what to do after you start the fire?

bullet08

bullet08

Joined
Apr 22, 2011
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i'm new to this subforum. did quick search on what to do after you start the fire, but not finding much. more than likely i'm not looking at the right place.

if this is wrong forum, please let me know.

so i have flint and steel. i can let char cloth catch the spark, nest it in the oakum and get a nice fire. but soon it dies. i looked over the internet, and looked over everywhere. they all talk about how to start the fire, but i'm not finding anything specific as to how to keep that fire live and keep going through out the night. i'm sure this is too easy to be documented, but i guess i'm little slow.

can anyone explain in detail how to keep the fire live after starting one?

thanks in advance.
 
i like to build my fire like a pyramid - largest fuel on the bottom and the smallest up top. i've also read that this is called a log cabin? i criss-cross the wood to let fresh air in throughout. at the very bottom are two really large pieces that's parallel to each other with about 4" gap in between...i've tried various types of fire layouts and this is the one i've found that worked best for me.

the idea behind it is that as the top wood burns all the coal drops down below to the next layer heating it and makes sure it burns.

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the bottom wood here are the largest i have - around 8" in diameter.

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Hope this makes sense and helps!:

The success to building fires that last is all about preparation; before you get your tinder a light, make sure you have all the next steps for the fire build ready.

I suggest to people to think of the wood in 3 sizes:

2 handfuls of toothpick/matchstick size
2 big handfuls of pencil size
anything bigger is fuel

Select an appropriate site, not too windy etc...

Once you've collected your material:

Make a small platform off the ground (only needs to be a few dry sticks), this allows oxygen to pass underneath and gets sucked in as well as keeps the tinder off the damp ground

Get the tinder a light on the platform,

Criss cross the first size (toothpicks/matchsticks)

Once this is alight,criss cross the next size (pencils)

The first 2 must be well alight before you think about adding anything bigger.

The biggest mistake people make in my experience is not using the correct material, either too big or damp and being impatient and adding too much material too quickly.

Good luck!

John
 
Let's see... add wood, rinse and repeat.

Once you get a sustainable fire, it's a matter of adding more fuel as it dies down. I have yet to find a magic fire lay that will last an entire night.
 
The biggest beginner mistake is thinking that throwing a bunch of pine needles and dried leaves is how you do it because the fire flares up nice and big. As you know the problem is that it dies soon after. What you need to do is collect a lot of small branches, medium branches, thick branches, and finally the larger chunks of wood.

You progressively go up in size until you get the fire hot enough so that you can get the larger pieces to burn. When you're starting out you need to give the fire air, so you need to have a long stick that you tuck under the long thin branches, and lift it up to get the fire going. When you stack the branches on there try to do it so that it's as if you're building a tipi.

I remembered when I first went camping with one of my buddies he had absolutely no clue how to start and keep a fire going. He would see the fire looking like it's going out and he would grab two handfuls of dried leaves and pine and throw it on top. Next thing you know the fire is dead. He would also do this thing where he's afraid of the heat/flame so he would throw the branches in there, knocking everything down and flattening the whole thing.

You need to try your best to gently set it in there so that you don't collapse the fire.
 
Pilgrimuk gave an excellent guide on how to establish a good fire from a successful spark - the immediate "now i have a little fire going, whats next?" question. Panzertroop addresses the more difficult question of "how do i keep this really nice, warm fire going for an extended period (generally more critical at night as we sleep)". Short answer: You don't.

The (longer) answer i propose is to 1) stoke/fuel as large a fire as reasonable/desireable for your needs; 2) use large, solid rounds (chunks of uncut/unsplit logs/branches) to fuel it; and 3) plan to harvest coals in the morning to re-kindle the blaze (do this by ensuring you have plenty of dry, match-stick/tooth-pick and pencil size fuel).

hth
 
I have seen people try to burn green wood. It wont work . Are you making sure you have good dried wood? Also wood laying on the ground is often soaked. Look for dead branches , small trees ... that are not lying on the ground.
 
Fire burns down in hours, horizontal in minutes and up in seconds. When starting a fire out I usually make sure I have a lot of small dry branches that I can criss cross over my tinder as soon as it is lit, make sure not to suffocate it. Then build up with gradually larger pieces of wood until you have a stable fire.
 
Allot of attention is given to ignition but not allot is given to prep or maintenance

98 pct of frie making happens before the spark and that is the gathering of proper materials.

I've been using this method for years and it has never failed:
first set a base of dry wood or bark to work on
2 handfulls of dry match stick thick sticks
2 hand fulls of finger thick
2 handfulls of thumb thick
than move on to wrist thick
after that you can burn just about anything
 
To keep it through the night, provided I'm near it and have taken a safe responsible look to make sure it can't spread: I put green wood on it. It takes longer to burn and I always have a little bit to re-stoke in the morning, instead of scrambling around for dry wood to nurse the coals back to life.
 
I noticed that most of the guys are saying handfuls, make them big handfuls, like as much as you can just barely hold on to. there is noting wrong with starting with a monster sized pile of matchsticks to get the pencils going. it takes some experience to learn how small of a pile to start with. Start small and work your way up. You can also add a big pile of shavings if your wood is a bit suspect, over time you'll learn what burns well and what doesn't. best rule I've heard for figuring out how much wood you need to keep a fire going over night is, look at how much you burn in an hour. make a pile 10x that big. Then triple that. Keeping a fire going overnight is a bit of experience, and a bit of luck. Its also a good idea to get an entire "fire" pile set up the night before, so when you wake up groggy (or frozen) its easy to get the next fire lit. (saved my ass once)
 
so.. i get good amount of match stick size, pencil size, finger size and so on size wood ready. build a nice pile with match stick size wood, make sure the bottome is open so the air will get sucked in, then put it the lit tinder inside of that pile? when the fire is going nice, i start adding more of the top and side until it's stable keep going to bigger size. i'll give it a try on next camp out. thanks :)
 
You make fire with flint steel and charcloth but dont know how to keep fire going?
 
I usualle create a tiny a-frame shelter of match stick style kindling, than once I blow my flame I place it inside

Or but a small round on the far side of the flame and lean the kindly over it at intersecting angles.
 
nope, not a joke. i can start the fire, but i dies within a min. i must be doing something wrong. if i start the fire with newspaper and match/lighter, i can keep it going. maybe my tinder is too small? my "birdnest" of oakum is about side of golf ball. i flatten it out, then cup it so i can drop the char cloth in. maybe i should make it size of baseball.
 
For serious fire purposes, you might also want to update your equipment.

The flint & steel you're using may be fun from a historical viewpoint, but the ferro rods will spark much better, and cottonballs will take that spark more readily & burn very well with it. A match works with cottonballs, too.
Very simple & reliable.

Cottonballs work fine as they come, or smeared with Vaseline will burn plenty long enough to ignite the wood.
As others mentioned, you have to have the basic preparation done beforehand.

I carry matches in a waterproof container, a ferro rod, and at least one butane lighter every time I hit the dirt.
Tradition is nice, but I like simple & practical. :)
Backups are also good.

I have a traditional tobacco "can" with burning lens in the top, and the flint & striker that goes in it. Never have taken it out of the house since I got it.
Denis
 
it's not really historical re-enactment thing.. believe it or not, beside match and lighter, flint and steel is the only thing that came close to working for me. i have strikeforce that gerber came out with back in 80s. that thing makes pretty sparks, but no clue what to do with that. i have mil spec magnesium/ferro rod thing.. never did anyting with that either. i have others.. they all make pretty sparks, but what do i do with them? then i was at one of those camp where they show how colonial american's lived. i saw one gent using flint and steel. had talk with him and found out with char cloth, it's was a breeze.

i'll get some cotton ball and see if i have better luck with them during next camping. thanks.
 
Go on Youtube and look up IAWoodsman. He has some killer videos on the basics of twig fires, one stick fire, fire steels, wood selection etc. You need to do some studying and trying different methods.
 
bullet08 said:
it's not really historical re-enactment thing.. believe it or not, beside match and lighter, flint and steel is the only thing that came close to working for me. i have strikeforce that gerber came out with back in 80s. that thing makes pretty sparks, but no clue what to do with that. i have mil spec magnesium/ferro rod thing.. never did anyting with that either. i have others.. they all make pretty sparks, but what do i do with them? then i was at one of those camp where they show how colonial american's lived. i saw one gent using flint and steel. had talk with him and found out with char cloth, it's was a breeze.

i'll get some cotton ball and see if i have better luck with them during next camping. thanks.
Click to expand...

Get some cotton balls and coat them with some petroleum jelly. Direct the sparks onto the cotton ball and it'll catch and burn for a little while. If you have tinder and kindling already in place you can use the cotton ball and your fire will grow. What I learned about making fires for years as a Boy Scout was that you need to have all the wood ready to go before you start, and then use some sort of setup like others mentioned here, either teepee style, log cabin style or some other formation so that the fire can grow.

You might look into fatwood and feather sticks as well.
 
I can light a cottonball (usually use three or four, if no Vaseline) under a twig teepee with one stroke of the steel striker along a Swiss Light My Fire rod.
That's all it takes, if I've done the prep first.

I'm really not understanding your "what do I do with pretty sparks" question.
You're using a more involved & less efficient method of starting a fire than you would be with a ferro rod & cottonballs.

Lay down three or four cottonballs, flatten them out. You can either do that on a wood base or on the ground, wood is better.
Build a teepee of match or similarly sized twigs above the cottonballs, leaving one section toward you open enough to catch your spark shower. You can add another level or layer to the teepee using larger twigs or half-inch branch sections.

Strike the rod with the steel striker and do it so the resulting sparks hit the cottonballs.
The balls should ignite, and set the wood above them on fire.
When you've got a small flame going, carefully add more and progressively larger wood sections as the blaze grows till you've got to the size fire you want.

Barring wind & wet wood, it's extremely simple.
Taught my 12-year-old nephew how to do it two weeks ago up on the mountain.

I've never bothered with char cloth.
You have to either make it or buy it somewhere, not worth the trouble unless you enjoy doing it the traditional way (I just want to get the damned fire going, I don't care about tradition).

You can buy a big bag of cottonballs that'll last you many many fires & carry them dry in a double ziplock baggie if you don't want to be messy, or rub some Vaseline into them & carry the same way if you don't care about the mess of handling them and you want some additional burn time to get your wood going.

There are other tinder/firestarter methods you can make or buy, but I'm lazy & the cottonballs work equally well with match, spark, or jet-flame lighter. They're cheap & almost weightless, and I've lit a fire on snow using them.

Panzer's right- do some studying. :)
Denis
 
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