Preparation for the Outdoor Campfire with your Family
Last Updated on September 23, 2020
Outdoor Campfire with your Family: Camping is not really an interesting outdoor activity without a campfire. From the light produced by the dancing flames to the crackling of firewood and the smell and warmth of glowing coals, campfires give you a sense of peace and comfort.
They also bring friends and family together to share songs and stories while enjoying campfire cooked food and this creates a special bond with each other as well as with nature. With such significant importance, it would be wise for any camper to acquire the skills of putting up a campfire quickly.
There is more to setting up a great campfire than simply lighting up logs of wood. When camping with your family, you need to have the following for the campfire:
Tinder
Tinder is the lightest, most flammable material, used to start up the campfire. It is not specific to one material. It can either be strips of cardboard, wood shavings or paper. Out in the camp, tinder can be gathered from the surroundings as dry grass, dry tree barks, or small twigs, and these are used to light and spread the fire to the larger campfire fuel.
Kindling
Kindling is just a little bit bigger than tinder. It comprises of twigs and branches which are no more than half an inch in diameter. A camping knife can be used to source for these branches from nearby dry trees if plucking by hand is uncomfortable. Tinder is actually used to light kindling, which then ignites the larger pieces of wood.
Firewood
This is the key to any well-lit campfire. Firewood can be whole logs, measuring up to 5 inches in diameter. However, getting such logs can be quite hard and you might need a wood splitter to chop large logs into smaller, firewood-sized logs.
Wood splitters come in different types and the best wood splitter for camping depends on the conditions present in your camping site. If you have access to power, electric splitters would be best to help you prepare firewood.
Gas log splitters would save you the labor of doing manual splitting in case you go camping deep into the wild where there is no access to electricity.
Manual splitters are lightweight and portable but very labor intensive. They are the most common log splitters used when camping because most campers like to do everything naturally.
Another option that can be used to split firewood is by an axe. However, this option is not very safe to use because a small accident can turn fatal, especially if you are far from healthcare facilities.
Lighter
This is a no-brainer. You will need a lighter to spark your campfire into life. Matchsticks can also be used but campers are trending towards the use of gas lighters because they are easy to use, last for a long time and can be refilled.
Conclusion
Preparation for the ultimate outdoor campfire for the family can be quite hectic. You must have the essentials with you at the camp and also the planning needs to be done in advance and regardless of the type of fire (crisscross, teepee etc.), the items described above are a must have in order to build a well-lit campfire.
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