One of the joys of summer is camping and, of course, making campfires between friends and family. However, you need the proper technique to make a nice campfire, otherwise, marshmallows, s’mores, scary stories and songs sung with an acoustic guitar will stay wishful thinking. Learn how to make a fast, warm campfire with a minimum amount of smoke in 6 quick steps!
1. Collect kindling and firewood
To start, you need the following items:
- Small hand saw;
- Shovel;
- Paper that burns quickly and that will help start your fire;
- Matches;
- Kindling (small and dry pieces of wood that you find on the ground and are no more than 12 inches long);
- Firewood, like dry tree branches (18 inches long);
- Bits of dried newspaper.
To prevent a fire from starting, remove enough grass when digging your hole for your campfire. This ensures that the fire burns directly on the ground. If the fire started burning on the grass around the hole, it could spread and would then be out of control.
2. Setting up the fire’s base
Place 2 pieces of wood parallel to each other in the center of the fire pit, 6-8 inches apart. Fill the space with newspapers and kindling. Add a few large pieces of dry crumpled paper.
3. Improve your base
Add larger logs and light the fire in the opposite direction of the two logs.
4. Add firewood and start your fire
Carefully place the small branches of dry trees by placing them one against the other, as shown in the picture above. They must surround the kindling and the newspapers.
Use a match to start your fire.
5. Add more newspaper
Once the wood has caught fire and there are visible flames through the stacked and lit logs, make sure the fire grows by adding larger logs. Make sure the campfire doesn’t collapse.
6. Ready for marshmallows!
As the campfire burns, continue adding firewood to keep the fire burning. This configuration is perfect for toasting marshmallows.
Beware – Never leave a campfire unattended when there are open flames. To put out the campfire after the wood has burned, use the shovel to turn and bury the ashes in the fire pit. Water can be added slowly to extinguish the fire, taking care that the hot ashes are not sprayed outside the ring.
Source :
Instructables
