"Building fires", notice how we always talk about building them. We never talk about making fire, or creating fire, or igniting fires. Fires require effort and a certain amount of precision, hence we build them. This page will cover the essentials of building fires and a few fire laying methods.

Safety First
Fire is one of the most enjoyable aspects of spending time outdoors. In our homes, fire is a useful tool and a means of heating. We often talk about "playing with fire" because it is fun! Like many fun things, fire must be approached with care. Learn how to treat burns. Have a means of putting your fire out. Ensure you have a means of controlling your fire as well as a means of preventing it from spreading.

Materials

When building anything, choosing the right materials has the biggest impact on the results. With fire building in the wild, species is less important than other characteristics. Moisture content is the first thing to consider. Dry materials are most desired, although, wet material can be used. Seek material that is dead and in the air first. Dead and on the ground can be used but will need some extra preparation. Live is the least desirable. After moisture content, size is the characteristic of most importance.

• Tinder

Tinder is very fine material. Certain plants make very good tinder with very little preparation. One is, generally, looking for hair-like or paper-like thickness. Crushed dry leaves make good tinder. The more hair-like the better for tinder. If fine material is no available, one can process larger material to get the desires thinness.

Milkweed	Phragmites	Birds Nest
Feather Stick	Char Cloth	Dryer Lint
Cattails	Cotton Balls - plain -or may also be soaked with petroleum jelly	Steel Wool
Pine Needles	Tampon	Frayed Twine
Tinder Fungus	Paper Wasp Nest	Stinging Nettle

Other Tinder Materials: Dry wood punk,

A note about char cloth and dryer lint as tinder: When preparing these tinders in advance, it is recommended to use 100% cotton or other natural fibers such as jute (burlap), bamboo, flax (damask) silk (pure silk) and hemp (linen). Man made fibers will melt before becoming char. Dyer lint having man made fibers tends to smoulder more than ignite.

• Tinder Bundle

Having a fair supply of tinder, one forms it into a tinder bundle. Form the bundle into a ball about the size of one or two fists. Make a depression in the ball and have the most fine material in the depression.

• Accelerants

Accelerants are volatiles that burn very fast. Lighter fluid, alcohol, perchlorate, gun powder are all examples of accelerants. In a survival situation this type a material is not easy to find. Natural accelerants include pine gum and birch bark. We are no longer scouts or guides, we need feel no shame in using accelerants.

Lighter Fuel	Gasoline	Kerosene
Grain Alcohol Lower proofs do not work as well	Gunpowder	Automotive Starting Fluid - Ether based
Birch Bark	Pine Gum	Hand Sanitizer 70% is Better

Using Accelerants Can Be Extremely Dangerous!
Never Use Accelerants Without Taking Extreme Precaution

• About the Shape of Your Fuel

The shape of your fuel has a significant impact on success. All fuel has a certain amount of thermal resistance. For fast ignition, one has to exceed steady state and overcome the thermal resistance. Round material achieves steady state slowly. Split material ignites faster since the fine edges have less resistance than the main body.

• Kindling

Kindling is the next step up in thickness from tinder. Kindling is intended to burn quickly but have enough mass to establish some charcoal. It can be sorted into a few grades.

• Tiny - ranging from 1 to 3 mm
• Pencil - about 5 to 7 mm
• Fat - 1 to 1.5 cm
• Heavy - 2 to 4 cm
  

• Light Fuel

Light fuel is larger thicknesses. This size is intended to burn slowly, but should also burn quickly enough to establish a lot of charcoal. 5 to 8 cm cross section is good for light fuel.

• Heavy Fuel

This size material is intended to burn very slowly. The the mass needs to be sufficient to provide a large quantity of charcoal. If there is a choice of species, then this size material is where the effort should be spent.
You should know the species in your area and their characteristics. For more information about species see our Firewood page. Heavy fuel is 10 to 15 cm cross section. It can be much larger as well if the overall fire is huge like a council fire.

Basic Fire Building - Lean To

This is the most basic firelay requiring little effort, yet utilizing the fundamentals of fire. A stick of light fuel is thrust into the ground at an angle, or leaned onto a rock, or leaned onto a piece of heavy fuel. Tinder is laid under this ridge pole. Kindling is then leaned onto the ridgepole. Ideally the open end of the lean to is facing into the wind. The lean to can be sided as depicted, or it can have a single side.

Tipi

Requiring slightly more effort than the lean to firelay, the tipi is started by leaning a few sticks of large kindling into a tri-pod over the tinder bundle. Soon after striking a spark into the tinder, the various grades of kindling are added. As the fire becomes more self-sustaining, light and heavy fuel are added. Care must be taken to prevent this firelay from collapsing on itself. Upon collapsing the lay may smother the fire out. Collapsing may also send sparks and coals some distance from the fire. The tipi, presenting its circumference, is suitable when wind direction is shifting frequently. Both the tipi and the lean to firelays are used as "starter" fires for larger firelays. Cooking with a tipi firelay is usually done using a spit or by hanging the food above the fire.

Log Cabin

The log cabin firelay is a hybrid of sorts. Starting with a tipi or lean to, heavy and light fuel is stacked around in the fashion of Lincoln logs. This firelay is useful when fuel wood has been on the ground and has higher than desired moisture content. When burning log cabins, one must be attentive to collapsing. Log cabins burn quickly, establishing a heavy bed of coals. This makes the log cabin useful for most types of cooking, including baking. This is another lay that is useful for shifting wind conditions.

Top Down Firelays

The previous firelays are ignited at their base. Pyrolysis is occurring above the heat source which allows the unburnt volatiles escape without ignition. Such bottom up fires burn at about 17% combustion efficiency. A top down firelay has the heavy fuel at the bottom with light fuel and kindling stacked above. Fuel and heavy kindling is stacked with little space between them. Fat kindling and smaller is stacked with plenty of air space intervening. The tinder bundle is placed in a nest of tiny and pencil kindling. The fire is ignited at the top, of course. Pyrolysis is now occurring below the heat source. Turbulence draws the unburnt volatiles into the heat causing a secondary combustion. Top down fires have a combustion efficiency of 80%. Top down fires are slow starting, often requiring additions of kindling. While slow starting, this type of firelay is very long lasting. Because of it high efficiency, this firelay yields the highest amount of sensible heat.

Council Fire

The council fire, also called the pyramid or pyre, is a top down fire. A foundation of large logs is laid side by side to form a solid base. Each subsequent layer is slightly shorter as the platform or pyramid rises. This solid mass of right angle firewood layers takes a little effort to light but it's well worth it for the huge amount of coals it produces, especially when the fire is lit on the top most layer and burns down through the layers. Council fires last many hours and are suitable for large numbers of people, especially when light and heat are wanted for extended meetings. Small council fires can be started in the late afternoon to be used for cooking dinner. A large council fire having a 6 foot by 6 foot base will burn for over 6 hours without the need for additional fuel. Being fired from the top down, one need not worry about collapsing. Once the fire is fully involved, smoke is of little bother.

Torch/Candle/Furnace

Swedish Candle makes a very enjoyable campfire to sit by for the evening There is no need to add wood to it every 30 minutes or so, just one log, one match. It also makes an excellent cook fire because billies, kettles etc. can be placed on top. First select a good sized diameter log, the the one in the image is about 18" diameter and 42″ in length. Then, using a chainsaw (a bow saw could be used by making parallel cuts) rip the log length wise to within 4″ of bottom cutting it three times to make what looks like a cut pie on top. Tip your chainsaw in-wards at the bottom to make the inside of cut lower than outside. This gives the fire, once lit, air from below which is drawn up the length of the log to top, like a chimney.
Prepare for lighting by sliding dry tinder into the slots. Initially, the fire will be very active with tall flames. This is likely why it is called a candle. After a few minutes it will dampen down and appear only to be smoldering. After another 10 minutes, flames will again be visible with the fire being self-sustaining.
An alternative method is to use 3 or more large logs (depending on their diameter) bundled together. The larger the diameter the fewer the number should be used. Some method of "binding" should be used around the base. This could be a hole into which the bundle is placed. It could be bailing wire. It could also be a "rope" of green withies. One example uses several 3" diameter logs of equal length, surrounding one of very short length.
The width of the openings in the candle, will play a significant role in determining how long the fire will burn. The fire in the image lasted for over 4 hours.

Long Log

This firelay can be scaled to various needs. Started by using one of the basic firelays, kindling and light fuel is added to fill the trough. The parallel logs are the heavy fuel, but smaller heavy fuel can certainly be added. A small long log of about 2 feet length is suitable for cooking such as boiling water and frying. A large long log of 5 to 6 feet length is suitable for making a firebed. If winds are gentle, orient the long axis parallel to the wind path. If winds are powerful, orient the long axis perpendicular to the wind path and dig a few cross trenches under the windward log.

Finnish rakovalkea

Literally translated as "slit bonfire", this is constructed by placing one long piece of fuelwood atop another, parallel, and bolstering them in place with four sturdy posts driven into the ground. Traditionally, whole unsplit tree trunks are used for the fuelwood.

Kindling and tinder are placed between the logs in sufficient quantity (while avoiding the very ends) to raise the upper log and allow ventilation. The tinder is always lit at the center so the bolstering posts do not burn prematurely.

The rakovalkea has two excellent features. First, it burns slowly but steadily when lit; it does not require arduous maintenance, but burns for a very long time. A well constructed rakovalkea of two thick logs of two meters in length can warm two lean-to shelters for a whole sleeping shift. Second, the construction causes the logs themselves to protect the fire from the wind.

Star Fire

A star fire, or Indian fire, is the fire design often depicted as the campfire of the old West. Imagine five or six logs laid out like the spokes of a wheel (star shaped). A fire is started at the "hub" and each log is pushed towards the center as the ends are consumed. It's another fire that can be kept burning all night long with little maintenance. This firelay is actually very similar to the Swedish Candle in that oxygen is drawn into the combustion area through narrow slits. This, of course is much more two dimensional and requires regular attention.

by: Zee-Man

Related Pages:
About Fire , Firewood , Fire Starting , Fire Places , Alternative Fire Starters, Heating Appliances