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Thread: How to Keep a Fire Going For 50 days The way I did in Patagonia on Alone

  1. #1
    Makery and Mischief
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    Default How to Keep a Fire Going For 50 days The way I did in Patagonia on Alone

    I keep geting emails asking how i keep my fire going for 50 days so i finally got around to it and made the video. When i was out in Patagonia on History's Alone Season 3 I found a way to keep my fire going for 50 days without letting it go out or using a lot of Firewood. There really isn't much to it. Around 3 weeks in to my time there i remember this drawing from an old book i had about people with open fire places from the 1800s. Basically it showed the fire wood pushed back against the back of the fire place an buried almost completely with ashes so that it would get less oxygen and burn threw the night there would be something to get going in the morning. It took me about a week to perfect the method but once i moved to my upper shelter and built a really nice stone lined u shaped fire place i had it down. So from the day after i moved into my new shelter i keep that fire going putting it to sleep and waking it up for over 200 times without having to even Touch my fire starter.



    Video Link >>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzvT...0hiSg&index=11
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    I like your videos. I start with one and end up watching a couple more.

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    Senior Member kyratshooter's Avatar
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    That is called "banking the fire" and it was known by most every person alive right up till the early 20th century when people started burning coal as their heat source.

    The common parting statement of family members back then was not "goodbye", it was "keep the fire". They had just as much trouble starting fires with primitive means as we do today and it was much easier to keep a fire going than to start a new one and carelessly let it go out two or three times daily.

    I do have you beat on the long lasting fire though. Back in the early 1980s I built fire in October and it did not go out until I let it die on purpose when the weather turned warm in May.
    If you didn't bring jerky what did I just eat?

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    How to keep a fire going for 50 days? Start it in California.

    Alan

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Good information for the many that have no clue......

    Advice given to me many years ago.....

    "Always have a green log to smoulder with the banked coals.....for morning"
    "You will need 3 time more wood that you think you will need."
    "Don't burn too big too early....night gets long and cold...pace yourself."
    "Wet wood is dry on the inside"

    Zack....Nice job on the vid
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    Senior Member Phaedrus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alan R McDaniel Jr View Post
    How to keep a fire going for 50 days? Start it in California.

    Alan
    Or Montana it would seem

  7. #7
    Makery and Mischief
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    Quote Originally Posted by kyratshooter View Post
    That is called "banking the fire" and it was known by most every person alive right up till the early 20th century when people started burning coal as their heat source.

    The common parting statement of family members back then was not "goodbye", it was "keep the fire". They had just as much trouble starting fires with primitive means as we do today and it was much easier to keep a fire going than to start a new one and carelessly let it go out two or three times daily.

    I do have you beat on the long lasting fire though. Back in the early 1980s I built fire in October and it did not go out until I let it die on purpose when the weather turned warm in May.
    ya no Secret just forgotten. my new house has a woodstove That is extremely large And Once I fire that For the winter I'm going to see if I can Keep it going until spring.

  8. #8
    Makery and Mischief
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alan R McDaniel Jr View Post
    How to keep a fire going for 50 days? Start it in California.

    Alan
    LOL yikes

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    Zachary, enjoyed the video. What kind of wood were you using? Where I grew up we used oak and hickory firewood and it banked all night quite well.

    I don't know if soft woods such as the various pines and spruces would work too well as they burn so quickly.

    S.M.
    "They that can give up essential liberty to gain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

    - Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790),U.S. statesman, scientist, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

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    Senior Member WalkingTree's Avatar
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    That's similar to how we did the iron wood stove at night - choke off all the air, and stuff it. Will be going and ready by morning.
    The pessimist complains about the wind;
    The optimist expects it to change;
    The realist adjusts the sails.

    - William Arthur Ward

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