Newsgroups: rec.scouting Subject: How to build a Sauna Date: Thu, 15 Dec 94 17:09:00 +0200 In article , STOVER ENG writes in rec.scouting: SE> I had the opportunity to enjoy a Finnish Sauna at the last World Jamboree > in S. Korea. It was a tent with a small sauna box (wood stove) and stove I have built and used more tent saunas (well, we call it badstu, and one non-english word is as good as the other, so I use our language's word for it). It doesn't have a stove, but a stone oven without a chimney. I'd set up a tent on a framework, that can easily be lifted up by 4-6 people and moved away some meters. The ground should be cleared of grass and roots in a square of approx. 1m x 1m; the ground should preferrably be sand, gravel or clay in that fireplace area. Collect a lot of stones, and build an oven (the fire may and should be able to leak between the stones, but there should be a cave in the middle). Get lots of wood fuel, make a fire in the cave, and heat it for several hours. When you think it's ready, you may be wrong, but let's assume you are ready. Then you carry the rest of the fire out with a shovel (so the cave opening must be wide enough for the shovel); sweep it with a brush e.g. of birch twigs, carry the tent to stand with the stone heap in the middle, and there you are: the badstu is ready for use. You'll have a bucket of water available and a scoop so you can sprinkle small amounts of water on the stones. Somebody must stand guard by the tent opening so that whoever wants to, can be helped to find her/his way out. If the scouts are allowed to cut birch twigs, they might like to use one for whipping themselves lightly with it. It makes a fine scent in the badstu, and in their skin. If it isn't fresh, it can be softened bu standing with the leaves in the water. You'll want to have a shower of some kind outside - or a bathing place. Make sure the tent isn't of a cloth that will burn of a spark or melt by the heat if it comes near the stones, fireproofed cotton is fine. It should not be so heavy that it's dark inside. I suppose that most of the usable heat is gone after some hour or so - it depends on how much stones you've carried together and how hot you let them get. I've used such a badstu during my advanced leader training (Gilwell course) and later during a couple of summer camps (jamborees). speiderhilsen / good scouting Jan Kirkeoy sea scouts, Norway * 1st 2.00b #1407 * Scouting is a way of life