How to Build a Fire
Category:
Iii Camping
Choose an open space, if possible, for your fire. Beware of having it
under tree branches, too near a tent, or in any other place that might
prove dangerous. Start your fire with the tinder nearest at hand, dry
leaves, ferns, twigs, cones, birch bark, or pine-knot slivers. As the
tinder begins to burn, add kindling-wood of larger size, always
remembering that the air must circulate under and upward through the
kindling; no fire can live without air any more than you can live
without breathing. Smother a person and he will die, smother a fire and
it will die.
Soft woods are best to use after lighting the tinder; they ignite easily
and burn quickly, such as pine, spruce, alder, birch, soft maple,
balsam-fir, and others. When the kindling is blazing put on still
heavier wood, until you have a good, steady fire. Hard wood is better
than soft when the fire is well going; it burns longer and can usually
be depended upon for a reliable fire, not sending out sparks or
sputtering, as do many of the soft woods, but burning well and giving a
fine bed of hot coals. The tree belonging exclusively to America, and
which is the best of the hardwoods, comes first on the hardwood list.
This is _hickory_. Pecan, chestnut-oak, black birch, basket-oaks, white
birch, maple, dogwood, beech, red and yellow birch, ash, and apple wood
when obtainable are excellent.
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