Nearly Smokeless Fires, Experimental Archaeology 102©

 

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This week we are going to evaluate Josiah Hunt’s ‘secret camp-fire’, which was a way of creating a ‘nearly smokeless fire’, by creating a ‘coal pit’ of white oak bark.  However, Ted Franklin Belue, writing in “Terror in the Canelands”, reported that Benjamin Kelly, who escaped from the Shawnee towns of the Ohio territory in 1782, used hickory bark to also create a ‘nearly smokeless fire’, so we are going to test shagbark hickory bark as well.  Both will be compared to a mix of barks which include, silver maple, cottonwood, and spruce, among others.

 

Three test holes were dug, for ‘coal pits’ each about as wide as your hand is long and a bit deeper than half a hand and it will be about “...size and depth of a hat crown”.

 

To measure the smoke being put out, I viewed the smoke while the fire was being ‘sufficiently ignited’ to produce coals in the ‘coal pits’.  I did not measure the smoke after the ‘coal pits’ were covered with dirt, except for the two air holes.  I reasoned that the amount of smoke from all the fires would be less when they were banked and the oxygen supply was choked off; forcing the wood to smolder slowly rather than burn away completely. 

 

As you can see, it was a bit of a horse race, and while all the bark fires produced smoke, the clear winner of the most ‘nearly smokeless fire’ was White Oak bark, followed closely by Shagbark Hickory and at a distant third was Mixed bark!  This result was confirmed by an impartial judge, who viewed the smoke to confirm my findings.

 

So, Josiah Hunt for the win of the most ‘nearly smokeless fire’.  If you ever need to build a ‘secret camp-fire’, use White Oak bark for the least smoke, or if that can’t be found, then use Shagbark Hickory.

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read more in our Summer of 1776 series.

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

Sources

 

Belue, Ted Franklin; Terror in the Canelands: the Fate of Daniel Bonnes’s Salt Boilers, The Filson Club History Quarterly, Vol. 68, No. I., January 1994,  page 29, https://filsonhistorical.org/wp-content/uploads/publicationpdfs/68-1-2_Terror-in-the-Canelands-The-Fate-of-Daniel-Boones-Salt-Boilers_Belue-Ted-Franklin.pdf, accessed July 25, 2026

 

 

Bigelow, David; History of Prominent Mercantile and Manufacturing Firms in the United States, Vol VI, [David Bigelow, Boston, 1857], page 265-270, https://www.google.com/books/edition/History_of_Prominent_Mercantile_and_Manu/y1w-AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22History+of+Prominent+Mercantile+and+Manufacturing+Firms+in+the+United+States%22+1857+%22josiah+Hunt%22&pg=PA266&printsec=frontcover, accessed May 7, 2026

 

Howe, Henry; Historical Collections of Ohio, [Derby, Bradley & Company, Cincinnati, 1847], page 199 to 200, https://books.google.com/books?id=ri8WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA199&lpg=PA199&dq=%22josiah+hunt%22+roth&source=bl&ots=M7iiOgL5Xj&sig=WXic_CR-GpPKHcgxxeXT3oCTcz4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=noyDU8XEDuilsQTX7ICQCw&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=%22josiah%20hunt%22%20roth&f=false, accessed May 7, 2026

S.J.R.; “Fuel Value of Wood”, Hardwood Record, October 10, 1912 [Chicago], page 32 to 33, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Hardwood_Record/7QQ3AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=does+dry+oak+bark+burn+without+smoke&pg=RA12-PA33&printsec=frontcover, accessed May 16, 2026

 

Rapacz, Andrea; Connecticut Historical Society Museum and Library, Personal conversation regarding The Phineas Meigs’ Hat, May 01, 2016, 10:51 am

 

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; “N. W. Territory Map, 1801”, by William Barker, [© 2026], https://digital.library.illinois.edu/items/9d2ba5e0-994e-0134-2096-0050569601ca-2, accessed May 9, 2026

 

Webster, Noah; A Dictionary of the English Language: Compiled for the Use of Common Schools, [George Goodwin & Sons, Hartford, 1817], page 275, https://books.google.com/books?id=fJ8RAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA275&dq=ross+bark+dictionary&hl=en&sa=X&ei=T5kXUu-ZAcTd4QTxtYCQCw&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=ross%20bark%20dictionary&f=false, accessed May 9, 2026