How important is splitting and chopping wood in a survival scenario?

[Robert H]

I see no reason to split wood unless I'm suddenly trapped in a vast wilderness of freshly cut timber that has been stripped, cleaned, and stacked in perfect rounds.

Otherwise there's plenty of smaller stuff to burn, and after a while you can burn a log when the fire gets going enough.

It's SURVIVAL. Who gives a damn about splitting things?

 

[TheGame]

Well, in my opinion, it depends on where you are. Some areas you wil never need to split anything, because it rarely rains. However, there are areas where it does rain all of the time and you will need to split wood to get to dry wood to get a substantial fire going. In a "Survival" situation, the skill is a great thing to have. But to determine if it is a necessity, you need to look at the weather patterns and figure out if everything could be soaked.

 

[KuRUpTD]

In a "Survival" situation, the skill is a great thing to have.

You can say that about all types of outdoor skills - fire making , traps , knots , etc.
I may not ever have to use them but it's good to know that you can do it if need be.

 

[KEmSAT-Survival]

I usually only split wood when I can't find suitable kindling, or when I make a bow drill set.
But it's never been in a true survival situation, most times it's just for practice and/or I'm just too lazy to traypse around the the woods looking for small enough wood, when I know my knife will handle battoning.

Certain types of deadfall traps require split pieces of wood. One type of squirrel trap I know for sure does.

And getting at drier parts of firewood (which was already mentioned).

These are off the top of my head.

 

[Thomas Linton]

I don't think you can answer "how important is splitting wood in a survival scenario" by referring to general experience in the outdoors. When we go out in the woods and build shelters and light fires, that's not a survival situation. What matters on an ordinary day in the woods isn't always going to matter when your life is on the line.

:thumbup:

How important is splitting wood in a survival situation? Depends on the situation.

How true. Priorities will differ. Experience may teach that splitting wood is commonly necessary. Note above comments based no actual experience.

The difference between practice and the real thing is that in the real thing, you aren't in control. You're at the mercy of the situation.

In many instances, those in a survival situation arrive at that point by a series of poor choices. Better choices, at several stages of the progression, would have totally prevented, or greatly reduced the severity of, the emergency. That is, the "victim" worked his or her way to being "out of control." Once the emergency arises, you may still be in control of your fate due to the skills, knowledge, equipment, and mental faculties you bring "to the table" -- or not.

If you feel you are "out of control" you are less likely to survive. Feeling "out of control" -- helpless -- is a common way people who panic describe thier mental state.

Usually, it's not very important at all. The importance of fire, even in northern climes, is usually overstated. I can find dozens of accounts of real-life survival situations in which lighting a fire was not necessary, or was a question of greater comfort rather than staying alive.

Given that fire is much more than a source of heat, it is generally accepted that fire-making is as important as any other skill and often more important than any other. But, as you observed, it all depends. SO Cal in June with a working cell phone and plenty of safe water or Wisconsin in January out of cell service and only a beaver pond for water?

But ... the bedrock truth of outdoor survival is that whatever you need most in any given situation will be the thing that's most difficult to attain. The time you most need a fire, a fire will be most difficult to make.

If it's easy to meet the need, the need is not critical? Can't see that. If it's life or death to get a fire going because you took an unplanned swim in frigid water, with frigid air temps, far from any shelter or spare clothes, fire is still needed even if you are Joe Pyro with mounds of dry material to burn.

Hypothermia kills, and when you're cold and wet and the wind is howling, you can bet all the wood you can find will be cold and wet, too.

That is sometimes true. Hypothermia occasionally kills and can kill because wood was cold and wet. But people can get cold and wet when there is no rain or wet snow around and when dry small material, tinder, and kindling are easily found. I have found people cold and wet in the California mountains when it had not rained in weeks. They got wet with sweat at 8-9,000 feet and were shivering with cold. (No wind-resistant clothing and no means to start a fire. Duh!)

Again,

Depends on the situation.

So, you need a range of skills and abilities to meet a range of possible situations. One of them being, as you say, splitting wood.

 

[knifeman65]

If you find yourself in a survival situation in the wilderness with 3 feet of snow on the ground, the wind blowing at 20 mph, and it's hailing, I think it's very important to be able to split wood. By splitting the wood not only do you get to the dry interior, but the split wood catches fire easier because of the corners created. Of course you start with toothpick size and move up accordingly.

 

[Big Mike]

Chopping and splitting just flat rocks,

…well at least in my bag of skills.

"If you're not living on the edge, …you're taking up too much space."

Big Mike

 

[Thomas Linton]

I see no reason to split wood unless I'm suddenly trapped in a vast wilderness of freshly cut timber that has been stripped, cleaned, and stacked in perfect rounds.

Otherwise there's plenty of smaller stuff to burn, and after a while you can burn a log when the fire gets going enough.

It's SURVIVAL. Who gives a damn about splitting things?

The man NEVER played cribbage.



Then there are those other skills that require somethin' like a board. Could break off a limb from the Western Board Tree I suppose. Or split out a board.

 

[udtjim]

It sure always comes down to what you have to survive. It could be extreme cold, extreme heat or extreme average. Usually for me if it's a survival situation, I am just trying to get out of it as fast as I can and just do what I really need to do. A far cry from normal woods outings. That said, you need to be ready for whatever it takes. I always have tinder in my fire kit but it won't last indefinitely.

Just in case I am injured, I am going to have tinder for that first fire.

 

[Zaner01]

If you feel you are "out of control" you are less likely to survive. Feeling "out of control" -- helpless -- is a common way people who panic describe thier mental state.

True.

What I mean, though, is that when it's for real, forces outside your control dictate the timing and the challenges you face. In practice, we control the timing, etc. to a much greater degree.

I don't mean to imply that you would have no control over your fate.

If it's easy to meet the need, the need is not critical? Can't see that. If it's life or death to get a fire going because you took an unplanned swim in frigid water....

True; my little maxim wouldn't hold up there.

So it's not really a bedrock truth after all. Just a variation on Murphy's Law.

 

[Runsalone]

If you find yourself in a survival situation in the wilderness with 3 feet of snow on the ground, the wind blowing at 20 mph, and it's hailing, I think it's very important to be able to split wood. By splitting the wood not only do you get to the dry interior, but the split wood catches fire easier because of the corners created. Of course you start with toothpick size and move up accordingly.

You had better be able to build a good shelter Enough weather will put out any fire.

 

[Snakedoc]

Well, we had to split up some wood on this outing.

And a few other times to get to some dry stuff, I guess once you get the dry stuff burning hot you can throw on the damp wood. I enjoy splitting wood and batoning, but everytime I have been out it is far from a survival situation.

 

[misanthropist]

Wet weather - especially extended wet weather - makes chopping pretty important. In stays on the Northern tip of Vancouver Island, after it's been a heavy downpour for a couple of months, there is no available dry wood except what you can split out of a tree. I have had to go 8 inches into standing deadwood to get anything dry enough to burn before...that is a lot of work even with an axe.

Extreme cold can also warrant chopping...if you are skiing, or snowshoeing, or hiking in deep winter and are somehow separated from your pack, you will die without the ability to maintain a big fire, because if you are doing physical activity in winter you have taken off your heavy insulating layers to prevent yourself from sweating. If you can't put them back on when you stop moving, you must have fire or sufficiently insulative shelter to maintain your body temperature.

If you do not have enough snow to build a good snow shelter, it is unlikely that any other shelter you can erect will keep you alive without a lot of heat.

So winter activity can demand the ability to chop, as well.

 

[skammer]

Usually, it's not very important at all. The importance of fire, even in northern climes, is usually overstated. I can find dozens of accounts of real-life survival situations in which lighting a fire was not necessary, or was a question of greater comfort rather than staying alive.

I can say from tragic experience that your statement is not true. Dragging frozen or blue bodies from the bush when a fire could have kept them warm is not fun.

A blanket statement like the above is reckless and dangerous. Fire in some circumstances is the only way to survive but as you say its situation dependant. It does not even need to be deep winter just cool and wet in mid summer.

MY experience with people who dont think fire is important is they have never experienced a real and lasting drop in body temp and tried to manage it.

Skam

 

[Zaner01]

I can say from tragic experience that your statement is not true. Dragging frozen or blue bodies from the bush when a fire could have kept them warm is not fun ... my experience with people who dont think fire is important is they have never experienced a real and lasting drop in body temp and tried to manage it.

I did not say that fire was unimportant.

I said that it was often less important than it is made out to be. That's based on (a) dozens of accounts of actual, real-life emergencies and (b) my personal experience of sleeping in the bush without benefit of a sleeping bag or a fire.

In some situations, obviously, a fire is critically important. If you are hypothermic, then you need fire. But no, you do not need a fire just to get through the night if you have a passable shelter and you're dry.

 

[KEmSAT-Survival]

Without getting too far off the subject:

You guys are forgetting an important detail about hypothermia: You can die from hypothermia in as much as 70 degree weather.

You are also forgetting that hypothermia isn't just a drop in body temperature. It's a loss of core temperature and an inability to sustain it.

Fire by itself will not guarantee your survival, don't fool yourself.

You have as good a chance, better actually, of survival by building a shelter just big enough for you get into, that is well insulated from both the ground and the wind. Don't forget that your body puts off its own heat. Reflect that back into yourself and you'll stay nice and warm. I've built a-frames with good ground and wind insulation and made it through a 40 degree night without a hitch, and 40 degrees is plenty enough to kill you. No fire at all.

The key to surviving cold temps is not just fire. It's insulation and retaining the body's heat. Heatloss is a 3d occurence. It doesn't just go out the front of you, it doesn't just go out the back of you, it doesn't just go out your head. It goes out of everywhere, all at once. Your body loses heat to the cooler air, ground & wind. Your breathing even affects your body's ability to retain heat.

So don't think that just building a fire is going to guarantee your survival. It will definitely increase the chances. But it's not the security blanket some people make it out to be.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

And in the event that you become dunked in water or what have you then it helps to have already built a fire before hand. Good luck starting one when you're hypothermic.

 

[skammer]

But no, you do not need a fire just to get through the night if you have a passable shelter and you're dry.

Not to beat on you Zaner as I agree with some you say.

If its cold enough out, dry and sheltered is no help. -25 in a shelter is no better than -35 outside, you will still die without gear to maintain body heat or a secondary heat source to give it.

I can promiss you there are thousands of accounts of death of hypothermia vs the few that walked away. It is the norm but does not sell copy like the hero survivor.

Fire making under any condition is a critical skill and learning to baton can support this effort when needed.

Skam

 

[skammer]

So don't think that just building a fire is going to guarantee your survival. It will definitely increase the chances. But it's not the security blanket some people make it out to be.

It is not a guarantee but fire used in combo with a decent shelter is the best you can do. Shelter is by far the most misunderstood skill set. Shelter will not keep you alive if it is cold enough, only external heat or heat maintenance.

If you already have drop in core temp a secondary heat source is needed to get it back, fire among other things helps with this, shelter does not.

As I am getting dressed to go out into -43 this very minute, the reality of cold hits you squarely in the face. Some have to be here to get it.

Skam

 

[Zaner01]

If its cold enough out, dry and sheltered is no help.

If it's cold enough out.

Okay: sometimes, the situation demands a fire. That's what I said in the first place:
The importance of fire, even in northern climes, is usually overstated ... Hypothermia kills ... suddenly, splitting wood may move from "not really important at all" to very important.

I'm really wondering where my dangerous, irresponsible blanket statement is. Because I think I was saying, "it depends on the situation." I think we're vehemently agreeing here.

I've seen a hypothermia case in August, in the Great Lakes region where summers are typically hot. I wouldn't take anything for granted.