This is a gimmick in the survival industry!

About that heat reflectors, you were mixing up two different heat transfer mechanisms there, Dan. Namely convection, which is through movement of warm air, which does indeed get blown away by the wind, and radiation. Radiation you can reflect, not very well with a stone or wood, but partially. A mylar blanket is great for this, see Far North Bushcraft and Survivals videos for this.

There is no one best way to do anything. My number one rule for anything outdoors is assessment.

All the times I’ve been camping, I’ve never come across a perfectly cut square rock slab like that!

A space blanket or even a black plastic garbage bag will reflect infrared. If you put a layer of that over the heat reflector, it will work pretty well. I used to use a space blanket on a stick frame about 2.5 ft high as a reflector when I camped. I found that putting it at least 4 ft from the fire would keep it from melting. I would set it up to reflect into my lean-to with the prevailing wind hitting the back of the shelter. It is fairly easy to make it a shallow chevron shape so that it will kind of focus the heat where you want it. That worked really well; even in late winter. It made a good difference to how comfortable it was to sit or cook there when it rained or snowed.

Some years back, my boys and I were in some colder, wetter conditions than we expected in AZ high country and despite our best efforts, we just couldn't get a fire hot enough to burn well...and rather than retreating to our tents, we grabbed some flashlights and went looking for better wood. Led to an awesome discovery- someone had left behind some scrap plywood pieces that we set up as break/reflectors and it concentrated so much heat, we had a roaring hot fire in no time. So from then on, I carry a sheet of plywood cut up into roughly 2' x 2' sections and we employ that as a starter method in cold weather- never fails, and it gets things hot in a hurry. Makes the sitting by the fire so much more enjoyable!

My scouts will use a military casualty blanket(tarp grade space blanket w/ grommets) for fire reflectors. They build the frame and mount it shiny side to the fire. Works well and added to a Kochanski type super shelter..they stay toasty.

A panel creates a low pressure zone, which will cause the fire to "point" at the wall. Same phenomena responsible for smoke following you around a campfire. Can easily simulate this yourself by blowing on a lighter from behind a piece of paper--the flame counterintuitively moves toward the paper

My backyard fire ring is a semi circle made of bricks. The smoke hugs the wall and doesn't chase me. My clothes don't even smell like smoke.

Love your videos, but i gotta kind of disagree with you on windblocks, as an ex military survival instructor, we used to teach that if possible , while in mountainous terrain, find an area with large boulders too set up a camp fire, that blocks the wind, but the rocks also absorb heat and will radiate the heat back out even after the fire has gone out (as long as the fire has burned for a while), but finding a natural rockfall that is safe enough, or a small depression in the side of a cliff, just have too be careful that while the rocks are absorbing heat they are not going too fall from fracturing due too expansion from the heat, so only certain rocky terrain/boulders, but it works

I know you are in competition with Corporal's Corner, BUT I know you are not in competition with Corporal's Corner. I hope that makes sense. You both teach, but you both teach so diametrically different. You and CC are both great. Thank you. P.S., I certainly have time to learn from each of you!

Well if you want to set up a heat reflector you need a material that reflects infrared radiation. So you need something shiny or white. A light yellow or light gray color can work too. So if you find a painted plywood board in those colors for an example it can work as a heat reflector. Best option is if you have one of those silvery emergency blankets with you to set up around the fire. PS: You need to place your self between the fire and the heat reflector to gain maximal effect.

The simplest way of making a fire containment that I was taught was to just cut out a double row of tidy divots as a fire pit, maybe 2-4" deep, then use the upturned divots as the fire containement, and when done, just dump the water from any washing buckets/tubs and the fire bucket into the fire pit, flooding it until the water stops boiling, then flip the divots back in to cover the pit and walk around a bit on it to drown any smouldering roots. The end result should look more like a muddy bit of ground that's been visited by a few boars than the remains of a campfire. If a camp stove is used instead,I was taught that ashes and coals is to be dumped in the pissing pit (if it hadn't been used yet, the one who's emptying the stove damn well better need to take a piss too, or have a washing up tub to empty over it.

I’m always shaking my head at peoples fire rings.

Most of the heat that you get from a camp fire is in the form of radiant heat. The properties of objects determine how good they are at adsorbing or reflecting that radiant heat. Good reflectors like mirrors and shiny metal sheets are rare in the bush. Light colors reflect more heat energy dark colors adsorb more. I grew up in Phoenix AZ. I could walk barefoot on concrete in the summertime but not asphalt. There is a huge difference between them and it is all because of the color. If you use logs for a reflector wall split them and face the light color interior to the fire. Or better yet make it out of light color stone. Putting a reflecting wall behind you instead of on the other side of the fire is effective too. Another thing these reflecting walls do it create a draft that pulls the smoke upward instead of toward your eyes.

Also, bear in mind that CcB is eastern US, It doesn't get dry here but a few weeks a year. Small grass fires are rare and make the local news and will be talked around town for a couple of weeks. This past summer (2023) is the first time I've ever heard of a local government merely asking people to reduce water consumption. This was because we had less than 1/4" (6mm) of rain over the span of a month. I'm not saying we don't take any fire precautions here, just saying it isn't a tinderbox 99% of the time like it can be out west. We can get away with a lot more much more often.

Hit the nail on the head when you mentioned that your shelter blocks the wind, if you set it up right, and the fire is in front of that. I love an 'emergency' type blanket, arcterus/grabber, something like that as a shelter backdrop to radiate the heat it traps from the fire onto me.

My 2 pence is, living on the moors all the wood is wet and damp, we were camping in winter and the wood was frozen, it was -8C and we really needed dry wood to burn so the heat reflector acted as a wood dryer of sorts, we would take the logs out of the slots to burn while putting frozen wood back into it to dry it some, this worked and we had a comfortable night ever though it was a faff to do. Sometimes it is good to block the light of your fire if you don't want attention and gives you the feeling of being a little more enclosed.

#1 way to spot a tourist camp site here is the stone fire ring… cute… but not going to actually stop the fire. Safer to clear the entire area around the fire of leaves and debris that could catch.

I’ve never used them as a reflector or wind block. I only use them to guide the smoke up and out of my face.

Hello from romulus Michigan brother thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise and for taking us on your adventure through the woods and GOD-BLESS