After setting up my Emergency Shelter I set up and kindled a fire using the horizontal raised elevation. I used wind proof matches, and yes I had to use the second staged match. Pure and simple smothered the first match. After the tinder bundle of birch bark and flower tops got going, the batoned birch dry hardwood took well. The tinder was natural, kindling manufactured from dry storage cord wood, and the fuel was the same. Everything in the two stick fire was batoned or chipped with a Fiskers hatchet.

Welcome to the new members, we look forward to interacting and learning together. "Never too old to learn, never too young to teach." We're all over the place at the moment so feel free to hop in on the next weekly challenge. Looking forward to this spring and fairer weather. Introduce ourselves to each other in the replies.

Remember to post your results and your AAR. What was supposed to happen, what actually happened, what would you recommend to continue doing, what would you change. Then standby for next week's challenge.

This simple picture may not look like much but for about a decade I have been trying to ignite char off from a knife. Migizi Outdoors Bushcraft / Survival Knife and Ohio chert for the win. Just an ember, just for fun, great big smile.

In my wood stove I have mostly started horizontal fire lays or the log cabin method. This allows me to use tinder and kindling between the logs and produces a well controlled fire. I use shorter pieces of commercial fat wood from front to back because of the length works better. I have started a tepee fire in the early morning if there are substantial coals left over night. This is not as well controlled but a quick way to get it up and burning. In my outside fire pit I normally use a tepee style fire lay because the pit is 2-feet across and space is limited. I often have to blow air down into the pit or try to elevate the kindling to get more air to it. I have had to line the bottom with horizontal logs because of ice. A quarter sheet of plywood is keeping snow and ice out of my pit at least to some extent. Out at the farm on Friday I had to have two horizontal layers to get the tinder and kindling up out of the snow. I basically started a tepee fire on top of the platform and by the time the chat was cooked, water boiled, and the sun went down, much of the horizontal layers were burnt through. This method allowed the kindling to stay dry. I will say that I probably should have more than a softball size tinder bundle because it was close. Cold & outdoors. Bigger bundle - less trouble.