Fire Building
Methods and Skills
The Five Steps to Fire Building
Building a proper fire takes much care and attention. To achieve a flame in primitive conditions requires that you use good tinder and maintain your fire in such a way that it will continue to burn.
Step One: Preparing your area
Selecting a good place to build your fire is very important. Such conditions as safety, location and setup are important. First thing is to choose a safe area, one which is free of overhanging dead limbs and other debris that can catch fire. The next is to clear out the area of flammable materials. I recommend a 10 fit area around the fireplace. next, build yourself a fire pit. This portion is my take and not everyone will agree.
here is my system.
If possible, choose an area with a natural reflector and set your fire so as to place yourself between the reflector and the fire. Such things as old walls, large boulders and sheets of tarp(*1) work well
Dig a square or triangular hole and surround it with rocks (*2), dirt or green logs.
*1(Remember to keep the tarp well away from the flying sparks, the tarp could catch fire!)
*2(If you choose rocks, don't take them from creeks and river bottoms, the water in them will boil when heated and will explode sending sharp fragments flying in all directions. Some of which can impact a person resulting in death or serious injury)
Step 2: Tinder
Tinder is the light fluffy stuff that catches a spark.
below is a listing of both natural and not so natural tinder:
0000 steel wool
Cotton balls
Charred Cloth
Charred Grass, cat tail fluff, leaves, combined with a birdsnest or "The Tinder Taco"
(Note: Instructions for making charcloth and other tinders to come!)
Cotton Ball soaked on Petrolium Jelly
birch bark (Peely birch bark, dont strip trees!)
Cattail fluff (Scrape your knife across the brown heads of
cattails and TONS of fluff comes out!)
Charcloth
tissue paper and bathroom tissue
Dryer lint
Step 3: Kindling
Kindling can be any small twigs and sticks up to Pinky Finger Size. This sort of wood builds the beginning mass of your fire lay. Kindling is best found off the ground. such sources as standing dead trees and the lower dead branches from conifers will yield the dryest kindling. also, you can split off kindling from larger pieces of wood with a hatchet, axe or large knife.
A great way to process kindling is by making fuzz/feather sticks. these are made by carving consecutive layers off of a piece of wood which adds many thin strips that easily catch fire.
Step 4: Small Wood
Small Wood is smaller limbs easily picked up off the ground. This is the wood you will use the most of as it is easy to come by and burns well.
Step 5: Logs:
Im not going to waste more space showing you a log, Im sure we all know what a log looks like.
But a special note should be taken on logs. In a survival situation, you must conserve energy and the act of chopping a huge log will tire you out really fast, even with a good axe or survival knife. In a situation like that, if you find a downed log, burn an end and then move it up instead of chopping it. Logs are good for giving lots of mass to a fire when getting ready for bed and when you need a long burning fire. Other than that, you should stay with small wood and some smaller arm sized logs as they will serve you quite well and not burn up much needed energy, make you sweat to work on (gets you wet and you lose heat) and will be easier to put out should you choose to move on.
Also: a note on axes. Taking a log down to smaller denominations with an axe takes skill! buy a quality axe and keep it sharp and well maintained. Treat even a full size axe like a prized knife. Store it in the house, both blade and handle well oiled, in a dry place. For most outdoors people, a good quality hatchet will do for evrything in the small wood department . if you plan to stay longer in an area or are planning to build heavier structures, a Boys Axe or a Pack axe such as The Gransfors Bruks Small Forest axe, Snow and Nealy Penobscot Bay Kindling Axe will do fine.
Here is a wonderful graphic by Kat Stewart on the basic bow drill set and method.
Common Methods of Fire Building:
Here is a beautiful Neck Carry "Thors Hammer" flint and steel kit made by Joe Schilling!
Flint and Steel, Ferro Rod, Matches , Lighters,
Hand Drill, and Bow Drill are just some of the many fire building methods from around the world!
