‘Birch and fir logs burn too fast
Blaze up bright and do not last, it is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
Even the very flames are cold
But ash green or ash brown
Is fit for a queen with a golden crown.’

– Lady Celia Congreve, ‘The Firewood Poem’, The Times, 1930

Unless you plan on taking bulk wood with you, you’ll no doubt be foraging for fuel wood for a campfire. Before you leave you should research the rules in the area where you’re planning to camp. Chopping down a tree or collecting fallen branches isn’t always legal, especially in national parks, so it pays to check before you leave.

It should go without saying that you’ll want to look for dry, dead wood that you’ll process into a combination of sizes for kindling and larger fuel logs. When wood has dried and its moisture and sap has evaporated, it’s known as ‘seasoned wood’, as opposed to ‘greenwood’ (live wood) where internal moisture is at its maximum.

Ideally, you’ll be on the lookout for a combination of softwoods and hardwoods. Softwoods to get the fire blazing, and hardwoods to carry it through the night and produce heat.

SOFTWOODS

Softwoods are usually evergreen trees, like conifers (cone-bearing trees) – cedar, pines, cypress, fir, spruce, even giant redwood. Softwoods are favoured for starting fires because they’re easy to process into kindling. Well-seasoned softwood is usually easier to ignite than hardwoods and burns faster with a higher flame, thus producing more light for the campsite.

For cooking, softwoods are good for boiling or frying as they release their heat quickly. They also tend to produce more smoke, which can be beneficial if you have mosquitos around!

HARDWOODS

Hardwoods are usually deciduous flowering or evergreen trees and are much denser than softwoods. In the Northern Hemisphere, birch, maple, hickory, oak, beech and ash are popular hardwoods. In Australia, acacias and eucalypts – like red or blue gum, jarrah, box and ironbark – are evergreen hardwoods that shed their leaves throughout the year.

Hardwoods are preferred as the main source of fuel, particularly if the fire is a source of warmth throughout the night because most hardwoods burn cleaner, hotter and for much longer than softwoods. They have a lower flame and are less likely to produce sparks and pops, so there’s less likelihood of accidentally setting something alight around the camp.

Hardwoods also produce better coals for cooking than softwoods, and are best suited to cooking slow roasts or braises. Because hardwood takes significantly longer to burn down to coals, you should factor this into your plans.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

As long as you’re in or near wooded areas it should be straightforward to find dead fallen trees, branches, limbs or twigs suitable for a fire. Look for wood that is clearly seasoned. Telltale signs include wood with bark that is partly or fully removed, that lacks vibrancy and has a grey appearance, and that has splits and cracks from the surface deep into the core.

Ideally, you’re looking for wood that is both dead and off the ground for the simple reason that it’s dryer. Look for branches from a dead tree that’s fallen on top of a shrub or bush, sometimes known as ‘standing wood’. Collecting small sticks and twigs from standing wood will be helpful for creating kindling.

Once you’ve found branches or limbs that appear to be dry, try striking the wood with another dry piece of wood. It should make a hollow, slightly ringing sound that indicates dryness. Wet wood makes a dull thudding sound when hit.

Not all wood is created equal. Each species will produce different amounts of radiant heat (measured in BTU or British thermal unit), they have different burn rates and flame heights. Over time you’ll develop some local knowledge about what works best for you.

STANDING TREES
‘Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I’ll spend the first four sharpening the axe.’

– Anonymous

It is worthwhile looking for a small dead ‘standing tree’ – a tree that has died but not yet fallen. Look for a standing tree that is less than an arm’s thickness and has completely shed its leaves and, ideally, most of its bark. The advantage with dead standing trees is that because they’re vertical they’re less exposed to rain and so less likely to be waterlogged and rotten. Avoid trees that are infested with termites or ants as they tend to take on water too.

Once you’ve found a suitable tree you can either chop into the wood with an axe (if it chips it’s probably dry enough for a campfire) or cut into the trunk with a knife and check that it is dry to the touch. Try to push or pull the tree over. If this isn’t possible, cut it down with a saw, rather than an axe, which will be more efficient.

Look for signs of nesting within tree hollows and be extra careful not to disturb any animals.

This is an excerpt from Tent Life, by Doron Francis.
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