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Date/Time: 03/28/2024 03:07PM
wet firewood

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Previous Messages:
Author Message Text
alpinebrule 10/08/2019 05:13PM
Two things I do that seem to make starting a fire in wet conditions easier.
1) Lay a layer of dryer wood on the wet ground and then build on top of that. The moisture in the ground sucks a lot of heat and makes it harder to get things going. Plus helps with air draw.
2) A definite believer in Vaseline soaked cotton balls as fire starters in adverse conditions.
I melt the Vaseline in a coffee can set in a pot with water and then saturate the cotton balls. Pull them apart a bit before lighting; one or two balls will burn for several minutes and really helps get things going.
bhouse46 10/07/2019 09:05AM
I found plenty of wood and cut a nice supply expecting weather and thinking I could not paddle down the shoreline to where it was plentiful. The wind was so intense and cold I could not have a fire so there is a nice pile of partially processed two and three inch pine at a campsite on Lake Three.
RetiredDave 10/03/2019 05:24PM
BobDobbs: "we went in on 9/14 and came out 9/24. Wood was definitely damp all around.



if you can baton thicker pieces into kindling that will help a ton. Also a pocket bellow is well worth the small cost/weight."



So true to both suggestions. My September solo had some real soaking rain, but the inside of thicker pieces of wood were dry as bone, and the little pocket bellow I take (rubber tubing and small copper tubing) did the trick. That, with finding wood away from camp, I had cozy fires every night.


Dave
BobDobbs 10/03/2019 10:57AM
we went in on 9/14 and came out 9/24. Wood was definitely damp all around.


if you can baton thicker pieces into kindling that will help a ton. Also a pocket bellow is well worth the small cost/weight.
bhouse46 10/01/2019 10:37AM
I am looking at Lake One heading back to Insula and now thinking about pushing on through rather than take chances at the campsite at Lake2-3 passage. I suspect the downed wood from the Pagami Creek fire is rapidly composting unless it was charred and replacement wood is lacking in the young forest. And so I agree finding wood in that area with rain and shorter days may not be likely.
I appreciate the tips and have gone deeper into the brush on rainy trips to find some bottom branches that would ignite and seldom collect firewood close to camp. I will be watching the shoreline and a little back...and the weather seems to be clearing off.
x2jmorris 10/01/2019 06:21AM
Blatz: "Inside part of the wood should be dry after it's split. You can always find plenty of wood away from camp"


Sometimes it requires you getting in a canoe to go somewhere else though. Some areas are really picked over.
Blatz 09/30/2019 07:55PM
Inside part of the wood should be dry after it's split. You can always find plenty of wood away from camp
x2jmorris 09/30/2019 05:47PM
Easy to get depends where you go. If you go to Lake One then yeah it will be hard to find but lakes that aren't quite as popular will be alright to find wood.


With any luck we'll have some weather that dries up the kindling and then from there you can dry out bigger and bigger pieces.
AmarilloJim 09/30/2019 01:09PM
Got back from the Q yesterday. Not a problem. Just need to feed smaller wood a little longer to get your fire going.
bhouse46 09/30/2019 01:06PM
With all the rainy weather I would anticipate firewood is pretty soaked. And being towards the end of the season the easier to get wood is not so easy anymore. Anyone been in recently who can give a report?