Firewood auto loader.

[hunter63]

Came across this today.......

http://indefinitelywild.gizmodo.com/...source=taboola
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At first glance looks kinda silly.....

Seems a lot of work to neatly cut wood to length, and smooth the "feeder" rack.

But I can recall a miserable week of canoe in, primitive bow hunting week......rained every day.

So used a crude version of this rig to "dry wet wood" more that anything else....so as to keep the fire burning.

Did work,even though we didn't trim the logs that close.

Lesson learned....bring a back pack butane stove.....(we didn't, we were being mountain men...wet and cold)

[madmax]

That's pretty cool.

[natertot]

I have used a version of this. It was only one side instead of two and the firewood was much smaller diameter. Kept a fire going for about a day and a half. They do work and is a nice way to maintain a fire with less monitoring. Just be careful you don't make a bigger fire than intended, if you catch my drift.

[madmantrapper]

So that fire knows not to spread up the rack, burn only at the sweet spot?

[crashdive123]

In Massachusetts you are limited to a 10 log magazine.

[natertot]

LOL Crash. That is funny right there!

Madman, to answer your question, the trick is the angle of the rack. You want it upright enough to feed the logs downward, but flat enough to where the flame doesn't climb upward and smothers any flame trying to go between the bottom log and the ground. You'll notice the racks in the photo are at about a 60* angle and the bottom of the rack ends at the edge of the fire area. That seems to be about right in my experience.

Set one up in the back yard and try it out. May not be something that you'll always do, but it is fun for the experience.

[hunter63]

The wood was wet enough the one time we used it for a week......no danger of the rack (10 round magazine limit ....bhohahaha) catching on fire....had a bad time keeping it going at all.

Found a downed oak snag that was splintered up...had been struck by lighting....and the inside wood was dry....actually used a 2-1/2 pound hammer to "bash off" dry pieces....that we kept to get the fire back going.

Again our "primitive gear" had tomahawks, but no saw or large axe, along with no stove, got dicey ...just wet and cold 50's.
Never did that again.
Never gave batoning a thought.........and still don't.

[natertot]

I baton a lot in the woods. Typically a smaller machete and a chunk o wood. Works pretty good and gets a good pile of dry stuff in short order. Baton with a knife for kindling works ok, just be sure to have a good amount before starting in wet conditions. Saved my butt on morning when we woke up and everything go soaked during the night.

Labor intensive, but batoning does have merit.

[hunter63]

Found a guy that saw the pic....built one and tried it......Pretty cool.

[crashdive123]

Pretty cool. I've always been a throw a couple of green logs on the fire to keep it going all night guy, but that is definitely cool.

[hunter63]

Yeah same here, on the green wood.......wonder how much heat that threw off.
The is such a thing as keeping it going....but mostly just smolders with no much heat.
This set up looked like a good coal base and good flame.

[Old GI]

As you would expect, I have another method .... Wait for it, it involves something like "Oh Dear, the fire needs another lo ...." And that is, how they say, "and the fight was on!"

[hunter63]

Pssssst, ......Who ever has to pee first has to feed the fire......
"How strong is your bladder?"

[crashdive123]

Pssssst, ......Who ever has to pee first has to feed the fire......
"How strong is your bladder?"

Yeah, but it often goes like...........**rustle**, **bang**, **crash**......"Oh, did I wake you? Well since you're up you may as well feed the fire".

[hunter63]

Bohahahaha....spoken by a true camper.......
I just talking big because Momma is still in the hospital....supposed to pick her up here in a bit....
Then I need to quite down.

[natertot]

Geez, I thought we had better prepared campers then this!

Hole in camp chair with bucket underneath.... No need to get up!
Brewskis in a cooler on one side and fire wood in a pile on the other.

Fire, drinks and facilities and don't have to move anything but your arms!