How to BUILD A GOOD CAMPFIRE.

Is there anything more relaxing than sitting around a well built good campfire? Getting a good campfire going is easy if you just follow the simple steps outlined in this article. I'm doing this article to help me feel better, while I wait for summer. It's about 20 below outside of our apartment tonight.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Proper location for the campfire
• Matches, ( lighter, barbecue flint lighter. optional )
• Dry material to start the fire with.
• Logs, or dry non-treated wood.

1. FIND A SAFE PLACE TO BUILD YOUR CAMPFIRE. Now build a ring of rocks around where you are going to build the campfire. This is done to keep stray sparks away from dry tinder outside the fire ring. Now proceed to build your campfire.* Note comment below by Kat Yares on 1/12/2008( Thanks Kat )
2. DRY PAPER IS WHAT MOST OF US USE TO START THE FIRE. Crunch up balls of dry paper.(like making a snowball) This is your base material. If you don't have paper, most anything that is dry and will burn easily will do.
3. PUT STRIPS OF KINDLING ( and or CARDBOARD ) in TP fashion against the balls of dry paper. ( or whatever you used )
4. ADD SMALL STRIPS OF WOOD in the same TP fashion.
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   Click on the VIEW ALL STEPS button below. ( before proceeding )
5. LIGHT THE BALLS OF DRY PAPER. ( from different sides ) add more strips of wood or cardboard as needed. NOW YOU FEED THE FIRE. Like feeding a baby, you don't give them the whole bowl at once. You do it a bit at a time.
6. KEEP FEEDING THE FIRE with bigger and bigger pieces of wood. FEEDING is the key word. Keep feeding the fire until you get it really going.
7. NOW THAT THE FIRE IS REALLY GOING you can put logs into your fire. ( In the same TP fashion.)
8. THIS ADDED STEP WILL ADD COLOR TO YOUR CAMPFIRE. After you get a good fire going you can add a 2-3 inch diameter copper pipe about a foot long to the base of your fire. This copper pipe has been stuffed with three foot long pieces of old garden hose. In a short time the color flames will amaze you. BE CAREFUL WITH THIS AS THE SMOKE FROM THE RUBBER BURNING IS TOXIC. ( DON'T LET THE SMOKE BLOW TOWARD YOU.)

Tips & Warnings

• Proceed slowly with each step.
• Safety first and formost.
• It's always a good idea to have some water handy.
• Get your harmonica out.( play some nice old tunes and relax )
• Have some extra wood handy so you can continue to feed your fire.
• Don't rush the steps or your fire may die before you get it going.
• Do not ever leave a fire unattended.
• Make sure that your fire is in a safe location.
• Don't burn toxic treated wood.
• Let's face it, we all like playing with fire, DO IT SAFELY.
• Make sure that your fire is out before you leave it.