I figured the whole fire starting thing while camping a while ago. I taught my wife how to start a fire. Instant pyromaniac. Now when I roll out of my hammock there is hot coffee.
This is the spot at deer camp my wife and son like to hangout the most. I've been teaching them how to process fatwood and light fires this summer. I'm sure some epic fire pics are to come this fall!
Maiden burn for this stove. This fire was made on the side of a forest service road. I was working a road rally and the daytime temperatures were below zero so the forest service gave us an ok to have roadside burns because we were outside all day long.
I found another one from the second day when we were in a different location and after an overnight storm dropped 8 inches on us.
I find that even when I don't need to, I use spark based fire building. I enjoy the prep that goes into it and I get to play with my knives.
We have a campfire with a few other families every weekend during fall/winter. I always go a couple of hours early to get the fire prepped and started. That couple of hours is one of my favorite times. I love being the "fire" guy.
I wish we had birch in my region of the U.S. I make do with a healthy supply of Mississippi fatwood, but it's always fun to try new things.
Fire prep and knowledge on lighting fires without matches, lighters and gas is what I see lacking the most in the skill sets of my friends I hunt with. It's been my mission to teach them different ways of using what's around them in the woods and to use spark driven methods.
To be honest it's not much different here, where I'm, very very hard to find silver birch and no fatwood, downy birch trees are everywhere tho but these are no use... Much different is where Nathan is staying, plenty of silver birch there... Edit: That's why I always get the "looks" when scrubbing the trees from bark that peels..I always say it's for the hamsters....