Making a Sami nuorssjo, the best long log fire

The Sami nuorssjo was one of the fires used when the Sami people were following and looking after their reindeer. They traveled light and stopped where the reindeer stopped and slept there and the next morning they moved on. It's not a fire you do every day it was used when you were on the move.

It's probably the best fire to sleep beside if you don´t have a sleeping bag as it will keep you warm even in the middle of the winter. Make the fire close to were you cut down your logs because you don´t want to move the heavy logs to much. In the video I moved the logs about 10 meters.

It´s made from a dead, standing pine tree without any bark on. The trunk turns greyish in colour over time and are always dry inside. If you intend to sleep beside it the logs should be at least 25 cm thick for it to last all night.

The distances between the logs regulates how intense the fire is burning. A wider gap between the logs means a less intense fire. The distances should be made from green pine as it burns very poorly. You need to change them now and then and when you do don´t place them were the previous ones have been.

This is a slow burning fire were the ideal flames should´t be more than 5 cm. But in reality the fire will burn more or less during a night. If you want to slow down the combustion even more for a while you can adjust it so there are no flames, only glowing logs.

You can light it with birch bark strips and the wood chip you chopped off when you made the two flat surfaces, but the easiest way is to use fatwood. You can also have a smaller fire beside and use it to light your nuorssjo with.

There were no wind and weather was great so I diden´t put any energy in to making a shelter. This night the temperature was down to 0 degrees Celsius but I have used it in 11 degrees below zero with no problem.

This fire took me about 3 hours to make. It’s no that long considering what you gain during the night. Gathering fuel for a regular fire, that will last through the night, will take some time and effort and you'll have too maintain that fire much more during the night.

Hope you enjoy