How do you build a fire?

[asquared]

I'm enjoying the tips in this thread as DH tends to be one of those guys that produce more smoke than fire until he really gets it going....then again we have to buy our wood at either the campgrounds or Wal-Mart etc as we don't have a supply from home. A lot of that stuff is difficult to catch even with a starter log. Any good tips for that?

[5er_tom]

Check Lowes and Home Depot. Their firewood is normally good. I often get it at half price in late Spring when they put it on sale. 2 years ago I bought 50 bags at less than $2.25 each.


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[Sgt. Schultz]

We use a slightly larger lighter:

doesn't care if wood is wet or dry WT2301-Multi-purpose Trigger-Start Torch Head - BernzOmatic

[jevanb]

Pick up some tiki fuel. Dump on wood, throw match. Enjoy..

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[Flybob]

Originally Posted by Sgt. Schultz

We use a slightly larger lighter:

doesn't care if wood is wet or dry WT2301-Multi-purpose Trigger-Start Torch Head - BernzOmatic

A friend of mine had one of these in the bed of his PU. Things shifted around on a trip and it ignited and burned a large portion of the PU bed.
Not pretty.

[Timex]

I build a criss-cross structure of dry wood with the thinnest wood next to paper shredder shavings brought from home. I usually keep a WM bag of shavings in my truck toolbox.

[nomad297]

FATWOOD is all you need to start a fire -- you don't even need kindling. It burns so hot for so long, all you have to do is place your logs above it and walk away. FATWOOD is very clean to carry in your camper and it smells wonderful. It is almost a shame you have to burn it, but it even smells better when it's burning.

Here's a link: The Original Fatwood Firestarter - 100% All Natural Fire Starter Sticks - No Chemicals or Additives

Bruce

[RETCHIEF]

I find it funny that some think fire starters are cheating. Camping in an RV must be a felony. I realize ecology is important, but beside the road flare method I don't see a global warming result. I have camped in the rain where twigs and such were too wet to use. The fire starter dried them enough to burn. If that's cheating...guilty.

[MainelyUS]

One of the challenges of starting a fire is in damp weather or when you do not have abundant starter material (not talking about propellents) is getting your starter material to stay lit long enough to ignite your wood (see nomad297 comments above). Here's a tip from winter survival school...save your "paper" egg cartons and dryer lint. Stuff the lint into each cell of the egg carton and then saturate the lint with melted canning wax (you can use bees wax in place of the canning wax for an all natural solution). Now you can break up the completed carton into as many cells as to desire, place in a zip bag and wait for the next camp fire. They will stay usable for years. Depends on the situation but we use two cells to start the fire.

Happy Trails

[RETCHIEF]

Paper towel and toilet paper rolls work well when stuffed with dryer lint. I've also mixed sawdust and wax in an egg carton, but it gets tedious after a while considering the outcome.

[leew1936]

no one asked if you were using split seasoned wood

[Night Stone]

Our way is take a couple of firewood set it up like a tent over kindling, light the kindling underneath the tent

The kindling can be bought from here: EcoForest Quick Start Kindling-907488 - The Home Depot
or the cheap and readily available method is to take dryer lints and stuffed them into the empty toilet paper rolls to be used as kindling.

Here is a good example on how to do it:
How to Build a Campfire - Scoutmastercg.com

My son and I are in Boy scouts, so it was easy for us plus my wife is a former girl scout. But for me and my wife, we were taught at an early age when we camped as kids/teenagers.

[Gmar60]

40K BTU burner😁


The worst day camping is far better than the best day working.

[trbomax]

Aside fron the flare,back when my wife and I ran snowmobile endurance runs, each sled was equiped with several tampons and a flint/steel (in addition to a 12ga flare gun) We only had to use it one time when I had a drive axel bearing fail.You pull the cardboard tube off,dip 1 in the gas tank,and another in the oil tank. Put the small wood/bark. whatever in on top and spark it.We also practiced by useing a third tampon dipped in gas and ignited it useing one of the spark plugs we also carried in our tool kit.

[Sharon455]

Oh, to camp where there aren't fire restrictions most of the year! Sadly, we have given up on the idea of a real campfire, and bring our Campfire in a Can with us.


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[billb800si]

We found a simple solution.
I ask the grandkids who wants to start the fire. They keep at it till it's blazing. Everyone's either happy or proud. Problem solved.
Where's the cooler??...

[Pipeman]

Well my occupation was putting out fires. I did that for 35 years. Now it takes me a long time to get one going in the fire pits. My buddies won't let me near the fires. I have a tendency to want to put them out...an ingrained thing I guess.

[happywhencamping]

BEst method ever, from my scout days, big pile of pine straw and some juice...bag karma, how did I survive

Big log, smaller logs on the side of the big log, fire starter... no strong winds....

[EnjoyingLife]

My wife and I use the cotton balls and petroleum jelly but just discovered something new last week. Pour your bacon grease on to a paper plate and then put it into the freezer. When it is time to start a fire put the plate on the bottom of the fire pit and the wood on top. Light the edges of the plate. We only tried it once but it worked perfectly, and you get rid of all that bacon grease.

[redcloud1]

I take a piece of fire starter and put charcoal lighter on it and then build a tent of kindling wood over that