I'm camped in the forest in north central Victoria and it's been about 10C each day for the past week accompanied by 5mm of rain daily.
Although I have covered my main log pile with a tarp I still need smaller wood to get the camp fire going and this, of course, is wet but tonight I had "Brilliant Idea No. 3725" and this one, for once!, worked :)
For odd reasons I have a $5 100mm diameter USB driven desktop fan and this driven from a 12V battery via a cig. lighter socket and cig. lighter/USB adapter made an excellent fire blower and quickly encouraged wet wood to burn. I shall use it again.
aussie_paul said
10:57 PM Jul 18, 2021
Love it Mike..
Aussie Paul.
Tony Bev said
02:31 PM Jul 19, 2021
That is so simple, Mike
It makes me wonder, why no one else had thought of it
It just goes to show, that necessity is the mother of invention
Tony LEE said
09:01 AM Jul 20, 2021
Couple of fire starters would be simpler, easier and cheaper
Guess your kindling is now under the tarp too Mike
Roachie said
10:00 AM Jul 20, 2021
That's a great idea.
I've been using one of these to get damp firewood/kindling to "fire-up". It uses a cheap butane can...same type/size that fits those small camp stoves.
Couple of fire starters would be simpler, easier and cheaper
I don' t think so Tony... otherwise I would not have needed the fan to augment the two I used after they burned out... would I?
Mike Harding said
01:54 PM Jul 20, 2021
Roachie wrote:
Don't need as much kindling with this gadget.
I've tried gas torches in the past with wet wood and they do help but nowhere near as well as the small fan, Goodness knows why I didn't think of it years ago.
A 50/50 kerosene/old engine oil mix is good as are cheap commercial firelighters which I mainly use these days. However when you get a prolonged wet period (like now!) it's difficult to gather enough kindling and mid sized wood for the next week or so.
As my Amateur Radio usually lives on the table by the fire I also have a 60Ah 12V battery there to power it so it's easy to connect a couple of croc clips to the battery and run the fan.
I've tried gas torches in the past with wet wood and they do help but nowhere near as well as the small fan, Goodness knows why I didn't think of it years ago.
A 50/50 kerosene/old engine oil mix is good as are cheap commercial firelighters which I mainly use these days. However when you get a prolonged wet period (like now!) it's difficult to gather enough kindling and mid sized wood for the next week or so.
As my Amateur Radio usually lives on the table by the fire I also have a 60Ah 12V battery there to power it so it's easy to connect a couple of croc clips to the battery and run the fan.
We were recently camped at Farina, SA and didn't have much small kindling. One of the blokes brought out one of these....and got the fire roaring pretty quickly:
He mainly carries it to blow dust off the step of his camper trailer, but it's a pretty useful tool for other purposes too. I may have to add one to my ever-growing collection of Makita gear.
-- Edited by Roachie on Tuesday 20th of July 2021 09:53:22 PM
I'm camped in the forest in north central Victoria and it's been about 10C each day for the past week accompanied by 5mm of rain daily.
Although I have covered my main log pile with a tarp I still need smaller wood to get the camp fire going and this, of course, is wet but tonight I had "Brilliant Idea No. 3725" and this one, for once!, worked :)
For odd reasons I have a $5 100mm diameter USB driven desktop fan and this driven from a 12V battery via a cig. lighter socket and cig. lighter/USB adapter made an excellent fire blower and quickly encouraged wet wood to burn. I shall use it again.
Love it Mike..
Aussie Paul.
It makes me wonder, why no one else had thought of it
It just goes to show, that necessity is the mother of invention
That's a great idea.
I've been using one of these to get damp firewood/kindling to "fire-up". It uses a cheap butane can...same type/size that fits those small camp stoves.
Don't need as much kindling with this gadget.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/133822180850?hash=item1f286c6df2:g:MNUAAOSwQ8xg7~dH
Check your spelling or try different keywords
Ref A: 95F7F0CB0BC944928989E36ABB550441 Ref B: SYD03EDGE0410 Ref C: 2021-07-20T01:09:59Z
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/133822180850
I don' t think so Tony... otherwise I would not have needed the fan to augment the two I used after they burned out... would I?
I've tried gas torches in the past with wet wood and they do help but nowhere near as well as the small fan, Goodness knows why I didn't think of it years ago.
A 50/50 kerosene/old engine oil mix is good as are cheap commercial firelighters which I mainly use these days. However when you get a prolonged wet period (like now!) it's difficult to gather enough kindling and mid sized wood for the next week or so.
As my Amateur Radio usually lives on the table by the fire I also have a 60Ah 12V battery there to power it so it's easy to connect a couple of croc clips to the battery and run the fan.
USB fan
You're probably right mate....
We were recently camped at Farina, SA and didn't have much small kindling. One of the blokes brought out one of these....and got the fire roaring pretty quickly:
https://www.mitre10.com.au/makita-18v-blower-skin?gclid=Cj0KCQjw6NmHBhD2ARIsAI3hrM1jIdpBO5MYsYKTtsfa2nuMeUtxlFPtSg3ayLgpRJOZcvVU_X_fK_gaAofgEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
He mainly carries it to blow dust off the step of his camper trailer, but it's a pretty useful tool for other purposes too. I may have to add one to my ever-growing collection of Makita gear.
-- Edited by Roachie on Tuesday 20th of July 2021 09:53:22 PM
Onboard air. Might blow the fire out!