The Hatchet: How to Build a Fire

Video Transcript

" Hi! My name is Dan and I’m here for Expert Village. I’m going to talk about splitting your firewood in the use of a hatchet. As with all tools, there’s an old saying that goes a sharp tool is a safe tool. It’s important to keep your hatchet sharp and in good working order. Once you’ve gathered your firewood, you may want to cut it to make it into more manageable size pieces for your fire. One good way to split your wood is called contact splitting. It’s best to have a small hatchet, which you can easily wield with one hand. Place the blade at the end of your wood and then you want to….using both hands, hold the piece of wood and the hatchet firmly. You don’t want to split on top of a rock, because when you’re wood splits your hatchet may go through and ground out on the rock; therefore, wrecking the blade. I’m just going to do a quick demonstration for you. There you have it; one piece of wood split and ready for the fire. Those are just some of the basics of splitting your wood and using a hatchet. "