# How to make fire ?



## Brieuc (Nov 21, 2021)

When I made a fire tonight. I said to myself: "there must be a classier way than throwing three glowing logs into a pile of wood, you know like there is classier way to sharpen a knife than using a grinder ". So Question :
How to make fire ?
Is there knowledge ? Tradition ? Books ? How do Scouts do ? Is there religious way of starting a fire ? 
What about you guys ? Any recommendation ?


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## dAtron (Nov 21, 2021)

When i'm lighting a barbecue i just like using whatever lights the coals faster. My thoughts on this are fire is fire, so whatever gets the job done faster for me.


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## RDalman (Nov 21, 2021)

For classier way 
Roll up some paper and ignite it with a red hot iron heated this way


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## MarcelNL (Nov 21, 2021)

Or use a really old and sturdy but sharp knife to cut the kindling from the first log (keeping it attached to it on the lower end of the cut....and start with really dry wood.


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## Jovidah (Nov 21, 2021)

Tampons are good firestarters (fresh ones, not used).
Or good old coleman fuel / white spirit (it's called wasbenzine in Dutch). Doesn't have the smells and fumes you get when you use normal gasoline or diesel to start a fire.


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## MarcelNL (Nov 21, 2021)

Outside fires I usually cheat by soaking a small piece of wood in paraffin oil, burns slowly enough to not leave your fire without heat too soon, but white spirit wirks too.


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## Brieuc (Nov 21, 2021)

Jovidah said:


> Tampons are good firestarters (fresh ones, not used).
> Or good old coleman fuel / white spirit (it's called wasbenzine in Dutch). Doesn't have the smells and fumes you get when you use normal gasoline or diesel to start a fire.


 

Fun fact Diesel doesn't burn when you light it.


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## MarcelNL (Nov 21, 2021)

Brieuc said:


> Fun fact Diesel doesn't burn when you light it.



It sure does light when there is something to sustain heat, like a wick a piece of wood etc


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## Keith Sinclair (Nov 21, 2021)

Roll up balls of newspaper line the grate with it 
Small kindling on top larger wood on top of kindling. 

Like those smoker chimney's to start charcoal.
ball up newspaper put bottom of chimney load 
charcoal on top. lighter stick to lite paper through holes around bottom. They work well a grate in the unit separates charcoal & paper.


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## Dzbiq (Nov 22, 2021)

Magnesium flint and back of a survival knife works great. Not classy but manly indeed. Few sparks on dry timber and you're good.


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## stringer (Nov 22, 2021)

I just throw some wood in my charcoal chimney and then set that over the propane burner on my grill for a few minutes. Dump it into the fire pit and I'm done.


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## Luftmensch (Nov 22, 2021)

What a question!!

Could there be anything more fundamental?



Brieuc said:


> Is there knowledge ? Tradition ?



Fire could be one of the most important technological developments invented by our genus. Knowledge and tradition dates back to one million years ago.

I am sure there is a mountain of information on the internet for making fire in survival situations.... I am too 'modern' and lazy... fire starters, hydrocarbon fuels, propane torches,... etc... 





Brieuc said:


> Is there religious way of starting a fire ?



Yes; you tell one radical religious group that a rival radical religious group besmirched their beliefs and god. Rinse and repeat for the otherside. Wait. 

 (... seriously internet; I do not condone stoking religious/racial tensions)


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## sansho (Nov 22, 2021)

i build a fire with appropriate kindling and stuff and then light it with a propane torch. sometimes i use a battery powered raft inflator thing to help jump start it.


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## Brieuc (Nov 22, 2021)

Luftmensch said:


> What a question!!
> 
> Could there be anything more fundamental?
> 
> ...



The fact is that my mother always refused us my father and i to use other thing than matches and paper and wood to light a fire...


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## M1k3 (Nov 22, 2021)

Fire board and stick.


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## ModRQC (Nov 22, 2021)

God guys....

Could you sustain a fire for three days with like 16 logs of barely decent size?

What best starts a fire is red hot coal. Of course hard to start with red hot coal, so first a pyramid. Keep your first log outside the fire but real close to it. So that when it's time to had it, it will light up about instantly.

Do not add any additional combustible but get a red hot coal first. Add any somewhat dry enough log or combustible on top without trying anything else and watch. 10-15 seconds it will light up if a log of proper proportion - a lot less when pieces of coal. And not just one small agonizing corner of it, but the full thing will lit instantly. Just add a log - or any amount combustible necessary - to sustain the flames you need. Red coal cooks and warms much more stably then raging flames on little timespan. Don't furnish in prevision; one log on top of red hot coal will lit up fully in a matter of seconds. If it takes 3 or 6 to get all around a 20 folks assembly (bonfires), add one to each corner, perhaps a couple more in the middle - maintain that spot of red coal needed. Flashing stages coal is much more interesting to look at than flames anyway. At one point, its pulsating tells you when you need to add combustible.

The science of how fast combustible burns on over red coal is somewhat entirely missed. A spot area of it is not hard to get - it's more a matter than we usually use readily spent combustible to start with, so timing is tighter there. It's an almost spontaneous reaction (within 10 seconds) of the whole piece of combustible lighting up and burning a long time - no raging flames there, just the needed amount lighting up and burning quietly and steadily. Too much combustible and it becomes an open fire - it's pretty but usually camping spot forbidden, and it's burning a whole lot of stuff for little need. After 3-4 logs I get a sufficient square enough red coal area to grill you 8 mega t-bones and keep 20 people in a circle quite warm enough.

In a nutshell, try this: build your favorite pyramid but put a full log or amount of combustible at the very center of it. Something enough that it won't take on with the very flames of the pyramid... but will take on a few moments after with that quiet, unforgiving burning pace. That's a fire started.


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## Luftmensch (Nov 22, 2021)

Yeah no dramas!



I just mean to say: you can bet the family farm there is a tonne of 'traditional' methods. From a traditional cultural perspective there are probably slightly different approaches that depend on the available materials around you (think Amazon rainforest vs Sahara desert). 

Like I said, I am not a survivalist. I would be stuffed without modern technology. Modern technology makes it trivial. Something like a firestarter brick is lightweight, easy to use and helps get a fire going. 

A fire is basically a balance between combustible material and oxygen. Classical structures start by having very dry kindling at the bottom. A layering of combustible material is built on top of the kindling - think your typical tent structures or cross hatched scaffolds. This might be branches you find... it might be firewood. The structure gives the kindling a protected environment from wind with a lot of access to oxygen. As the heat from the kindling rises, it starts to burn the heavier structure. You can replace the kindling with modern cheats like newspaper and firestarter bricks etc... Once there is enough heat in the system (like coals) you can be a little more haphazard and keep adding wood into the fire. Placement isnt too critical so long as you aren't starving the fire of oxygen.


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## spaceconvoy (Nov 22, 2021)

Long stem wooden matches are the classiest option in this day and age. 

Or how my dad used to do it, a strike-anywhere match ignited on the zipper fly of his jeans, a little less classy.


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## ModRQC (Nov 22, 2021)

spaceconvoy said:


> Long stem wooden matches are the classiest option in this day and age.
> 
> Or how my dad used to do it, a strike-anywhere match ignited on the zipper fly of his jeans, a little less classy.



Depends where you stock class upon. Your father was pretty classy to me. Classy being classical after all much more than high-class social strata related. At one point in history, one was never without the other.


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## riba (Nov 23, 2021)

Or the environmentally more friendly swiss method.




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## Michi (Nov 23, 2021)

I’m surprised that no-one has mentioned a magnifying glass yet.


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## spaceconvoy (Nov 23, 2021)

Michi said:


> I’m surprised that no-one has mentioned a magnifying glass yet.


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## JAKsQandBrew (Nov 25, 2021)

For the live fire grill, I build a 3 level log house from 6 medium sized split logs, light a full chimney of lump charcoal, dump it in the middle of the house, hit it with a hair dryer for about 30 seconds and I get a roaring fire pretty darn fast.


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## Brieuc (Nov 25, 2021)

JAKsQandBrew said:


> For the live fire grill, I build a 3 level log house from 6 medium sized split logs, light a full chimney of lump charcoal, dump it in the middle of the house, hit it with a hair dryer for about 30 seconds and I get a roaring fire pretty darn fast.




Omg hair dryer !!! Modernist firehood. Best tip of the day


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## JAKsQandBrew (Nov 25, 2021)

Brieuc said:


> Omg hair dryer !!! Modernist firehood. Best tip of the day


I bought my wife a new hair dryer when the old bbq one crapped out after many years. She actually thought i had just got her something nice for no reason. A real win/win in my book.


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## aecadiz (Nov 25, 2021)

Hello

When doing a BBQ I use this simple little trick

1. Grab any bottle, a wine bottle should work

2. Using newspaper, make many collars around the bottle, leaving a big part of it covered with this "paper tubes"

3. Build around the bottle a pile of charcoal that suits your fire needs.

4. Remove the bottle, leaving an empty space in the pile of charcoals. The newspaper collars must stay inside the hole present in the charcoal pile.

5. (Optional but recomended) Grab some napkins ot kitchen paper and soak them in canola oil. Place it in the hole of the charcoals touching one of the borders. 

If the pile is big enough, you can use as many of this soaked papers as you see fit.

6. Using any source of fire, turn on the newspapers

I always have some tool which helps me to "put some air" inside the ignited charcoals. 

Personally, I dont like too much hairdryers because of the "fireworks" they generate. I usually use some form of cardboard or a tray

Cheers

Andres


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## Brieuc (Nov 26, 2021)

aecadiz said:


> Hello
> 
> When doing a BBQ I use this simple little trick
> 
> ...


 

That's also a modernist technique. We should make a best of. 

How those are made ? Maybe I can make them by myself ?


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## MarcelNL (Nov 26, 2021)

get a knife, or a plane, and make some wood linguini, soak them in whatever combustion agent (veg oil, or mineral oi) light and use as fuse


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## Bobby2shots (Nov 30, 2021)

Flint and steel;


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## aecadiz (Nov 30, 2021)

Dear Brieuc and KKF Family:

In response to your answer, yes of course you can build them yourself.

This is a widely popular technique used in Chile, the paper tubes dont need to be that sofisticated as that nest that you builded, just a simple tube using a whole newspaper works perfectly. 

Do as many of those tubes as you see fit, stack them one on top of the other, building a stack with the shape of an O. 

Once you are finished, build your coal pile around them.

This video uses a similar technique, using the bag of in which the coals come. In Chile this bags are made of paper:



Happy Grilling!

Andres


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## coxhaus (Nov 30, 2021)

I pick up small sticks and store them under my BBQ for fire starters. I either use newspaper or charcoal lighter fluid to start the small sticks. I leave everything open until the starter fluid or newspaper is burned off as I don't want any flavors in my cooking. I only add big logs after the fire is started so no starter fluid soaks into them.

Some of the BBQ guys use a propane torch to start their wood fires.


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## Keith Sinclair (Nov 30, 2021)

JAKsQandBrew said:


> For the live fire grill, I build a 3 level log house from 6 medium sized split logs, light a full chimney of lump charcoal, dump it in the middle of the house, hit it with a hair dryer for about 30 seconds and I get a roaring fire pretty darn fast.



Hair dryers are like dental floss many uses other than what they are designed for.


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## riba (Nov 30, 2021)

I just use my weed burner (gas)


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## BazookaJoe (Dec 1, 2021)

Your browser is not able to display this video.


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## aecadiz (Dec 1, 2021)

If we are going on the Tools & Tech side, I also have this item:







Its basically an electrical resistance that heats the charcoals until the fire is ready.

100% bulletproof and liberates a lot of time when you are putting your BBQ in place, it does take the romantic part away of starting a fire....

I got mine from my local Walmart and it had a cost of aprox 17 USD

If you want something super easy, fast an realible, this is the option

Cheers

Andres


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