So you want a campfire, but this is new territory.
You’ve never so much as collected the wood, never mind laid and built the fire.
All is not lost.. Its essentially common sense but a few things will make it easier for you.
So.. how do you build it, get it started and keep it going?
The way you lay out your wood before lighting it is called the Fire Lay and there are a couple ways to do it that are called the classic lays.
Quite frankly, I’ve never been overly bothered with making sure that my lie was correct, so long as the fire burned well, was safely built and left no scars, but what do I know.
The definite WRONG spot for a campfire, under overhanging branches and surrounded quite closely by lots of brush. Pretty picture though.
Backing up, by leaving no scars, I mean this.. watch for overhanging brush, make sure that your fire is built so that it won’t damage trees, or set them alight, won’t catch fire to the grass around you etc. Make sure that you have adequate water to extinguish it if you need to.. Not a little water, but a bucket set aside near the area for just that purpose.. Dirt just doesn’t cut it.
I usually start with whats called the teepee lay, although in fairness to the rest of you, I had no idea what it was called, only that it worked for me, was a common sense way to make sure that the air could flow through, the tinder caught readily and the fire kept burning. My dad did it like that, so I did too.. No one ever mentioned that it was a “classic lay”, and I suppose that makes me a less than professional camper, but between the two of us, we’ll get a fire built and in the end thats what counts right?
Whatever type of fire you make, your considerations are going to be
Plan where you light it, so that its secured, and safe. ( I like to take a fire ring with me, or failing that, to ring the fire with stones I’ve gathered so that it can’t creep along the ground.. Take extra precautions with an open fire and pay attention to where you are camping, so you can check before you go to be sure there is not a burn ban on in that area.
Light it from the upwind side, letting the wind blow the flame into the wood
Leave some room for air between the wood.
Create a higher pile of wood .. build upward, not wide and outwards
Before you begin you are going to want to collect different kinds of wood.
Small very dry pieces (you’re going to know they are dry by snapping them and not getting any resistance, they will simple snap cleanly) and some very thin twigs, dry grass and etc.. this is your tinder.
A few medium sized dry pieces that will catch easily and burn quickly. About the size of pencils.
An armful of larger logs, a couple inches in diameter.. fuelwood.
Some pieces still larger.. that will burn a lot longer.
The various types of fire lays, according to the Campfire dude
Teepee Fire
* Place your tinder bundle on the ground or on a small piece of bark.
* Stick three or four kindling twigs in the ground to form a teepee above the tinder.
* Lean small kindling twigs against the downwind side of the tinder.
* Leave an opening on the upwind side all the way to the center tinder where you can light the fire.
* Continue to lean twigs around the teepee structure.
* Work your way up to pencil-sized sticks, leaving plenty of air space between sticks.
* Poke three or four pencil-sized sticks into the ground forming a larger teepee structure.
* Lean some smaller fuelwood pieces against this support structure.
* Have additional small fuelwood and kindling ready in case it is needed.
A Teepee fire, pictured at night. Note that nothing is close by the fire, either brush or trees hanging low.
Log Cabin Fire
* Lay a small teepee fire.
* Lay two larger pieces of fuelwood parallel on opposite sides of the teepee.
* Lay two slightly smaller pieces of fuelwood parallel on the other two opposite sides. Leave a space under the upwind piece through which you can reach the tinder to light it – you might need to fashion a mini-torch and stick it in to light.
* Continue to lay smaller and shorter pieces to form a cabin or pyramid shape.
* Have extra kindling ready to drop into the top or through the spaces on the sides to feed the internal fire until the outer walls catch fire.
Lean-To Fire
* Stick a long, large piece of kindling in the ground at a flat angle. It should point into the wind.
* Place your tinder bundle under the stick.
* Lean very tiny pieces of kindling on the tinder bundle.
* Lean more small kindling against the support stick.
* Lean larger kindling against the first layer.
* You could create a second lean-to of larger sticks over the first lean-to.
Council Fire (* a muc larger fire, meant for entertaining large crowds of people)
* Lay 4 logs, each about 5 or 6 inches across and 3 to 3.5 feet long, with about 4 inches of air space between logs.
* Across these, lay a platform of about 6 logs, each about 5 inches across and 3 feet long.
* Across this, lay a layer of 4 inch logs, 2.5 feet long.
* Then, two layers of 3 inch logs, 2 feet long, in perpendicular layers.
* Then, 2 layers of 2 inch logs, 2 feet long.
* Then, 2 layers of 1 inch split wood, 18 inches long.
* Make a lot of split kindling sticks and stick them into any open air space in the log layers.
* Create a teepee structure on top of the last layer of split wood.
* Leaving a space to light the teepee, continue placing more split pieces around the teepee to make a few more layers.
* The teepee is lit and the fire burns its way down through the layers.
Hunter’s Fire
* Retrieve two short logs 6 to 8 inches in diameter and place them nearly parallel to each other about 6 inches apart at one end and 3 inches at the other.
* Create small teepee fire between the logs and feed it fuel until there are good coals.
* Use the two logs as a platform on which you set your pots to cook.
* Spread or pile the coals to create hotter and cooler cooking areas.
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