Review: Light'n'Go bonfire log

Its log, its log, its heavy hard, it's wood, not new from Blamo.

Here's an interesting product from Light'n'go
that I saw whilst visiting my local Bunnings for  gardening supplies and tools. Bear with me. This is  a weird one. What I saw was a round of a log, 1/4Cu foot / 7.1L /  430 cu cm in size, with  length of sisal rope bolted on as a carry handle. It has a series of radial cuts in the log through its center and along is flat end surfaces in order to make combustible surfaces.

The Bonfire Log is new, unique, and the "most extraordinary innovation in firewood of our time". Put it virtually anywhere and create a beautiful bonfire with one match. No chemicals, just pure kiln dried beautiful white birch, with a paperboard firestarter, with its patent pending design, delivers a great fire and an instant good time. Bonfire Logs can be enjoyed in a fire pit, chimnea, or fireplace, indoors or out. Light'n'Go suggest you can take them camping, cook marshmallows or hotdogs on a stick, or drop a frying pan on the log for eggs.
 It's year round instant entertainment, never easier or cooler.

The cuts are crude chainsaw plunges and could be easily replicated by any skilled operator and the concept of the Swedish or Finnish fire log   is widely known. Take a log, and use a saw to cut at least 3/4 of the way down the length of the log. Adding kindling to these cuts allows a fire to be lit inside the log, which both allows the fire to burn surrounded by fuel but also shelters the fire and insulates it. the cuts allow air into the fire from it base as well as the sides, ensuring  good steady burn. The raised base allows the fire to be lit on wet, or snowy ground, and if both ends are properly flat, the top can be used as a cooktop, where a grill could be placed, or a pan placed.

This could even be enhanced with  the addition of a purpose  built grill-top such as the Sportes MITI grill.

Back to the Light'n'Go log: It is reported to be suited to both indoor and outdoor fireplaces. apparently it can be successfully lit with just 1 match and then would burn for more than 1.5 hours while the bonfire jumbo log burns for about 2.5 hours.

Lacking accelerants, the all-natural, fire-log, being kiln dried birch, lights with one match, burns 2.5 hours produces a large halo, a clean flame, and a charming aroma.

The Light'n'Go log is  a commercial product you can pick up at a hardware store, but you could make your own easily enough if you have dried seasoned logs and you're a deft hand with a chainsaw. However, if the plunges or cross cuts seem a little too much, a similar effect could be achieved by simply splitting the log with an axe four ways, and binding it with a length of wire to hold it together in much the same way as the Sportes MITI grill.

 I have a couple of logs in my fire woodpile that are flat ended and will see about cross-cutting one with a hand saw to give this a try myself but as an eyes-on, it looks like the Light'n'Go bonfire log is a very simple, easy to use and effective looking product. but its nothing you couldn't do yourself, given skills and simple materials. ust like baking bread or sewing pants. Before you scoff at its simplicity and redundancy, consider the utility and convenience. Time not spent setting up a good fire is time spent securing your site, food prep, setting camp and doing vital gear and personal maintenance. 

Home Front: log, it's log!

A couple of weeks ago I came home to this rather large pile of timber in my front yard. Apparently the local arborists know that I have a wood fire and after propositioning them to take the least tree they cut down, they've taken it on themselves to not have to mulch any logs they fell, and after asking my eldest who was getting home from school, they tossed a tree into my front yard.
At least this time I didn't have a veggie patch for them to crush.

Welcome Mt Birchmore, altitude 1.2m.
I'm pretty sure it was birch, although there was no foliage for me to confirm with.
One thing I know, there was a whole tree's worth.

Obviously this would need to be seasoned before burning it, but as we've just come into spring here, and summer brings "total fire bans" for weeks at a time, I will be able to comfortably sit through the six months of drying time that is recommended for green wood. Given Melbourne's zany weather, probably just for the best, anyway.

I was lucky that the arborist crew chainsawed most of the logs into pretty uniform lengths, and even the larger blocks of wood into manageable chunks.
I spent a number of hours hauling all this around to the back of our house and stacking it up.

Before stacking my new haul, however, I needed to clear out my vine, leaf litter and as it turns out, bush rat nest filled old log pile.
This pile of mixed logs, including redgum and a variety of other woods that I have salvaged from around my neighbourhood and on my drives to and from Triceratops Girl on the weekends. It's become part of out urban-scavenging mindset to always be on the lookout for logs piled up out the front of houses. When we can, we stop and load up the back of the RAV4 and restock our supply.

After cleaning out my log store spot, a paved area beside the trampoline and fenced off chicken run in what used to be a bare patch of grass, I stacked up my timber booty in three layers, on one side, and a single stack behind the wall my smoker sits on, with a good mix of large logs and thinner ones so that I have a selection when it comes time to burn it. I covered the main body of the stack to attempt to keep the spring rains from setting it to rot. Triceratops Girl was even keen to get involved with the hauling and stacking she has a slow-combustion stove at her mothers place, so knows all about having nice wood fires.

Wood fires may not be the most ecologically friendly, often producing a lot of particulate waste, especially in open fires, or when using green wood, but when it comes to survival and self-reliance, having a supply of firewood, and the means to both cook and heat with it can make the difference between comfort and squalor. In snow-bound areas, it can mean the difference to life itself.

Review: ThinkGeek - Pocket Chainsaw

For my last birthday, I did my family a favor and purchased a bunch of my own presents. I'm notorious for having already picked items off my own wish-lust-lists.

Think Geek has been a good source for gadgets and gizmos to feed my need, and this year was no exception. The difficulty being getting items that can be shipped to Australia, as they have started restricting items based on, well, "pointiness" as far as I can tell. The UC M48 Ranger Hawk,KA-BAR Zombie Killer knives and even the Dead-On Annihilator Superhammer available through Think Geek are not for export to Australia. Sad-making!

However, one of the pieces of kit that IS still available, is this, thePocket Chainsaw.

I have covered my Wire Saw's previously, which are a gorgeous bit of kit to have stowed away in a Bug-Out-Bag or camping set, but there are times when you really need a bit more bite.

I've never been very comfortable with powered saws, (even when Picatinny-rail mounted...) because of the risk of kickback as seen in Dawn of the Dead and described to me by a variety of experienced wood-cutters (not all of whom had all their fingers). I can and have used chainsaws, I just prefer non-powered tools to do the job. Slower, I know, but unless I needed to do a lot, and often enough to become familiar and proficient again, I'll stick to hand-tools.

This pocket chainsaw fir my need perfectly! Made of high strength, heat-treated steel which has been coated for rust resistance and smoothness of cutting action, it comes with bent rings to hook through the lead ends of the chain, and corded plastic handles to ease the cutting action, and increase the draw and reach of the saw.

The 70cm (28") saw features 124 bidirectional teeth, capable of cutting in both the forwards and backwards draw, and the beauty of this piece is that when you are done wit hit, it rolls up into a coil that fits int its own carry-can, along with the welded loop-hooks, and the whole package weighs only 140g (5 oz)

It comes with two molded plastic handles with cord loops,  which I fixed to the loop-hooks with a larks-head hitch. The loops and handles added about another 50cm or so of reach, as well as keeping my knuckles clear of both saw and log.

We had some pretty damaging spring wind-storms here, and my partner Anastasia had a largish gum-tree branch fall on her shed, which seemed a perfect chance for me to finally get to use some of my newer acquisitions.

I chopped the smaller limbs with my
Ranger Hawk, as will as its big brother, the M48 Walking Axe which packed considerable wallop for such a small cutting head. Both bit faster and deeper than my usual go-to Fiskars Log Splitter. However, when it came to cutting through logs, after I had trimmed the branches off, it was time for the saw to do its thing.

click the picture to go to ThinkGeek store!

I didn't stop to measure the diameter of these limbs, but they were at least 20cm. Bigger than my skinny little thighs, for sure.


The saw bit in fast and made quick work of the first third of the log, but I found that a comfortable, narrow shoulder grip tended to cause the chain to bind up, leading to me needing to take a very wide stance to effect my cuts.

Once I cleared the hard core of the branch, I was a matter of raising the ends, so that gravity would force the log open, to reduce that binding. This was because I was cutting "up" standing over the log. Pulling "down" and cutting a suspended branch would have been much easier, but dangerous.

When I was done, the loop-hooks simply disengaged, I unhitched the handles and stowed the coiled saw and loop-hooks in the pocket tin. The handles had to be stowed separately. This was an excellent, easy to use and practical addition to my car-kit, ready to pull out and cut up road blocking obstacles without the need for fuel, and storage space.

 

Here's just a quick picture of the M48 Walking axe, hanging off the largest of the limbs I cut with it, in-situ. The para-cord wrap on my M48 Ranger Hawk completely unraveled whilst chopping, which was very unsatisfactory. I will eventually re-tie it myself.

The folding pocket chainsaw worked tremendously well, silently, and quickly.