Swedish Torch Anyone
Our neighbors had to take down two of the big white pines over their house this summer. It's a shame since there were hundreds of years old with a caliper of over a meter each. They were amoung the few trees in southern Maine over 60 years old. Unfortunately, to get a crane in to top them I lost a few oaks on the corner of my lot. What to do?... Well, fire wood pile has gotten low and full of termites but my slitter is broke n I don't wanna rent one. To help get the wedge started I began cross cutting the tops of the larger logs I was cutting. The cuts reminded me of a Swedish torch I'd seen on TV.
Now, I'd tried replicating what I saw on TV with a 6A drill and 1 1/2" bit but that had failed miserably. I could never get the fire to burn down in the boar holes and catch on the log even though the bore holes went all the way through. These cuts would have thin wedges of wood at the center of the star that might fair better catching flame. The other thing I noticed was cutting with the grain across the end of the log rather than across the grain through it, the saw chips were long, thin and curly like plainer shavings rather than granular.
So, I stuff some down the center of the cuts and poured melted candle wax over the shavings. After a bit of trial and error I found that layering a few shavings and dribbling a little wax then repeat until the center was full worked best to make kind of candle in the center of the star all the way down. I also found that I only needed to leave about 2-3 inches uncut at one end of the log to keep the entire thing together.
An important detail is to leave the cuts clean and free of debris so air can get in. When you first put a match to it it does not look like it's going to burn very well. I found putting a little kindling on the top helps keep enough heat in place to get the log started. Once the edge of the log catches it's set and will burn well enough to cook on.. The ends of the logs make a stable platform that will hold a pan level long enough to cook a meal. Best part is that it does not burn all the way through until the end so you could easily set these logs on the snow and have a roaring fire without fear of making mud. The bottom is actually the last thing to burn and I had to turn this one over to get it to burn all the way through.
Next batch I make I think I'll off set the cross in the center so the + and X cuts are not meeting at the same point. This would make the hole in the center a little bigger so it get's started a little faster. I learned this by accident on one of the logs I thought I'd messed up while cutting.
Now, I'd tried replicating what I saw on TV with a 6A drill and 1 1/2" bit but that had failed miserably. I could never get the fire to burn down in the boar holes and catch on the log even though the bore holes went all the way through. These cuts would have thin wedges of wood at the center of the star that might fair better catching flame. The other thing I noticed was cutting with the grain across the end of the log rather than across the grain through it, the saw chips were long, thin and curly like plainer shavings rather than granular.
So, I stuff some down the center of the cuts and poured melted candle wax over the shavings. After a bit of trial and error I found that layering a few shavings and dribbling a little wax then repeat until the center was full worked best to make kind of candle in the center of the star all the way down. I also found that I only needed to leave about 2-3 inches uncut at one end of the log to keep the entire thing together.
An important detail is to leave the cuts clean and free of debris so air can get in. When you first put a match to it it does not look like it's going to burn very well. I found putting a little kindling on the top helps keep enough heat in place to get the log started. Once the edge of the log catches it's set and will burn well enough to cook on.. The ends of the logs make a stable platform that will hold a pan level long enough to cook a meal. Best part is that it does not burn all the way through until the end so you could easily set these logs on the snow and have a roaring fire without fear of making mud. The bottom is actually the last thing to burn and I had to turn this one over to get it to burn all the way through.
Next batch I make I think I'll off set the cross in the center so the + and X cuts are not meeting at the same point. This would make the hole in the center a little bigger so it get's started a little faster. I learned this by accident on one of the logs I thought I'd messed up while cutting.