Upside down fire - AKA Self Feeding fire.

[Diomedes Industries]

I have struggled for years with transitioning well from wrist sized wood to large split wood.

I had watched a video on how to build an 'upside down fire' and decided over the last few weeks to give it a try.

Tonight I sit in front of another fire that I have built this way - and I have to say - it is perfect. I started with some rather large nasty split logs - built some wrist sized split logs on top of that and moved on down until I had a base and then with some fat wood (shaved) and some charcloth I lit it up.

I rarely have to tend the fire as it seems to feed itself and I think it is a very superior way to build a fire.

Ofcourse, it may not be the fasted and quickest way to get heat - but for an average camp fire - it is great.

TF

 

[myright]

Interesting take on which are of the blade to use for striking the steel.

Thanks for the info, bro!

 

[Kiah]

Interesting take on which are of the blade to use for striking the steel.

I got shivers when he did that. Leaves are in desperate need of clearing too.

Cool vid though. Graves describes this method in 'Bushcraft', though on a much larger scale (5 feet wide )

 

[Tuxdad]

Interesting video.. I was a little on edge as well about the leaves not being cleared away.. Thanks for sharing...

 

[HawGorn]

This is actually also the the method that it nowadays encourared to use in sauna stoves here in Finland. Apparently top-to-bottom method burns more efficient and cleanly with less small particle pollution to atmosphere.

 

[Pritch]

Nice. I'll try that out next time I want an "all night" fire and see how long I can get it to go. He was incorrect when he stated that a coated knife would not throw sparks from a firesteel.

-- FLIX

 

[kgd]

He was incorrect when he stated that a coated knife would not throw sparks from a firesteel.

I have yet to get the coated part of the spine of a blade to throw sparks, but maybe that is just me. I certainly didn't agree with using the tip/belly for striking. Also, the amount of dulling incurred by a couple of strikes on the edge is minimal. When I do it, I just use the same section for striking and usually use right at the back of the blade. If the knife has a small choil, like the BK-7, I'll use the choil area. Then again, I carry a devoted striker with my firesteel so most of this is academic.

The firebuilding technique is interesting. I think its advantage is the fact that you don't have to feed it. The disadvantage is that it produces an ugly fire without a focused flame when you get towards the bottom. Plus, one of the great pleasures in life is screwing with your fire while its going

 

[PropThePolecat]

I have yet to get the coated part of the spine of a blade to throw sparks, but maybe that is just me.

Ive got no problems throwing sparks with my coated Beckers and Ontario, but i have no idea if different types of manufacturer-coatings have an influence.

Ive tried expirementing with this type of fire but always on a smaller scale with one or 2 intersecting levels. Next time im out ill see if i can get it to burn all night long with more levels of wood and thicker pieces.

 

[Diomedes Industries]

I know the knife he has, being a former Marine, the Marine fighting knife - has a THICK coating on it. I wonder it it is not the coating but the dulling effect it has on the spine.

TF

 

[kgd]

The coatings on the RC-products cause too much slippage to spark. Same with scrapyards. My de-coated RC-4 throws sparks from the spine alright. Again, I just don't really like sparking with a knife all that much. I prefer a small little striker that lets me hunker right down and direct my sparks where I want them. I've also used shells from freshwater mussels and pieces of glass to spark my firesteels.

 

[Diomedes Industries]

Kgd,

I usually use my rippling abs to get sparks off. But they are so hard that often I break normal strikers.

TF

 

[kgd]

Kgd,

I usually use my rippling abs to get sparks off. But they are so hard that often I break normal strikers.

TF

I find the coating on my abs prevents sparking.

 

[Diomedes Industries]

Brotha,

You need a SHOWER!





Oh, not that kind of coating...


TF

 

[desmobob]

Plus, one of the great pleasures in life is screwing with your fire while its going

:thumbup:

Fo' sho!... brings out the cavemen in even the most sophisticated camper.

Man is known simply as a hunter/gatherer, only because it's too hard to include "poker of fire with a stick" in there somehow... it's in our genes.


Stay sharp,
desmobob

 

[sicily02]

Hi all,

TF I just wanted to tell you thanks for posting that video and all.
After I seen that I thought COOL lol. I am going to try that. so today I went out into the timber and did up a upside down fire. I took some pics to lol.

In this pic I have the wood ready and my fuzz sticks on top.

Then this pic I have the little wigwam sticks on top of my fuzzsticks.

In this pic I have a slender stick in my left hand and it is my match. for those of you who dod not know I take a stick and then wrap my tinder ( normally cotton and pj mix and wrap it around the end of my stick and then strike my firesteel and now I have a nice long 6"to 8" match that I can start my fuzzsticks with)

This pic is just showing the small fire growning and some knife porn lol.

This pic is 10 minutes later.

This pic is 40 minutes later and in that time I did not touch that fire I ended up cutting up more wood and making more fuzzsticks for my next fire that I will have.

If you all get a chance to try this fire set up, do so it really is a neat set up.

I am going to do some more and with different wood and with some bigger peaces. Today I used just Ash wood. The biggest peaces were about wrist thickness at the bottom and then a I used some double thumb thickness and then some finger size after that then my fuzzsticks and then the little finger sized sticks on top of the fuzz sticks.

This really was neat set up. It throws off a fair amount of heat and has a real nice flame for most of it.

Bryan

 

[Diomedes Industries]

Nice Bryan - thanks for testing and posting pictures.

TF

 

[shotgunner11]

This is kind of funny to me. Back in the day, before I knew crap about making fires, this is how I did it. Once I was taught how to make a proper fire I always wondered why my "improper" fires always burned better.

Don't think I'm looking to go back now, got it pretty down at this point.

 

[sicily02]

Hi TF, lol you are welcome it really is a neat fire set up. I can hardly wait to have another one lol

shotgun11, It really is a neat fire set up huh?
Neat story that you told. Talk about doing it right and not knowing it. lol

Bryan

 

[Midnight Scout]

Cool beans.

 

[Shotgun]

The coatings on the RC-products cause too much slippage to spark. Same with scrapyards. My de-coated RC-4 throws sparks from the spine alright. Again, I just don't really like sparking with a knife all that much. I prefer a small little striker that lets me hunker right down and direct my sparks where I want them. I've also used shells from freshwater mussels and pieces of glass to spark my firesteels.

I'm not big on using my knives either. You can get a lot closer to your tinder with a small striker.

I've seen this method on Oldjimbo site and always wanted to try it. Maybe I will next time.