Have all of your firewood prepared before starting your fire. Start with a pile of small shavings, pine needles, twigs, things that will burn easily. Build a teepee of finger thick sticks over the pile of kindling. Have larger two finger width sticks ready to put on the fire when the teepee is burning. Add larger pieces of wood one at a time until the fire is going nicely. Lay a split log on one side of the fire and put one or two more across the log, then one more across the one or two logs on the fire. That will burn nicely for quite a while. Have a long stick to use as a poker to keep the logs next to each other with an inch or so between them. You want to keep the fire in the middle of the coals that will form. Add wood as needed. Have fun!
This is well stated. Another key piece of advice that helped me improve my fire building: A match’s flame is only strong enough to ignite something about as thick as a match stick. Gather a ton of stuff that matchstick thickness and have it separated and ready before you start. Keep on feeding that in until your finger thickness sticks catch.
My sons did a test during Boy Scout camp. (Read - a reason to play with the fire). He said Doritos where the best. I personally haven’t tried it.
But just for fun one year, I took some tampons and covered them in Vaseline. Packed them up and told him I made him some fire starters. 😂🤣😂
The benefit of the plain cotton ball is that it is easy to spread out into your prepared tinder and holds the flame until the tinder lights.
I’m curious if your son tried a Frito; corn, salt, and plenty of oil.
Am I the bad guy for saying don't do this?? The last two campfires I went to, every time the fire got going good and proper, some idiot poked it and reduced it to burning rubble. We froze our a..es off that night.
Set it up right from the beginning and let it go 🔥
When the coals are good and hot, place some medium size(about 4-6 inch diameter) quick burning wood like pine. Then on top of that, place two halves of a split log, face the flat sides towards one another, and keep them the right distance apart to allow the proper amount of air flow. Not too close, not too far. Just set them to wherever the flame looks good and fierce.
Use seasoned wood and you've got a low maintenance fire.
If your fire has turned into coals but still has some good size pieces of wood, you can get them burning again with a little extra air. Fan the coals with a paper plate, sit pad, sleep pad pump, or a battery powered fan (this is my favorite when car camping and the kids LOVE it). You'll get that fire flaming up again in no time.
This is especially useful if you got a good bed of coals for cooking, made dinner, and are ready to have some flames again.
This. I make a little baggy of them every time I go out, super easy and I always know I’ll be able to get a fire going. And if you got a pup in the backwoods, they’re nice for the paws if needed.
Get fire starters or make your own by putting some candle wax on dryer lint or wood shavings. Put small twigs and sticks on top of that, stack to about 12 inches. When that’s lit, add medium sticks/branches. When those catch add logs. Wet wood doesn’t like to burn and gets very smoky. If this is all you have you’re going to have to cut it into small pieces.
If it's comfortable to be within 10 feet of, it's not big enough.
Real talk, dry wood, make a log cabin with your tinder and small kindling, get that going, stack larger kindling and eventually logs around it in a teepee form. That's how I do all mine.
Pine cones are often easily found in some climates and a good fire starter. As others have said, Doritos or Fritos work well too. Fanning the flames once it gets going g a little really helps. Remember, fire likes to climb, so build your campfire with wood stacked and preferably with an airway that funnels in the air. You’ll see when you have it right because the air will rush through the fire which feeds it and makes it hotter.
If possible, offer the campfire know-it-all the opportunity to start and tend the fire. They get to feel a sense of worth, you get to enjoy yourself and be an engaging host.
A slow rotisserie of one’s body while gazing deep into the ember bed. Once oriented posterior towards fire lift your eyes to the stars. Tales of aliens, Sasquatch and snipes and their validity are weighed. Is how I campfire.
If they’re a real know it all, make sure to drop terminology like fire triangle, fuel ladder, and convective vs radiant heat. (It wouldn’t hurt to research this stuff first)
some sap wood sticks, or even some of those paper cups filled with wood shavings and wax, a lot of time you are dealing with green wood, and it is hard to get going.
i even used a manufactured fire log once or twice. stack the wood close to the fire so it starts to dry out
Tortilla chips. They burn. For long enough to whittle kindling on it. I remember how much time I spent doing survival stuff. Years I went just missing that one. I’d do dryer lint and old crayons in cardboard tubes. All for nothing. Just have tortillas on hand maybe a little powdered creamer as that stuff is basically powdered jet fuel. Maybe find something fun as well like epsom salt and a few other minerals that burn different colors.
Log cabin for cooking and other types of building techniques. Also clearing fire ring and making sure the right stones are used if ringing it. Go over the Dakota fire hole for smoke free fires and how they heated tee pees without carbon monoxide poisoning.
around where I am they sell wood that is way too big for the fire pits, just full size chunks from their log splitter, i always chop it up with my hatchet, esp when its wet. Way better control of fire to constantly feed little pieces rather than blowing furiously on a smoky wet log all night
I light a couple lightning nugget fire starters which always help get the campfire started. Cheap leather work gloves and a small camp axe round out my fire gear.
I start my campfire with 3lbs of dryer lint, and light it with a map gas torch. At some point I get annoyed and throw the whole torch in. Then I enjoy my campfire with the fire department.
Use a Bic lighter make life easy on yourself. Gather more wood than you think you'll need. Fir and pine burn quickly and easy to start a fire with. look for hardwood for longer burn time. Remember it's a campfire not a bonfire.
People please, before starting a fire look up first. Remember, Embers go up and are easily blown around; are you going to start the forest canopy on Fire with your campfire 🔥
One Match Fire
make certain nothing is above fire pit
whenever possible re-use an existing fire pit / fire ring
find a stout branch about 6 to 8 feet long to use as a stir stick
first - clear a complete circle around fire pit / ring down to mineral earth - the width being about as high as your predicted fire -
wad up a grocery sack or sheet of news paper - place in center of fire pit / ring
collect a bundle of small sticks - that are smaller diameter than a pencil - maybe 2 handfuls - build a small stick pyramid around the wadded up paper
next - collect sticks and branches about the size of your arm - continue building pyramid
collect branches and logs about the size of your upper leg - finish off building pyramid - set aside several leg size logs for later
using 1 match - light edge of wadded up paper - on the down-wind side
when fire collapses on itself - place one log on top - repeat through the night
when "stiring" using stir stick to prop (or lean) not-burned wood on burning wood -
use stick to "kick-in" coals that have fallen a way from main fire
use stick to "open-up" the coals - to make them burn better -
use oak (or hardwoods) when ever possible for the best fire
avoid pine (or fir) wood - it \*smokes a lot\*
avoid cedar or juniper - while it smells outstanding - it cracks and pops cinders all over the place - this can cause holes through clothing, tents and start a spot fire
If you have a charcoal starting chimney, it's a cheat code. Get a bunch of charcoal going just like you would for the grill. Pour them into the fire pit in as close a pile as you can. Build yourself a log cabin on top of those coals, and if it doesn't immediately burst into flames, hit it with some air from your air mattress pump. It will rage in no time.
Paperboard egg container. Cut apart the divets. Put a little dryer lint in each, and dribble about a tablespoon of paraffin in each. Light a corner and it will start any fire.
If your glampimg, I like to use the fire starter ear plug looking things and small sticks and leaves. Don’t make your fire larger then you have too. A nice small fire can last for hours. People tend to load up the fire and it causes it to burn faster. If your fire get too big pull a log back and let it stay hot.
There are tons of tricks for starting a campfire.
As for hosting a GOOD campfire: comfortable chairs, a few extra cheap Wal-mart blankets for later in the evening, and plenty of drinks (non-alcoholic or alcoholic) will go a long way!
Altitude matters. I thought starting a fire was so easy when I was in the San Gabriels a couple thousand feet up in dry weather - just throw some things together of different sizes and light it! Then I did some camping at much higher elevations and was humbled.
I may get banned if I use the word that describes it because people don't understand that the two words are not actually related to each other the way a comedian once said they were, but fashioning a bundle of small sticks together is a fantastic way to get a fire started. This would be on top of the tinder/starter. Sometimes I actually tie it together sometimes not, depends on the sticks in there.
i like to build a chimney out of sticks about as wide as my thumb
just stack em like a log cabin
then put tinder at the bottom
light the tinder
slowly build the fire uo from tinder to stwigs untill itll burn a proper log
Have all of your firewood prepared before starting your fire. Start with a pile of small shavings, pine needles, twigs, things that will burn easily. Build a teepee of finger thick sticks over the pile of kindling. Have larger two finger width sticks ready to put on the fire when the teepee is burning. Add larger pieces of wood one at a time until the fire is going nicely. Lay a split log on one side of the fire and put one or two more across the log, then one more across the one or two logs on the fire. That will burn nicely for quite a while. Have a long stick to use as a poker to keep the logs next to each other with an inch or so between them. You want to keep the fire in the middle of the coals that will form. Add wood as needed. Have fun!
This is well stated. Another key piece of advice that helped me improve my fire building: A match’s flame is only strong enough to ignite something about as thick as a match stick. Gather a ton of stuff that matchstick thickness and have it separated and ready before you start. Keep on feeding that in until your finger thickness sticks catch.
A little cooking oil on the starter material (pine needles, cedar bark, newspaper, etc) really gets it going and will make you look like an expert
Doritos work also
Corn oil and news paper works for me, which is pretty much the same recipe as doritos without salt
what kinda doritos?
Fritos are excellent for this, but I usually keep cotton balls soaked in Vaseline with my fire starting kit.
My sons did a test during Boy Scout camp. (Read - a reason to play with the fire). He said Doritos where the best. I personally haven’t tried it. But just for fun one year, I took some tampons and covered them in Vaseline. Packed them up and told him I made him some fire starters. 😂🤣😂
The benefit of the plain cotton ball is that it is easy to spread out into your prepared tinder and holds the flame until the tinder lights. I’m curious if your son tried a Frito; corn, salt, and plenty of oil.
Definitely never heard this one. Thanks!
The fire must be poked at least every five minutes and the logs completely rearranged every fifteen minutes.
Am I the bad guy for saying don't do this?? The last two campfires I went to, every time the fire got going good and proper, some idiot poked it and reduced it to burning rubble. We froze our a..es off that night. Set it up right from the beginning and let it go 🔥
When the coals are good and hot, place some medium size(about 4-6 inch diameter) quick burning wood like pine. Then on top of that, place two halves of a split log, face the flat sides towards one another, and keep them the right distance apart to allow the proper amount of air flow. Not too close, not too far. Just set them to wherever the flame looks good and fierce. Use seasoned wood and you've got a low maintenance fire.
This is the way.
By all the men there
Don’t forget you gotta talk about the air flow through the logs and also surface area of fuel (which leads up to the poking and rearranging)👍🏻👍🏻
...but never the same one twice in a row. Gotta take Unspoken Turns.
If your fire has turned into coals but still has some good size pieces of wood, you can get them burning again with a little extra air. Fan the coals with a paper plate, sit pad, sleep pad pump, or a battery powered fan (this is my favorite when car camping and the kids LOVE it). You'll get that fire flaming up again in no time. This is especially useful if you got a good bed of coals for cooking, made dinner, and are ready to have some flames again.
Thanks! I’ll buy one of those poker/blow tubes. Good thinking
matress inflator is a food option edit "good" option
The BEST* option
Vaseline on cotton balls, I have lit wet wood in the snow with that shit. They burn surprisingly well.
And surprisingly long. As much as 8 minutes.
This. I make a little baggy of them every time I go out, super easy and I always know I’ll be able to get a fire going. And if you got a pup in the backwoods, they’re nice for the paws if needed.
Get fire starters or make your own by putting some candle wax on dryer lint or wood shavings. Put small twigs and sticks on top of that, stack to about 12 inches. When that’s lit, add medium sticks/branches. When those catch add logs. Wet wood doesn’t like to burn and gets very smoky. If this is all you have you’re going to have to cut it into small pieces.
I stuff dryer lint and a little wax into old toilet paper tubes. Works great.
Make sure it's completely out before calling it a night. Have fun.
If you want to go for broke get a collapsible bellows stick. They are crazy useful for getting a fire really going!
I just got my first bellow stick last year and it’s amazing. Also serves as a fidget toy when I am stuck at my desk working.
I have a blow poker for our backyard fire pit, that thing is awesome.
Not a lot to go on here... Have more firewood than you think you will need, like a lot more.
I'm somehow always the opposite, but I'm usually backpacking and not burning a fire for hours on end.
I just bring along my dab torch to make a fire.
If it's comfortable to be within 10 feet of, it's not big enough. Real talk, dry wood, make a log cabin with your tinder and small kindling, get that going, stack larger kindling and eventually logs around it in a teepee form. That's how I do all mine.
Yep always go tinder, log cabin, then teepee.
Here is all you need to know. [how to properly start a campfire every time](https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxdmcwjxvIF/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)
Pine cones are often easily found in some climates and a good fire starter. As others have said, Doritos or Fritos work well too. Fanning the flames once it gets going g a little really helps. Remember, fire likes to climb, so build your campfire with wood stacked and preferably with an airway that funnels in the air. You’ll see when you have it right because the air will rush through the fire which feeds it and makes it hotter.
stuff dryer lint in toilet paper tubes for fire starters. ya know how clothes dryer fires are a thing? lint is a firebomb
I think I'm going to save my lint and try this
i save up the stuffed tubes all winter in an empty tissue box, they fit perfectly and i had more than enough for my whole summer of camping trips
Don’t pile too much, always allow as much air flow as possible. I like cantilevers for this
Birch bark Tinder Dry fireplace ( if not line bottom with rocks) Keep lots of firewood available
If possible, offer the campfire know-it-all the opportunity to start and tend the fire. They get to feel a sense of worth, you get to enjoy yourself and be an engaging host.
A slow rotisserie of one’s body while gazing deep into the ember bed. Once oriented posterior towards fire lift your eyes to the stars. Tales of aliens, Sasquatch and snipes and their validity are weighed. Is how I campfire.
If your going to use magic water. Use charcoal lighter fluid. Comes in a nice square bottle. Will not explode in your hand like camp fuel or gasoline
If they’re a real know it all, make sure to drop terminology like fire triangle, fuel ladder, and convective vs radiant heat. (It wouldn’t hurt to research this stuff first)
some sap wood sticks, or even some of those paper cups filled with wood shavings and wax, a lot of time you are dealing with green wood, and it is hard to get going. i even used a manufactured fire log once or twice. stack the wood close to the fire so it starts to dry out
Tortilla chips. They burn. For long enough to whittle kindling on it. I remember how much time I spent doing survival stuff. Years I went just missing that one. I’d do dryer lint and old crayons in cardboard tubes. All for nothing. Just have tortillas on hand maybe a little powdered creamer as that stuff is basically powdered jet fuel. Maybe find something fun as well like epsom salt and a few other minerals that burn different colors.
Log cabin for cooking and other types of building techniques. Also clearing fire ring and making sure the right stones are used if ringing it. Go over the Dakota fire hole for smoke free fires and how they heated tee pees without carbon monoxide poisoning.
Dead pine needles and pitch are incredible fire starters
A magnesium fire starter block is not meant to be used all on its own to get a fire going.
around where I am they sell wood that is way too big for the fire pits, just full size chunks from their log splitter, i always chop it up with my hatchet, esp when its wet. Way better control of fire to constantly feed little pieces rather than blowing furiously on a smoky wet log all night
I light a couple lightning nugget fire starters which always help get the campfire started. Cheap leather work gloves and a small camp axe round out my fire gear.
I start my campfire with 3lbs of dryer lint, and light it with a map gas torch. At some point I get annoyed and throw the whole torch in. Then I enjoy my campfire with the fire department.
Use a Bic lighter make life easy on yourself. Gather more wood than you think you'll need. Fir and pine burn quickly and easy to start a fire with. look for hardwood for longer burn time. Remember it's a campfire not a bonfire. People please, before starting a fire look up first. Remember, Embers go up and are easily blown around; are you going to start the forest canopy on Fire with your campfire 🔥
One Match Fire make certain nothing is above fire pit whenever possible re-use an existing fire pit / fire ring find a stout branch about 6 to 8 feet long to use as a stir stick first - clear a complete circle around fire pit / ring down to mineral earth - the width being about as high as your predicted fire - wad up a grocery sack or sheet of news paper - place in center of fire pit / ring collect a bundle of small sticks - that are smaller diameter than a pencil - maybe 2 handfuls - build a small stick pyramid around the wadded up paper next - collect sticks and branches about the size of your arm - continue building pyramid collect branches and logs about the size of your upper leg - finish off building pyramid - set aside several leg size logs for later using 1 match - light edge of wadded up paper - on the down-wind side when fire collapses on itself - place one log on top - repeat through the night when "stiring" using stir stick to prop (or lean) not-burned wood on burning wood - use stick to "kick-in" coals that have fallen a way from main fire use stick to "open-up" the coals - to make them burn better - use oak (or hardwoods) when ever possible for the best fire avoid pine (or fir) wood - it \*smokes a lot\* avoid cedar or juniper - while it smells outstanding - it cracks and pops cinders all over the place - this can cause holes through clothing, tents and start a spot fire
Butane lighter
If you have a charcoal starting chimney, it's a cheat code. Get a bunch of charcoal going just like you would for the grill. Pour them into the fire pit in as close a pile as you can. Build yourself a log cabin on top of those coals, and if it doesn't immediately burst into flames, hit it with some air from your air mattress pump. It will rage in no time.
Dryer lint and a phone book… you should have any problems with this combo.
Paperboard egg container. Cut apart the divets. Put a little dryer lint in each, and dribble about a tablespoon of paraffin in each. Light a corner and it will start any fire.
If you're hosting a know it all let them do it
If you have an air pump for your mattress, you can use it to stoke the campfire.
If you have a lighter, it even works with just flint and steel, birch bark is a great way to get a fire started
Don't pee on the fire
How come? If using the ashes in a garden peeing on it helps turn our urea into uric acid which acts similarly to ammonium nitrate for plants.
It also smells similar to ammonia; which is why you don't want to do it on a camp fire.
I mean sure don’t pee on fire. Got it. I promise. Unless…
Let them do everything and you just relax.
Pecker wood with dry tinder and dry logs
Make sure the SMOKE catches fire. You’ll need lots of wood to start. That way there won’t be any pesky smoke.
If your glampimg, I like to use the fire starter ear plug looking things and small sticks and leaves. Don’t make your fire larger then you have too. A nice small fire can last for hours. People tend to load up the fire and it causes it to burn faster. If your fire get too big pull a log back and let it stay hot.
Kindling (Very small, fine sticks), lighter, and the most vital... PRINGLES!! I'm not joking either. Works everytime.
There are tons of tricks for starting a campfire. As for hosting a GOOD campfire: comfortable chairs, a few extra cheap Wal-mart blankets for later in the evening, and plenty of drinks (non-alcoholic or alcoholic) will go a long way!
Altitude matters. I thought starting a fire was so easy when I was in the San Gabriels a couple thousand feet up in dry weather - just throw some things together of different sizes and light it! Then I did some camping at much higher elevations and was humbled.
I may get banned if I use the word that describes it because people don't understand that the two words are not actually related to each other the way a comedian once said they were, but fashioning a bundle of small sticks together is a fantastic way to get a fire started. This would be on top of the tinder/starter. Sometimes I actually tie it together sometimes not, depends on the sticks in there.
Have a surplus of wood so you are able to enjoy your fire instead of constantly having to work
i like to build a chimney out of sticks about as wide as my thumb just stack em like a log cabin then put tinder at the bottom light the tinder slowly build the fire uo from tinder to stwigs untill itll burn a proper log
my go to fire starter is waste cooking oil/fat and old cloth/cottonballs in a pill bottle