Lazy way to trim firewood in the bush

S

SouthernCross

Joined
Jun 25, 2008
Messages
1,484
An effective way to breakup limbs to fit onto a campfire is to use the fork of a tree.

Use the power in your legs and walk forward (push) rather than pull. If the limb suddenly breaks (as they tend to do), you just keep on walking:
Lazywaytotrimfirewood.jpg



When you pull on the limb, you can loose your balance when the limb suddenly breaks and fall over backwards.

Any that don't readily yield to this technique get fed onto the fire as they burn:
Nochoppingneeded.jpg



Feel free to share your no chopping/sawing ways of preparing firewood.


Kind regards
Mick
 
Been doing it that way since my dad showed me when I was a little kid. I had a scoutmaster that did it the same way. They always said why chop when you can just break it. Same way with taking down a sapling, cut around the base and when you have a V groove, reach up and break it off.

I learned alot from my dad, and our scoutmaster, they just may have been the forrunners of ultra light hiking and backpacking.

I think as knife knuts, we look for a reason to use/justify the use of a nice big blade in the outdoors, but in reality, the old timers got by with a fraction of what we carry. Some of the men I knew back in the 50's who had been real outdoorsmen, not weekend warriors, carried a pocket knife of some generic type, and 90% of the time thier belt knife was a leather handled Case or Ka-bar little finn model. In two cases they were proffesion poachers, and in one case a proffesional trapper. If something needed to be chopped, they would use a hatchet. These guys spent more time in the boonies in a year, than most of us spent in a lifetime.

Chopping and battoning take too much energy in a survival situation, or even just camping. I'd rather take the easy route. A fork of a tree works real good, or just put one end in the fire, and feed it as it burns.
 
Heh - look at that dry tinder everywhere. No wonder us Aussies don't have too many issues with starting fires.

Lovely country SouthernCross - are they blue gums?
 
sometimes i set a limb on a rock and use a stick in my hand placed on the up end of the limb. i jump/stomp/step on the limb, using the stick in my hand to keep the up peice from popping up and hitting me (ask me how i learned this part :rolleyes:)

the tree trick works well too, but sometimes i have trouble finding trees close enough together that are also close enough to my campsite. i've also discovered that cedar can be surprisingly springy!
 
Breaking firewood as opposed to sawing or chopping it into pieces is not lazy, it's smart. The best thing you have going for you in the wilderness is energy reserves and anything that contributes to keeping your energy level up is a sound practice. I usually just end up burning long pieces of wood and continually pushing them into the fire.
 
go2ndAmend said:
Breaking firewood as opposed to sawing or chopping it into pieces is not lazy, it's smart. The best thing you have going for you in the wilderness is energy reserves and anything that contributes to keeping your energy level up is a sound practice. I usually just end up burning long pieces of wood and continually pushing them into the fire.
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Ankar Sheng said:
I'm a fan of just feeding uncut logs in, but I do like chopping, sawing and breaking things!
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I agree with both statements.

I like chopping, sawing, and breaking and when I do it, I usually have the resources that taking a break or using up energy isn't a danger - not a true survival situation.

In a survival situation less expenditure of energy (conservation) is a good thing to save and have the energy for what you need.

Regardless - breaking or feeding into the fire = more tools/options when needed.
 
Ming65 said:
are they blue gums?
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LOL
When English is not your first language, sometimes it plays tricks on your mind:D

I were thinking "How the hell can he see the guys gums???, I cant even see his teeth's behind all that beard :confused: :confused:"
I even went over the pic's 3 times to see if I missed something.

Only when SouthernCross made his reply, I got the right meaning :o
 
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