The importance of a fire

[mewolf1]

Fire is magic Like a nice knife,or fine woman

 

[Maniacal Pete]

I like fire.

In recent years I've become more sensitive to inhaling the smoke,
so we light fewer of them.

 

[DxAxN]

I enjoy having a fire when in camp, it seems they go hand in hand, camp/fire.

 

[panzertroop]

Camping without a fire is boring and sad. I love the sound, smell etc of a fire. Cooking on one is a treat. I go outdoors to enjoy the experience and a fire is part of that.

 

[mark_r]

I like a smokey fire for cutting down on the insects.

 

[91bravo]

I love fires. I guess I'm just a pyromaniac. I don't go into the woods without ever building one. It provides warmth, protection from bugs, and life.

There are many ways to build a fire. Here is the way that I build them.

First, I gather some fatwood.

A when I get to the camp spot, I process some wood.

I whittle some shavings off.

Then I'll make a small pile of shavings in the middle of the fire pit with some fatwood sticks ready.

Using this Armageddon fire steel and my homemade striker, I start flicking some sparks!

It took me about 7 or 8 strikes to get a flame.

I start laying fatwood sticks on my shavings pile.

Now the gathered stuff from around the camp site gets put on the fire. Starting with the small stuff first and gradually increasing in tinder size.

Bigger tinder is added

Now that the fire is going good and hot, I can start putting the bigger stuff on there.

Now the logs can be put on!

Then the final big daddy logs are put on and you have a roaring fire for about 2-3 hours!

I'm going to try JV3's pyramid, from the top down method next time to see how that works out!

This is how I've been building fires since I was a kid. Smallest to largest! Once the big logs are burning good, all you have to do is throw a big log on every hour or so to keep it going all night long!

 

[neeman]

Then:
I learnt to build big controlled cooking fires in Boy Scouts
We were cooking in troops of six to ten kids
And stoves we expensive
So open fires was the only way

But I never built a fire when backpacking
Not in the middle of snow camping to summer trips
I carried a gasoline stove and cooked on that
And relied on hot food and drinks, my equipment, and spare clothing to stay warm

Also I did not want to spend the time on fire building
I used the extra time reading or strolls around the camp area
Later painting


Now:
I regularly make a fire for BBQs
I have charcol and wood in the trunk of my car
And when I go out with friends or my Girls we are ready to go
When the Girls borrow the car they use the BBQ ready as well

But most of the time we use a small canister gas stove for the coffee
And now, I never build a fire when camping, just stoves

 

[91bravo]

I just don't see how you can be camping without a campfire? To me a campfire is what makes it all that much better!