


FIRE STARTERS:

Friendly but ugly By: Jim Armstrong

For all you campers who are environmentally conscious, here are
instructions for the ugliest but the absolute best fire starters.

Use old paper egg cartons, stuff till full with dryer lint (you
know, the greyish blue stuff), then melt old candles and pour wax
over.

Leave to cool and dry and then rip the little cups apart. You
have 12 fire-starters that will help you light any type of wood. 
Just throw one in and light the edge. Told you they were ugly!!
Not a good gift.

TRICK ON  BBQ COAL FIRE FASTER:

On top of the BBQ put a big juice tin can which you have removed
the top and bottom it will act as funnel or chimney and get your
fire going hot a lot quick-her for her and you too!

WINTER FIRE OFF THE GROUND:

Building a fire on a similar platform next to the bed will allow
you to keep warm while sleeping outside in clear weather. If one
is travelling and can avoid building a shelter at the end of the
day's trek, why waste the effort?

FIRE HARNESSING & REFLECTORS:

Fire is one of the survivalist's best friends. It allow him to
cook his food, light the darkness and most important to keep
warm. But there is more to keeping warm than just lighting a
fire. you need to harness as much heat from the flames as
possible.

Sitting in front of blazing fire in subzero weather will keep
only the front of the body warm.

PERFORMANCE:

To BE AS EFFECTIVE a heater as possible the warmth of the flames
needs to be focused through the use of a reflector, either a
natural feature or one erected by the survivalist himself.

A rock cliff or dirt bank makes an excellent reflector as does a
space blanket suspended vertically on two poles.

Place your body between the reflector and the fire. Direct heat
from the flames will warm the portion of you body facing the fire
while reflected heat from behind will warm the other side.

(The principle is the same as that used in convection oven). For
maximum heat reflection, place reflectors on 3 or 4 sides of the
fire. Additional reflectors can be made from a dense latticework
of branches stood on end to form a wall and stationed a minimum
of 4 feet from the flames.

A fire used to heat a shelter should be positioned directly in
front of the shelter entrance, about 4 feet away, and surrounded
on 3 sides by reflectors.

The reflectors will impede the circulation of cold outside air
and focus the heat from the fire directly on the door of the
shelter. With this configuration, the stranded woodsman on a
thick insulation bed inside the shelter will be comfortable even
in a subzero blizzard.

Snow in and of itself is probably the LEAST THREATENING weather
condition. In fact a 20 degree day with snow on the ground will
seem noticeably warmer than the same day without snow. 

The same insulating qualities that make a snow filled forest so
quiet will also make it feel warmer.

Snow can actually be used to protect oneself against the dangers
of cold weather, because it is abundant, easy to work with and
entirely effective for manufacturing windproof walls and roofs.