# Fire Hardening, Very Surprised



## GaryGlock (Nov 7, 2012)

I've always heard of people doing fire hardening on spikes used for animal traps, booby traps, or a defensive position. I decided to try it out today with a few diffrent types of wood. I was SHOCKED at how hard some of them actually got. Especially the banyon tree which is very soft and watery, but also very sappy which is what I think hardened it so much. 
Just wanted to put the idea out there if your making anything with wood and want a little extra strength somewhere. The idea is to bake the wood basically and not to let it catch fire. 
Any input or comments would be great, thanks.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

I haven't tried that before, but, all the times I ever used a piece of wood to turn a camp-fire, the poker-stick always restarted on fire anytime I got close enough to the fire ... I never checked afterwards if the tip of the wood was actually harder than the handle end.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

This is interesting. I have never tried it but now I want to know if someone else has.


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## oldvet (Jun 29, 2010)

Sentry18 said:


> This is interesting. I have never tried it but now I want to know if someone else has.


Now my interest is peaked also. I have seen it done on some of the survival shows, but I have never done it and I don't know the proper procedure to keep it from catching fire or just flat burning up. If I can find something I will let you folks know where I found it.


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## GaryGlock (Nov 7, 2012)

When I did it I had 3/4 in steaks cut I into spikes. I had veitnamese traps in mind..I put them over a small fire out of the flame for about 5 minutes. I did also use a chiminai so. I'm sure the thicker the piece the slower you'll want to take it.


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## cnsper (Sep 20, 2012)

Think about it... When you dehydrate something it gets harder. Take a green log and chop it with an ax then try the same thing with seasoned wood. There is a big difference.

We also use fire to treat our fence posts. We would char everything up to 6 inches above the ground. they did last longer.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

One used to be able to buy fire hardened handles for axes, picks, shovels and etc.. I haven't seen that for a lot of years.


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