More Than One Way to Build a Fire
Most people may not realize it but there is actually a science behind building a campfire. For one of my Boy Scout merit badges I can remember having to start a campfire using just 2 matches, (or was it one?) a difficult task for anyone who has tried.
The key to starting a good campfire is to laying out your kindling and wood in an organized manner. There are two layouts that are fairly common, each of which is described below.
Note: In the photos here I have not placed the fire layout in a proper fire ring. I set these fire layouts up for demonstration purposes only and did not actually light them. If I had intended on lighting them, I would have selected a proper fire ring built on ground free of flammable material and ideally ringed with rocks or other material.
Tee-Pee
The teepee method is probably my favorite because it is generally the most reliable method for starting a great fire. Start by gathering alot of wood (more than you think you’ll need) and grading the wood by size: twigs, finger sized, and log/arm sized pieces. Lay out some kind of fire starter - pine straw, crumpled paper, leaves, or even some form of homemade or commercial fire starter (more on this in another tip). This will serve as the base for your tee-pee.
Now, start with the twigs and begin stacking the twigs together in the shape of a tee-pee. Work your way around the circle to make sure the layout is even. Once you’ve covered the tee-pee in twigs, move onto the finger sized wood. Cover the layout all the way around again, and finally move on to the arm-sized pieces in the same manner.
Now all you have to do is light the fire! Place your match as close to the bottom and center of the layout as possible (long stick matches work well for this). Add larger logs to the outside of the layout as the fire grows.
Dry wood works the best obviously but it is critical that your fire starter (at a minimum) is as dry as possible. As you move outside the tee-pee dryness becomes less important as even large wet logs will eventually burn if your fire is hot enough.
Log Cabin
The log cabin starts much the same way as the tee-pee with fire starter at the center of the layout. Twigs (kindling), branches, and logs are arranged in a square like a log cabin (as shown in the last photo here). This layout is simple to set up and the kids will enjoy building a log cabin out of sticks. This layout is not nearly as efficient as the tee-pee outlined above but a legitimate method for laying out a fire.
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