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Fireaxman

Fireaxman

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Mar 28, 2005
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SE Louisiana
Did a little search and could not find any really recent Bonfire threads, so I thought I would kick one off. Whats yer biggest Bonfire? SE Louisiana swamps we have plenty of wood, also plenty of mosquitoes, not much cold weather, plenty rain, so January February are our best chance to enjoy a nice fire outside with beer, whiskey, music, and Great Fellowship. Did this one a couple of weeks ago with pine I picked up from a homeowner worried about hurricane risk. Split last year and Bonfire01_08_17.jpg Dried over our hot summer, it burned Real Bright! Great Fun!
 
Fireaxman said:
Did a little search and could not find any really recent Bonfire threads, so I thought I would kick one off. Whats yer biggest Bonfire? SE Louisiana swamps we have plenty of wood, also plenty of mosquitoes, not much cold weather, plenty rain, so January February are our best chance to enjoy a nice fire outside with beer, whiskey, music, and Great Fellowship. Did this one a couple of weeks ago with pine I picked up from a homeowner worried about hurricane risk. Split last year and View attachment 552053 Dried over our hot summer, it burned Real Bright! Great Fun!
Click to expand...
Looks good!
 
I would like to attach a short video to this thread, but it is a .wmv file type that is not recognized by Arboristsite. Any suggestions on how to convert it to something that will upload to this thread?
 
Sorry - no bonfire pics, but some great memories.

My grandpa was called "Toady" all his life, thanks to a comment his sister made about him when he was born. He was the mechanic of Carrington, ND, and everybody knew him and loved him. He had 10 kids and drove around in a 8-door limo.
Every 4th of July would be a family reunion at his home. Some of my favorite memories are of the city of tents in the back yard with all the cousins, and a few of the older uncles/aunts staying in a nearby hotel - the Chieftan. Grandpa would have a big bag of firecrackers he would hand out to his 3,000 grandkids by the handful, and when we shot them off we'd come back for more, and he'd grab another big handful. He really enjoyed that. When we got a bit older, we enjoyed the bottle rockets much more, and shooting them at each other was most fun of all. I'll remember with great joy to my dying day the time I managed to hit my older brother in the crotch! It bounced off and exploded, but it was so funny even he had to laugh before he beat me up!
There was an awesome tree with the perfect rope swing in it. A large silver maple tree (I think) which the hens had pecked at when it was just a tiny thing split it into 10 branches, most of which came away from the stump at about 40 degrees in all directions. We'd walk up one of these with the end of the rope until we reached the launching point, haul the rope in up to the knot, and jump on, wrapping our legs around the rope just above the knot.

On the 4th grandpa would have a bonfire. He collected wood and debris (crates, pallets, etc) for months into a huge pile, about the size of the OP's pile, and douse it with gasoline, and leave a little trail of gas away from the pile about 30 feet. Someone would light it up and the old folks would stand around talking while us younger kids played or threw small sticks into the fire. We'd stay up late playing cards and having a load of fun in that ancient house (no video games or any digital entertainment)

Lots of great memories of those years. One of my uncles owned the house for many years, but finally sold it a few years ago. Many of those tree branches (including the one with the swing) have been removed.
 
I've been clear cutting and old Willow bush for a farmer. Build piles all summer, burn in winter. Biggest so far was built on top of a blow down willow, around 30" at the butt, some 30' long. Piled as high as I could throw brush the full length. To busy lighting off all the other piles (some 30) to enjoy the big one. Went back in a few days and there was nothing left but few burned chunks.

Pictures? I have taken pictures of some of my big ones over the past 30 years and none come out very spectacular.
 
I'll have to get a pic of Doc's burn pile. She's our Vet and an old farmer. I've been dumping trailer loads of brush on it for 5 or 6 years now, and it was the size of a small house when I started. My brother in law pushes it up as high as the front end loader will get it. I've got a couple Black Walnut logs to pull out before she touches it off. i think her plan is to just let it keep growing and let the next owner worry about it, Joe.
 
I try to do 2 or 3 of these a year if I get the right weather. Takes Rain before a Cold Front, to have the woods wet enough not to start a Forest Fire and have the weather cool enough to be able to enjoy such a, shall I say, "Warm" fire. I am, of course, already building the next one, but since no near freezing conditions are expected any time soon in SE Louisiana I am worried that the mild winters of the last couple of years will limit me on one of my favorite activities.
 
Streblerm, your post reminded me of this one from 2015. It was a little dry that year, and we wound up having to do a little "control work" before the fire reached the woods. We do have to keep fire control resources available when enjoying one of this magnitude.
Dylan Dancing in the Fire Circle.jpg
 

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