5 Types of Campfires
Do you love camping and the outdoors? Need some inspiration for your next camping cook out?
Here are 5 types of campfires that are easy to set up and very effective for cooking in the great outdoors. After studying these fire making techniques you will be a real pro on your next camping trip!
1. Tepee Fire
This is the classic boys and girls scout fire. Good for sitting around with friends and family. Can be made in various sizes. This fire puts out a lot of heat and light. It's fast burning which means you need to stock up on piles of wood before hand. Start with a little tinder in the middle with some dry shavings and slowly build the fire by pyramiding the wood on top.
2. Swedish Torch
Puts out minimal heat and not much light, but uses less fuel thus lasting longer. The steps for creating a Swedish Torch Fire are easy. Step 1: Cut 3 Slots in the Log, Use a saw to cut at least 3/4 of the way down the length of the log.
Step 2: Build a Bundle of tinder and kindling material (shavings, dry moss, balls of cotton) in the center of the log. The top of the log will start burning efficiently due to air being sucked through the cracks lower down.
Step 3: Light your fire. After a couple of minutes burning the burning material will drop down into the middle of the log. The fire will use the inner log as fuel, but the outer layer should remain intact. It's a handy fire to use in windy conditions as the fire in the center of the log is protected.
3. Criss-Cross Fire
This is a handy fire for cooking over. It will put out a good and steady heat and burn for longer than a Tepee Fire.
This fire is easy to build by placing a criss-cross framework of logs, stacked on top of one another. A good tip is to create a small fire on the ground first with some small and dry material, adding some kindling to it, then adding the criss-cross sticks, twigs, and logs on top of it once it gets going. If you use this fire for cooking its best to hang a pot over the fire, as the fire will eventually collapse. The embers it leaves are excellent to cook over.
4. Key Hole Firepit
With this fire, you have the best of both worlds - a lot of warmth and handy for cooking! A Tepee Fire in the circle part of the pit and the coals scraped into the slot at the bottom. This layout makes it a great fire for cooking on.
To build a Key Hole fire you first cut a keyhole shape in the ground and start a Tepee fire in the top (circle) part of the 'key' that is formed by rocks. After setting up the Tepee Fire you wait until hot embers are produced. These embers from the main fire can be scraped along the key part for easy cooking. You essentially have two fires going.
5. Indian (star) Fire
A star fire, or Indian fire, is the fire style you would have seen used often in the old West. It's easy to set up by laying five or six logs out like the spokes of a wheel in a star shape. A small fire is started in the middle of the star formation and once that gets going each log is pushed towards the center to feed the fire. The great thing about this fire layout is that it can be kept burning all night long and requires little maintenance.
