Bonfire blues

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
The contributing problem with lighting brush fires is large air spaces between the branches. It helps to break it down some.
 
Kubb - it's about throwing sticks at blocks of wood - an old Viking game.


Cool, will have to try that one some time.
Check this game out, it's called Stump. We use to play it in college. I guess that's what happens when you go to a predominantly AG Tech school. Despite this clip it was way more redneck when we played lol.

 
Don't you guys have a leaf blower? Getting a nice fire started should be real quick with that!

@UM

Congratulation on a great family!

7
 
Hans, who loves puns, mentioned that we could have a barnfire instead of a bonfire.

Josh, you should have been here in NH. After a few drinks it's hard to tell the difference between "bonfire" and "bahnfire." In fact, they might not have realized there was a brush pile until after the bahn was a smoldering ruin.
 
Josh, you should have been here in NH. After a few drinks it's hard to tell the difference between "bonfire" and "bahnfire." In fact, they might not have realized there was a brush pile until after the bahn was a smoldering ruin.

Never mind the alcohol.

All the fire dispatch centers in these parts always spell those two out.

"You are responding to a bahn...B-A-R-N...fire"
or
"You are responding to a bahn...B-O-N...fire"
 
So I guess I'm not the only church-going, Edwards-reading, Kubb-playing, homeschooling dad around here. Cool!

One more here...in California no less.

I see you drive a 1996 Dodge truck. I have a 1997 2500 diesel 4x4. BTW. I used to live near Princeton, NJ. Where are you?

I heat with hardwood but bring home some pine every year for starting the fire in the stove and for bonfires. Our church used to do beach baptisms and I was always in charge of the fire. This is an important job because the water is 50* and people want to warm up after coming out of the surf. Pine is perfect because it is light, easy to carry and easy to get burning.

I watched the Kubb video and look forward to making a set of femurs, skulls and a king so we can play here too.
 
Want to start a bonfire with green wood, get an old Forest Service person to show ya how. Get a hot spot going, and keep chunking the pile in.

I don't think we could play that game. We have too many hard wired Labs that would want to retrieve the game.
 
I burn green brush all the time. Every year I have 1-2 piles this size. I generate a lot of brush from my orchard. The key is getting density in the pile and cutting out all branches so it lays flat. Once burning we throw fresh cut box elder trees in and have no problem burning the green wood.

BTW, gas in a bonfire is a bad idea. The ideal starter is 50/50 of drain oil and diesel.

2z5nprc.jpg


35jbh5i.jpg


9fn0g6.jpg


21bq0xz.jpg
 
I'm cheap. Diesel is too spendy to waste. I use kindling, a couple of small fire starter blocks, and just a few pieces of firewood to get a good core fire. Patience is needed. When that gets going, pile on some fines--the little branches. When that gets cooking one can throw on other pieces. Chunk it as needed.

Professional pile burning? I've used a drip torch with a diesel/gas mixture in it, a fuse and alumi gel (napalm), and on the eastside, where it is drier and the piles full of seasoned pine and pine needles, a lit Kleenex dropped in a strategic place. You light 'em and head for the next pile...no chunking. Since there is either snow or sodden ground all around, no watching either. Get 'em lit and head for the next unit. But we are talking bonfires, so production is not a priority.

Wish I could find my photo from the 1970s of our crew posed in front of a humongus landing pile burning. We couldn't stand very close, either. Oh well.
 
I just know the recipe from so stupid stuff I did in school in ag class mix diesel fuel and styrofoam make homemade napalm be careful not to get it on your boot it won't come off and it'll keep burning!
 
Pine burns well when it's green, but we don't have much of it out here, and there was certainly none of it at this bonfire.

I know about the hot spot, but there was really NOTHING available to get a hot spot going - at least not hot enough. I was really surprised that even when we did seem to get a couple spots, it still just didn't take.

From now on when someone invites me to a bonfire, I will be asking questions about what will be burned, and maybe I'll just bring my own wood anyway to make sure it doesn't fizzle like this one.
 
Hey, Mustache - well wishes and good tidings on the baby on the way.

Fun story, but tell your preacher friend that Jonathan Edwards was preachen in the 1740s. He's the 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God' guy and was the posterchild for evangelical populism in during the Great Awakening. Incidentally, he liked to write about fire.:)
 
Hey, Mustache - well wishes and good tidings on the baby on the way.

Fun story, but tell your preacher friend that Jonathan Edwards was preachen in the 1740s. He's the 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God' guy and was the posterchild for evangelical populism in during the Great Awakening. Incidentally, he liked to write about fire.:)



Hey, 'booga! Where you been hiding? Haven't seen you around in a while.

As for my friend, he's well-versed on Edwards. I don't think I could teach him anything about Edwards, but I'd sure like to have the time to read more of his stuff myself. Too few hours at bedtime for reading, and I don't do a lot of reading at that time anyway, if you know what I mean. :rolleyes:
 
I like using a couple of old pallets for a base, then thick cardboard, then small dead limbs, build from there. My newest fave accelerant?... Mix of old cooking oil from turkey frying and diesel.
 
Hey, 'booga! Where you been hiding? Haven't seen you around in a while.

As for my friend, he's well-versed on Edwards. I don't think I could teach him anything about Edwards, but I'd sure like to have the time to read more of his stuff myself. Too few hours at bedtime for reading, and I don't do a lot of reading at that time anyway, if you know what I mean. :rolleyes:

I've been more of a drive by poster lately, popping in occasionally.

Your friend needs to know when Rev. Edwards lived and wrote - unless you accidentally misquoted him. He was at his height in the 1740s and had real issues with spiders! For fun, google 'Sinners in the hands of an angry God' then ask your bud about the dude's latent arachnophobia. Edwards was a key figure in the Great Awakening. due, in part, to his being ascared of bugs! Should be a lively discussion.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top