Making a Dakota Fire Hole in the sand
Transcript
00:00 I'm going to dig my first hole in the sand about a foot or a foot and a half deep.
00:04 Then after that I'm going to dig a second hole upwind of this one.
00:07 Then I'll tunnel it all the way down to the bottom of the first hole.
00:10 You want to do this in semi-wet sand.
00:12 If it's too dry it'll just cave in on itself.
00:15 But if it's too wet your holes will fill up with water.
00:17 Now the holes are connected.
00:18 Then I'll build a little mound around the first hole I dug.
00:21 Not necessary, but it adds a little more depth.
00:23 Then I'll shave a fatwood feather stick so that I can make a fire in this.
00:27 This is a Dakota fire hole in the sand.
00:29 Pretty much a rocket stove in the ground.
00:31 Making a fire this way makes it burn very hot and efficiently, which is great for cooking
00:36 food or boiling water.
00:37 It keeps your fire protected from the wind.
00:39 The wind will actually help your fire instead of blowing the flames everywhere.
00:42 It's also known as a stealth fire, which produces very little smoke as well.
00:46 As the fire burns it draws in fresh air through the air intake tunnel.
00:50 And it's not necessary, but it does help putting the air intake hole upwind of the fire hole.