Building a fire along the river.

**Swamprat1958** · 04-19-2010, 12:02 PM

A couple of weeks ago my son and I were on a canoe trip and I had the devil of a time starting a fire due to most of the wood being wet from recent floods.
My daughter and I went this past weekend and things worked out far better.

I gathered as much dry (dry being a relative term) wood as possible hanging in the trees after the last flood. I then split a bunch of it up into kindling sized pieces. There were some small twigs and dry bark to use, so I gathered up as much of that as possible. Then I used a Firesteel, char cloth and waxed cloth to get the fire going. As you can see it worked great.
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After adding larger wood and allowing it to burn down to some good hardwood coals I grilled us a ham steak for supper.\
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Then I fried some potatoes and onions to round out the meal.
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**gryffynklm** · 04-19-2010, 12:05 PM

Dang, missed diner again. Great pic, I can almost smell it.

Waxed cloth, hmmm good idea. I'll have to make a note of that.

**Swamprat1958** · 04-19-2010, 12:15 PM

Originally Posted by gryffynklm

Dang, missed diner again. Great pic, I can almost smell it.

Waxed cloth, hmmm good idea. I'll have to make a note of that.

gryffynklm the waxed cloth is very easy to make. I use denim if I have it (if not any cotton cloth will work) and melt wax in a double boiler type pot. Cut the cloth into what ever size pieces you want. Then drop the cloth into the melted wax. I tak an old pair of plieres or tongs and set them out to dry. As soon as they are cool enough to handle I either roll them up like a cigarette or fold them flat and let them finish drying. The heavier the cloth the better, it burns long and hot. Plus after you get the fire started you can step on the waxed cloth to put it out and save it for another time.

**Swamprat1958** · 04-19-2010, 02:30 PM

Originally Posted by gryffynklm

Dang, missed diner again. Great pic, I can almost smell it.
Waxed cloth, hmmm good idea. I'll have to make a note of that.

We don't fry much at home and the "Riverbank Taters" are a real treat. They taste as good as they smell cooking. My daughter had never had them before and would like for them to be a regular part of our menu.

**your_comforting_company** · 04-20-2010, 06:16 AM

SwampRat. I've found that bracing the ferro-rod against the toe of my shoe allows for more accurate spark cast onto my tindle. Beats the heck out of mis-striking and knocking the tindle all out-of-whack. The wax-cloth is a neat idea.. I wonder if it would work with tallow?
Good job making "wet-fire". Good firebuilding techniques will get even wet wood burning!

**Swamprat1958** · 04-20-2010, 08:12 AM

Originally Posted by your_comforting_company

SwampRat. I've found that bracing the ferro-rod against the toe of my shoe allows for more accurate spark cast onto my tindle. Beats the heck out of mis-striking and knocking the tindle all out-of-whack. The wax-cloth is a neat idea.. I wonder if it would work with tallow?
Good job making "wet-fire". Good firebuilding techniques will get even wet wood burning!

I have never used tallow, but it should work. However, tallow melts real easy and the waxed cloth would have to be kept in a separate container to keep it from contaminating the char cloth.

**Old GI** · 04-20-2010, 08:50 AM

Most of you probably already know about fire around stones that have been in the water. They will explode if hot enough. Yeh yeh. Frying pan full of canned spaghetti went airborne (we had several trees full of the stuff).

**COWBOYSURVIVAL** · 04-20-2010, 04:23 PM

I carry some wax saturated cotton rope...never thought of cloth! Good post I am running out of cotton rope.

**crashdive123** · 04-20-2010, 05:39 PM

Well done SR. I'm sure the kids had a great time.

**Swamprat1958** · 04-21-2010, 08:47 AM

Originally Posted by crashdive123

Well done SR. I'm sure the kids had a great time.

They had a ball and are wanting to go again ASAP.

**hunter63** · 04-28-2010, 10:46 AM

SR, I like the waxed cloth idea as well, and hadn't thought of it.
Good show.
Any Gators?
I do like y'all's yellow pine, fat wood though, make my firestarters with the sawdust.
As we hunt over by Mansfield, La, in a plantation, I always keep my eyes peeled.

**Swamprat1958** · 04-30-2010, 08:08 PM

Originally Posted by hunter63

SR, I like the waxed cloth idea as well, and hadn't thought of it.
Good show.
Any Gators?
I do like y'all's yellow pine, fat wood though, make my firestarters with the sawdust.
As we hunt over by Mansfield, La, in a plantation, I always keep my eyes peeled.

No gators on this trip. There are gators in Arkansas, but we didn't see any on this trip. In Louisiana we see them everywhere!

**Rick** · 04-30-2010, 08:13 PM

Originally Posted by swamprat

gators

Out of the pool!!! Everybody out!!! That's it. Camping is over!!!!! We're going home. Billy, put the lizard down!

**red lake** · 04-30-2010, 11:41 PM

Sometimes the wood is only wet on the outside. Take your knife and shave off the outside of the branches to get to the dry wood.

**justin_baker** · 05-25-2010, 08:24 PM

Sometimes if your lucky you can find dry or passably dry wood. If all else fails, you will be forced to chop down an entire dead tree in order to find dry wood.

**gryffynklm** · 05-26-2010, 03:55 PM

Originally Posted by justin_baker

Sometimes if your lucky you can find dry or passably dry wood. If all else fails, you will be forced to chop down an entire dead tree in order to find dry wood.

Thats just extreme. Like redlake said, Shave wet wood from a branch. I have made fire in rain by removing bark from branches to expose the dry wood underneath. Kindling is a bit trickier. You can sometimes find dry material under wet leaves, you have to look. Shavings from the peeled branch work fine. A whole tree??? If you have trees you have branches.

**tsitenha** · 05-26-2010, 04:20 PM

Using a ferro rod I usually place the ferro rod angled on top of the tinder and withdraw it under the striker/knife rather than the other way around less scattering that way.

**Saladman** · 06-03-2010, 03:49 PM

Originally Posted by Swamprat1958

gryffynklm the waxed cloth is very easy to make. I use denim if I have it (if not any cotton cloth will work) and melt wax in a double boiler type pot. Cut the cloth into what ever size pieces you want. Then drop the cloth into the melted wax. I tak an old pair of plieres or tongs and set them out to dry. As soon as they are cool enough to handle I either roll them up like a cigarette or fold them flat and let them finish drying. The heavier the cloth the better, it burns long and hot. Plus after you get the fire started you can step on the waxed cloth to put it out and save it for another time.

I suppose you could do this while making candles! Just don't mind the stray strings in the candle. Although it might add to the...uniqueness of the candle?