Embers, if well taken care of, can be transported for a few days. The moss limits the air reaching the embers and retards their burning, but sufficient air has to reach the embers or they will go out
Charcoal
Charcoal makes a very hot fire, is smokeless and has the least weight for a fuel. Wood burned with much air burns completely; if air is restricted, wood gives off gases and becomes charcoal. To produce charcoal, stack wood tightly together, cover it with earth, ignite in several places, and maintain a slow burn by admitting limited mounts of air. At 500°F (260°C) a chemical reaction occurs making the burning wood very hot which consumes the air and turns the wood to carbon (charcoal). The process can take a few days depending upon the quantity being produced. The charcoal should be left in the covered pit until it cools off or it will burst into flame when exposed to the air. The quality of charcoal depends upon the wood used.
Rotting Wood
Rotting wood decreases the potential energy in the wood. Dried rotten wood is flammable and will burn very fast but give off limited heat
Rotten wood chips can be used as tinder
Rotting is caused by fungi that require oxygen humidity and temperatures between 60 F and 90°F Wood in houses usually does not rot it is too dry.
Unusual Fuels
Any concentration of carbon, hydrogen, and methane can be used to make a fire. This can be dry peat moss, dry seaweed, animal dung in desert areas, bat droppings (use outdoors in small quantities as it is very flammable, even explosive), animal oils, dry leaves, coal, or oil that seeps to the surface or saturated as tar sands.
On polar ice, or in areas where other fuels are unavailable, blubber or animal fat is a source of fuel
If near the wreckage of an aircraft or a disabled snowmobile or car, use a mixture of gasoline and oil as fuel. Be careful as to how you ignite and feed the gasoline mixture.
You can use almost any plant for firewood but do not burn the wood, leaves or branches of any plant that can poison on contact.
Tinder
Prepare some extremely dry tinder before attempting to start a fire without matches.
Once prepared, shelter this tinder from wind and dampness.
Some tinder is:
- Birch bark, resin shavings, and pitch or fat from coniferous trees (described below). They burn even when wet.
- Punk (the dry insides of rotten trunks of trees), lint from cloth, rope or twine, dead palm frond, finely shredded dry bark, dry powdered dry bat droppings, dry powdered wood, bird nests, shelf mushrooms growing on tree trunks, woolly material from plants (pussy willow, cat tail),dry grass, dry crushed leaves, and wood dust produced by insects and often found under the bark of dead trees.
- These can be saturated with light oil, gasoline, or alcohol based insect repellents
To prepare the tinder for use, break it, roll it in your hands, or cut it into small powdery pieces to minimize the surface area that the sparks or hot wood have to heat to ignite and smoke.
To save tinder for future use, store it in a waterproof container.
Kindling
Kindling is material that also is used to start a fire. It is a step up from tinder, which is used to start a fire in very difficult situations i.e. having no matches or starter fire.
- Kindling can be small strips of dry wood, pine knots, bark, twigs, palm leaves, pine needles, dead upright grass, ground lichens, ferns, plant and bird down, and the dry, spongy threads of the giant puffball, which by the way are edible.
- Cut your dry wood into shaving before attempting to set it on fire.
- One of the best and most commonly found kindling materials is punk, as described under tinder. Dry punk can be found even in wet weather by knocking away the soggy outer portions with a knife, stick, or even your hands.
- Paper or gasoline may be used as tinder.
- Even when wet the resinous pitch (fat) in pine knots or dried stumps readily ignites.
- Loose bark of the birch tree also contains a resinous oil which ignites well.
- Arrange the kindling in a wigwam or log cabin pile to maximize the air flow.
Pitch, Fat, or”pine gum”
Is the resinous deposit found … old coniferous tree stumps or butt cuts on pine trees especially trees that died on the stump. The resin will have flowed down and collected at the bottom part of the tree Old-timers and Indians swear by its use in fire making. A few shavings of pitch can start a fire at the touch of a match.
Whenever you see some collect a few pieces for future use.
Find pitch in the debris of rotting logs. It is yellow-colour and looks like a resin wood lamination on old stumps, Watch for old stumps that look yellowish as they might contain pitch. If the stump is gray it probably is rotten old and soggy and contains no pitch.
Coal or Wood?
Advantages of Wood
- Easier to start a fire
- Easier and cleaner to handle
- Wood has a more pleasant and romantic odor
Advantages of Coal
- Per heat value coal requires less space to store
- A given quantity burns for a longer time
- Gives off less heat so it is more comfortable for mild temperatures