As always a story! During the bird nesting season we cannot cut hazel switches to use as cooking skewers so an alternative is required. Bamboo skewers are plentiful and cheap but are very short, 12" (300mm) being the longest of the standard sizes.

For teaching fire lighting and marshmallow cooking we use a fire basket which is quite small, the 12" skewers would have the children crammed together and their hands too close to the fire.

Step 1: Make Them Long!

The answer is simple and elegant, as well as the 12" bamboo skewers you will need to obtain some thin 2ft (600mm) long bamboo canes. If they have nodes...lumpy bits, near the end carefully cut it off with a fine saw, you will see a hole in the cut end filled with soft pith.

All you need to do is push the skewer into the hole and "voila", a stick that is around two and a half feet(750mm) long to keep the user well back from the flames.

Step 2: Reuse the Handle

Also useful for reheating sausages and other foods, once used, pull out the skewer and burn it in the fire, your bamboo handle gets put away for reuse next time.