This is a badge bit (
BB) that is part of the
PEP curriculum. Completing this BB is part of getting the sand badge in
Metal Working.
Kindling crackers, whackers, splitters, bifurcators, etc are very cool devices that can turn pieces of
firewood into kindling. If you have a
rocket mass heater you mainly need kindling sized pieces. So let's make one!
The official design we are taking our inspiration from is here:
www.kindlingcracker.com
David Huang made this one and documented it in his blog post
Here:
Here is one on YouTube made from
rebar:
And here's one with more
wood than metal:
To complete this BB, the minimum requirements is to make a kindling creator:
- cage accepts wood at least 8 inches in diameter (9 or more inches preferred)
- bolted to a chopping block
- lots of knots in the block if it's a soft wood (possibly a taller than average chopping block)
- the creation does not have to be centered on the chopping block
- stamp “made by XXXX” somewhere on it where XXXX is your name
To document your completion of the BB, provide the following:
- two pictures of your creation at two points of construction
- A picture of the finished product with a tape measure showing the the size of the wood that can enter
- a picture of the stamped name
Clarifications
- This is the metalworking badge so the part above the stump
should be entirely made of metal