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What is your favorite type of campfire?

Timothy Norton

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posted 3 weeks ago

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Growing up, I was a part of the local boy scout troop. Our troop leader made it a point to teach of several different styles of campfire creation and the different reasons we may want to use them. While you can successfully have a fire with a tossed together pile of sticks, I found how valuable putting a little effort in could be through the experience.

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What is your favorite campfire style?

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M Ljin

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posted 3 weeks ago

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I’ve had most success with “council” and “tipi” styles, which is also what I use in the fireplace. “Fire between logs” is also very good. When outside, I have had more success when all the sticks are parallel or at a close angle compared to when they’re going in different directions, especially when the wood is not completely dry.

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Kyle Hayward

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posted 3 weeks ago

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Starfires work great for long cooks, something like beans etc... without burning through your wood, they just have to be tended well.

John F Dean

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posted 3 weeks ago

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Depends. If I am looking for all night warmth outside , I use a combination of a modified star fire and reflector fire. If I am only concerned about cooking, then some version of the smoldering fire.

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Douglas Alpenstock

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I think the type of wood you have at hand, and its condition, sort of dictates the kind of fire you build. In a genuine survival situation there's little margin for experimenting with boutique arrangements.

Carla Burke

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posted 3 weeks ago

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Typically, I've found the tipi the easiest to start, outdoors - depending on the weather, kindling & tinder. In the wood stove, we usually use the council fire. If I'm cooking over it, it depends on how well equipped I am, in the moment, but I prefer a Dakota fire hole, for concentrated heat, and lower fuel consumption, as well as little to no smoke in my eyes.

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Juan Roble

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Wow! Making an open fire outdoors is practically banned throughout my whole country. They only allow approved barbecues, and in the area where I am, to have a barbecue it has to be enclosed within four walls. The risk of forest fires here is very high.

I remember when we were kids, we used to go camping and make campfires in the evenings. We always surrounded them with stones, like in the drawing.

These things make me think about going to visit other places, meeting other people who live close to nature, and being able to share the authentic things that still remain in each part of the world.

Roble (Spain)

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Anne Miller

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I have not made any fires since moving to our current location because we are always under a burn bane. Always, period.

We recently stay at a state park and they were under a burn bane, also.

When I was in Girl Scouts we were taught to use the Tepee Fire type.

To me, that is the easiest to get started for a novice.

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Jay Angler

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Juan Roble wrote:Wow! Making an open fire outdoors is practically banned throughout my whole country.

We have various levels of water and fire restrictions from May through November due to wildfire risk. Alas, there are many other ways that wildfires can start, so it's important to read and understand all risks (example: many people don't realize a car that's just been driven has *very* hot parts underneath that can start a grass fire if the grass is dry and tall - if they've only ever driven on city streets, the risk simply doesn't occur to them.)

I have a stash of bricks, so that if I *have* to cook outdoors due to a long power outage during our dry season, I can build a quick J-tube rocket and cook on top of it. I would try to ensure I had something to use as a wind block if it was windy because it would reduce the risk as well as improve the efficiency of the cooking.

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Jackson Bradley

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posted 3 weeks ago

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I use the "top down" fire method 95% of the time. That may be called the "fireplace fire" on the illustration.

Works great for just about any situation.

Top-Down.jpg

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Douglas Alpenstock

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I didn't really answer the OP's question. Tsk!

I always start out with a "lazy man fire" (a.k.a. a lean-to fire) using a stout support piece with two slightly smaller support pieces resting on it at an angle, forming a "V." This support structure ensures the kindling can't collapse on my blazing tinder and snuff it out. If the ground is wet/frozen/snowy I put down a piece of bark from a dead tree and then build my tinder in it. This sits in the nook created by the three support pieces. Kindling is then arranged to sit on the support pieces. If I want a bigger fire and have lots of wood this will morph into a sort of teepee fire as I go.

lean-to-fire-2.png

Megan Palmer

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posted 3 weeks ago

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In our region, there are usually fire bans throughout summer and/or a fire permit is required.

However, we use the criss cross aka top down method in our wood burner.

If fires were permitted outdoors, we would probably use the same method with stones encircling the fire or a fire pit if it was a windy site.

Edward Lye

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posted 2 weeks ago

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I have two answers: one which is mobile and one which is not.

Just a spiral roll of sheet metal. Improvise if you need a tripod
or shelf. I use a chain to suspend stuff - no danger of spills
or toppling. A swing arm would be best.

A more permanent fixture.

Randy Eggert

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posted 1 week ago

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Reflector fires for the win. They're a breeze to start. Instead of balancing sticks to make a tipi, you simply put some tinder at the edge of the reflector, lean some kindling against the reflector above the tinder, and then lean larger sticks over the kindling. If you light the match near the reflector it's sheltered from the wind. Yes, it works as a reflector to direct the heat outward, but the best part is that it creates a draft so that the smoke goes in a predictable direction. You can't sit behind the reflector, but there's no more moving chairs around as the smoke changes direction.

Every time I'm at a public campground, I wonder why they don't design their pits with a reflector. It would be so easy.

Here's a link for pictures of the one I built on our property using a cob reflector.
Salora Sunrise Reflector Firepit

randyeggert.com

Jay Angler

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posted 1 week ago

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Randy Eggert wrote: Every time I'm at a public campground, I wonder why they don't design their pits with a reflector. It would be so easy.

My concern in my ecosystem is that or wind tends to change direction a lot. The best campground fire pit I met was a big iron thing with a center spike into a concrete pad. The whole pit could rotate depending on the wind direction.

With your design, what is the approximate degrees of wind direction where it will still work reasonably well?

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Nancy Reading

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posted 1 week ago

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I had to unexpectedly make a fire to make water safe for drinking recently whilst out on a hike (our gas stove valve started leaking and catching fire!) I made a version of a three stone fire to try and get a chimney effect and keep the fire contained safely. We had no wood, but succeeded in heating water to hot enough using dried bracken stalks.

chimney.jpg

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Jill Dyer

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. . . I'm strictly with Juan Roble on this one. High fire danger days (lots) or total fire ban days (seem to be increasing) absolutely no excuse for lighting a fire, even a BBQ.

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Randy Eggert

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Jay Angler wrote:

Randy Eggert wrote: Every time I'm at a public campground, I wonder why they don't design their pits with a reflector. It would be so easy.

My concern in my ecosystem is that or wind tends to change direction a lot. The best campground fire pit I met was a big iron thing with a center spike into a concrete pad. The whole pit could rotate depending on the wind direction.

With your design, what is the approximate degrees of wind direction where it will still work reasonably well?

I find the wind direction doesn't affect it that much. The draw works to make the smoke go up the wall regardless (it helps to have the active fire close to the wall). Once it gets above the wall, it's subject to the winds, but by then it's high enough not to bother us sitting around the fire.

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