Never Built A Campfire Before? Learn How

With spring and summer just around the corner, many people will venture out and go camping. Some for the first time. Knowing how to build a basic campfire is essential for many reasons. First and foremost is your own pride. Don't find yourself in an embarrassing situation where your fire won't burn. Imagine the ridicule from the all-knowing teenagers who always know how to do anything better than you or the disappointment from the children who are holding their roasting sticks laden with marshmallows, just waiting for the fire that you can't seem to get started.

Fire is the end all, be all of existence. Anyone that can build a fire completely from the elements of mother nature and get it to light with a single match can conquer the world. Everyone around will look upon you with new found respect and awe. Well, they might.

More than likely, they will say "It's about time, we're starving here."

Let's cover what this article is not about. It's not about squirting lighter fluid all over the wood to get it to burn. It's not about building your fire out of the prefabricated easy burn logs.

This article is about learning how to properly gather and arrange the wood to ensure that the fire will burn once flame is applied. It's not as easy as you might think. Especially in the morning when everything is moist with the morning dew.

The key to a roaring campfire is dry wood. Green wood is full of moisture and if you can get it to burn, it will smoke terribly. Dry, dead wood is virtually free of moisture and will ignite quickly.

Most campsites or campgrounds allow you to gather wood from the ground. Branches and sticks are easy to gather. Pine trees that have fallen and are now dead and dry are perfect for scavenging wood from. Break off branches and twigs, making sure that they snap easily. If you have to twist and turn the stick to get it to break off, then the wood is too green. Remember, if you have to fight to break the stick, you'll have to fight to get it to burn.

After you have gathered a large pile of wood, break it apart by stepping in the middle of the stick and pulling up the end until it snaps. Pile the wood in size categories. Fuel wood is anything larger in diameter than your wrist and kindling wood is smaller than your wrist. You'll also want to break off the really small twigs that are small like pencils and put in a different pile.

You are almost ready to assemble the fire. But first you'll need tinder. Tinder is extremely dry materials that will light with ease. Such as dry pine needles that are red in color, dry grass, abandoned animal nests, dry tree moss, and the smallest tips of the twigs from the kindling pile.

Building the fire

First time campers usually go to campgrounds or campsites that have designated fire pits or fire rings. In the center of the fire ring, mound up the tinder that you've gathered, keeping it light and airy. Fire needs oxygen to burn so don't compact your tinder. Next, gently lean the smallest pieces of kindling all around the tinder to create a tee-pee style formation. Add a few slightly larger pieces that are no larger in diameter than pencils. Now you are ready for flame. You've got your larger kindling and fuel wood ready to go as soon as your tinder and small kindling catches on fire.

Lighting the fire

I prefer wooden matches when lighting a basic recreational campfire. They work well enough. There are many fire starting gadgets like power lighters, magnesium sticks, flint and steel and the like. They all work great and are a good idea to have handy if for some reason your wooden matches get wet.

Before lighting the match, plan ahead where you will put the flame. You want it to start the tinder mound first and if possible, in multiple places. One well placed match can easily start the fire but try not to be too let down if your match burns down without starting the wood on fire. Simply try again. If you've taken great care to find the driest tinder and kindling, it should burn.

Once the flame is going and growing, you'll hear cracks and pops. Start laying more kindling around the fire in the tee-pee formation. As that wood ignites, lay bigger pieces. Once those pieces are burning, take a long 'poker' stick and collapse the fire if it hasn't already done so on its own.

As you are adding wood pieces to the fire, remember to allow oxygen to the base of the fire. If all of your logs are laying the same direction and are tightly fit together, your fire may die due to lack of oxygen. If you sense that your fire is dying, use the long 'poker' stick to stir up the fire and readjust the logs.

Congratulations, you've built a perfect campfire that you can be proud of. Be sure to share your new found knowledge with someone else.

Tip: If you have a roaring fire, you don't have to continue to add all the kindling. Move up to the fuel wood and save your kindling for the next fire you have to build. It also helps to have extra tinder put aside too. Covering the wood and tinder will keep it dry from the morning dew, ready to burn for you.

Tip: Save your food boxes (graham crackers, crackers, hot chocolate, etc) to use as part of your tinder for future fires. Also, when cooking over the fire, avoid burning items like styrofoam and plastics at the same time. The smoke is toxic and if nothing else, it will make your food taste yucky.

Tip: Never leave a fire unattended. Never use toilet paper as dry paper to start a fire as it has a tendency to 'take flight'. Flaming toilet paper can soar into the air and continue to burn as it flies away. Many wildfires have been caused because of this. Be smart and use common sense and enjoy the upcoming camping season.