When I was in Boy Scouts, we had a fun competition which forced learning firebuilding skills without much instruction.
We were given 2 matches. We had set up the wood so it would burn a piece of twine 18 inches high without touching it after the fire was first lit. Then we had to cook a pancake on it and eat it. (We ate a lot of almost raw pancakes.)
When I was in Boy Scouts, we had a fun competition which forced learning firebuilding skills without much instruction.
We were given 2 matches. We had set up the wood so it would burn a piece of twine 18 inches high without touching it after the fire was first lit. Then we had to cook a pancake on it and eat it. (We ate a lot of almost raw pancakes.)
I am always looking for fire building contest ideas. That one sounds good.
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I've taken a vow of poverty. To annoy me, send money.
When I was in Boy Scouts, we had a fun competition which forced learning firebuilding skills without much instruction.
We were given 2 matches. We had set up the wood so it would burn a piece of twine 18 inches high without touching it after the fire was first lit. Then we had to cook a pancake on it and eat it. (We ate a lot of almost raw pancakes.)
I am always looking for fire building contest ideas. That one sounds good.
I think the way we did it was in teams of 3. One would collect all the wood, kindling and tinder. When he was done, the second would build the fire. The third would cook the pancake which had to be flipped without a spatula. The cooker would eat the pancake. (Which was great fun if it landed in the dirt.)
When I was in Boy Scouts, we had a fun competition which forced learning firebuilding skills without much instruction.
We were given 2 matches. We had set up the wood so it would burn a piece of twine 18 inches high without touching it after the fire was first lit. Then we had to cook a pancake on it and eat it. (We ate a lot of almost raw pancakes.)
I am always looking for fire building contest ideas. That one sounds good.
I think the way we did it was in teams of 3. One would collect all the wood, kindling and tinder. When he was done, the second would build the fire. The third would cook the pancake which had to be flipped without a spatula. The cooker would eat the pancake. (Which was great fun if it landed in the dirt.)
That does sound fun. Some of my scouts have a hard time flipping pancakes WITH a spatula. Taking that away would make a pretty exciting contest.
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I've taken a vow of poverty. To annoy me, send money.
I have a windmill lighter in my emergency bag. Very cool, and in my experience, very unreliable. Tuning the flow adjustment can help at altitude but I've never gotten it to work reliable enough that I'm comfortable using it as anything other than a toy. Being an untreated gearaholic, I've had several of them. When I need something other than cool, like when I really want a fire, I pull out one of my two baby bics and a couple pieces of fatwood that I've cut in half and split into thin pieces, about the size of a cigarette. Those fatwood pieces can be shaved into nice tinder. And I have a half dozen stormproof matches with a couple striker strips in my kit as backup.
Like Oldranger, I carry a stove as a primary piece of gear, even on day hikes. If I'm by myself I usually take my whitebox stove and 2oz of heet, or if I have the wife, its my snowpeak giga which I think is about $40.
Finally, practice the craft. The hardest for me is getting a fire going in wet conditions. I'm still not 100% under those circumstances.
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