Campfires for Dummies

I've found that the Sure Start Fire Lighting Squares work the best of the store bought fire starters. (That I have found so far anyway) A single square on a handful sized pile of kindling and you have fire . With some smaller pieces on top of that and large ones above that. You can get a fire going in no time.

Don't bothers to buy those dura flame things from wall mart. They are so hard to get going that you have to start a fire to get the fire starter to catch fire.

Mr.Beebo wrote:
...
Many of the "dummies" camped near me tend to burn diapers, chicken bones, styrofoam dinner ware, beer cans, broken shower shoes and assorted empty cardboard and plastic food containers.

My favorite: while cleaning out a fire ring in a popular dispersed campsite I found three rounds of .30 cal rifle ammo buried in the ashes, pointed at nearby logs where people would commonly sit. Just waiting for the next campers to come by and build a fire...

LEOs never could find out who left them.

I am amused by the number of people that burn plastic, painted wood, treated wood, and other bad stuff, then cook over the same fire.

When I worked for the FS we would burn timber slash in winter with poor mans napalm -- 3:1 ratio of diesel/gasoline mixed with rubber tire shavings from the local tire recapper.

Stunk bad and made huge columns of thick black smoke. But it burned very hot for a long time. You could burn a slash pile that was under 6 feet of wet snow for three months.

Until the local Air Quality folks learned we did that. They nixed it right away.

I start fires with cotton balls that i smear pine tree sap on.
I take a bag of cotton balls and with a stick smear the pine tree sap on them. Stash them away in plastic bags for camping.
One cotton ball burns really hot for a long time and will burn even when damp.

Love watching people empty a can of charcoal lighter trying to get a fire started. Fail!

I carry tiki torch fuel, glorified kerosene, for an old fashioned lantern. Put a bit at the bottom, along with some pages from an old CG directory & away we go.

If it is a little stubborn out comes the air compressor with the narrow nozzle to give it some air. Works well! Tim Allen's bellows.

Mr.Beebo wrote:
Is there a chapter on what is good to burn?
Many of the "dummies" camped near me tend to burn diapers, chicken bones, styrofoam dinner ware, beer cans, broken shower shoes and assorted empty cardboard and plastic food containers.
Book should be set out and distributed at check in stations.

I've never seen anyone burn a diaper. (Thankfully) But, I have had to chastise friends for throwing Styrofoam and plastic dinnerware into the fire . After you tell them they go "Oh , your right" They just don't think about it and do it instinctively. I also growl at them for the Cigarette butts they put in there. Beer cans are sometimes a problem. The next day I have to pick them out. I try to not let people do that.

I don't know what a shower shoe is.

I see nothing wrong with chicken bones. As long as the next day you get them out of there before the dog can get to them.

I burn cardboard myself all the time. (Beer cases etc.) I would not want to cook on the fire while it is actually burning but, they flare up quickly and are gone.

When I leave the campsite I make sure the fire is out and the firepit is clean. (Except for ashes) At times when getting to the campsite I have had to clean the ashes out before I have a fire but, that is part of camping. The fancy state parks and stuff take care of this but, they cost more. The affordable parks I often frequent are more of a "fend for yourself" type environment.

Is there a chapter on what is good to burn?
Many of the "dummies" camped near me tend to burn diapers, chicken bones, styrofoam dinner ware, beer cans, broken shower shoes and assorted empty cardboard and plastic food containers.
Book should be set out and distributed at check in stations.

Army11Bravo wrote:
At the sake of opening a can of worms, I thought I would share a PhotoShop image I created last year. The running joke in our circle of camping friends is my buddy Duane who fancies himself a master campfire builder. No matter how big the fire gets, I poke and prod him that the fire isn't sufficiently big enough until it's "eye-level."

Again, this is all fun, and we have very safe fires. Please don't preach from your moral high ground.

Here is the image I created just for my buddy...

Nice work!

:B

Boon Docker wrote:
You are lucky that Smokey The Bear wasn't nearby at the time, he might have taken a whiz on your campfire. :B

Smokey and I have a lot in common these days: