If you are right handed, slide your right hand towards the head of the axe as you draw it towards yourself. Take aim, and draw the axe over your head, bringing it down mightily as your right hand slides down the handle. The right hand should meet the left about the same time the axe strikes the log. Note how the axe strikes the wood farther away from you than where you were resting it at the beginning. This is why you should aim for the edge nearest you. If you overshoot the log, you will bring the handle down on the edge of the log and damage the axe. Do that enough, and you'll need to replace the handle.

When splitting a log, try to divide it into two equal masses. If you try to split off a smaller segment, the split will run out, and the piece you remove will be smaller on one end than on the other.

To split a small piece of wood (less than 10 cm in diameter), place the blade of a hatchet on the end of the log, raise the log and the hatchet together, and bring them down sharply on another log or a rock. When they strike the second log, the hatchet's momentum will drive it into the log. Raise the pair again, and strike repeatedly until the log splits apart. Do not steady the log with one hand and strike it with the other. If you miss the log and hit your hand, you will cause an unnecessary emergency.