ESEE Laser Strike makes fire in da jungle

We could have gottin dengue fever from da millions of mosquitoes

 

That was a nice fire prep and a good strike to ignite the tinder, but I couldn't help noticing...

After the first orange flame, so much more tinder was added that the fire smothered out and had to be blown back to life. It would have been better if all that extra tinder had been under the nest when the fire was started, and the finger-sticks were ready to just lay across the fire, with good spacing and no crushing..

Each time the tinder-on-top flared up, a lot of heat was lost--that is, not used in warming up and igniting more fuel.
Likewise, a quick overlay (roof) of sticks on the fire would not only have absorbed all that heat and ignited, but would have reflected some of that heat back down on the tinder--toasting everything up even better.

This is not meant to criticize the successful fire lay, but just to point out a fuel strategy that could be vital in marginal conditions.

1. All the tinder that is to be used should be already in the fire bed on start-up, and
2. Finger-sticks should be laid or ready to lay as soon as the tinder starts burning.

A lot of smoke is a classic sign of overloading a new fire. A quick blaze with very little smoke indicates the fuel is fine enough to ignite in the available heat, and the fuel size should be increased gradually as the fire grows. Smoke is unignited wood-gas fuel, and all the heat that drove it out of the wood was essentially wasted if the smoke just blows away.

 

@UncleMorgan.
Well stated.

 

Thanks for da pointers.
In the jungle you will almost always have a lot of smoke when starting a fire. Nothing is completely dry. I did have tinder on the bottom(coconut husk). Jungle firecraft is not easy and Ive never not had to help da fire alittle. How I add tinder is one of the best ways to keep mosquitoes at bay and make sure the fire starts up(cotton/husk on bottom dried banana leaves on top). I wasn't smothering da fire too much da cotton was a nice hot coal. On da desert side of da island making a "smokeless" fire is not hard. With average rainfall of 160" a year sometimes 300" where I live fire building is a challenge.

Aloha
Gabe