No matter what time of year it is, there isn’t anything much better than starting a campfire and kicking back with a refreshing drink at camp. But the fact is doubly so when it is getting into the chilly months of the year, where the radiant warmth of a solid campfire can bring much joy to anyone at camp!

Since as far back as we can recall it has been a long standing Aussie tradition to have a good roaring campfire, and many of us have grown up camping with the crackle of eucalyptus and the waft of its soothing smoke as the wind changes, no matter who you are, it is just one of those things that you simply cannot get past and at 4WD Supacentre these memories are something that are really not lost on us!

At 4WD Supacentre We have a massive range of campfire gear that adds to your campfire experience, with every bit of gear ranging from cooking systems like our Adventure Kings BBQ Hotplate Swing, Adventure Kings BBQ Plate and even the Adventure Kings Rotisserie  to completely self-contained Camp Oven Stove which enables a much more efficient burning of your firewood!

Not everyone has the privilege of having a parent that has spent years in the bush or a leathery skinned bush guide to show them all the tricks of surviving in comfort and luxury in the bush!  

If this applies to you we are going to run through some of our expert tips and tricks, to not only get your fire burning sooner, but also how to get your fire ready to cook on and burn more efficiently without the use of highly volatile and toxic fuels which can add nasty tastes,  particularly if you are going to cook your food over the coals!

Starting out you are going to need firewood, you need to check whether you have permission to not only burn firewood at your campsite, but whether you can collect it, or if you’d have to bring it with you.

With the legalities and technicalities of starting a fire quickly out of the way, when searching for firewood, you are wanting to look for wood, that is already seasoned and dry enough to snap into two pieces with a crack, this means the wood is nice and dry and will catch alight with minimal effort.

The key to starting your fire is to start with tiny bits of solid fuel and gradually work your way into larger and larger pieces, this will allow your fire to start from something as simple as a spark from a flint.

When you are collecting your fire-wood you will want to look three basic types of firewood that meet some important criteria;

Tinder –
Long before smartphone apps, tinder was a word that is used to describe wooden fuel that is extremely dry, and has a feathery nature to it, tinder can be comprised of anything from the lint from your clothes dryer at home, some tissue paper, a newspaper, a bundle of grass, or even fine wood shavings from a pencil sharpener or even a bundle of dry grass.
Tinder is the starting point of all fires, and if the correct tinder is chosen, it should burn quite hot, quite quickly which is perfect for igniting the next pieces of firewood.

Kindling –

Kindling is the first real “sticks” you’ll need when building your fire, kindling is usually comprised of a handful of sticks that are smaller than your thumb in thickness –  when looking for kindling, you should aim for sticks that are a bit of a range of thicknesses this will ensure that the sticks will catch themselves.

When collecting kindling you should gather more wood than you think you will need, particularly if you plan on cooking on your fire, when too little kindling is used, it is difficult to get enough heat into your fire to create enough hot coals.

Getting more kindling is an excellent solution to helping add as much heat into your fuel logs to help dry them out.

Fuel –
This is your full sized “logs” and thicker branches, this is where the long term burning comes from – when looking for your fuel for the fire you should look particularly for hardwood like eucalyptus it is one of the most common types of timber available in Australia, and because of its high oil content and relatively dry nature, this wood burns extremely hot and for a long period of time, if you are situated in a river bank area, you may be lucky enough to have casuarina also known as “she-oak” which when the Europeans arrived  in Australia named it “bakers oak” for its high burning temperatures, relative easy of catching alight and minimal ash making it perfect for burning in bakers ovens, These types woods generally dry fairly quickly, and because of their dense grain, contain much more energy than soft woods.

If you are equipped with a bush saw or chainsaw you can trim these logs to size and with a sharp axe you will be able split your wood into smaller pieces which take to flame much easier, turning your fuel logs into both kindling and tinder.

LETS START A FIRE!

This seems like it should be easy enough, but out of all the obvious “primitive” bush survival skills people heading into the wilderness should know, this one is a skill that people seem to mess up on the regular! 

The first point to consider when starting a campfire is to know the best spot to light your campfire as your fires location will determine which way the smoke might flow, as well as whether you will have enough room to move backwards if the fire is burning hot!

If someone has already setup a fire pit at your campsite, it is a lot easier to light your fire in that location, and preserve the grass around, however if you are in a new “uncamped” spot, you will need to clear the ground to prevent any fire hazards and build a protective stone/rock perimeter using dry stones from well away from the river, this will prevent your fire from spreading beyond where you want it to stay, alternatively, you can use something like an Adventure Kings Camp Oven/Stove to keep your fire up off the ground which has some benefits we’ll go over later.

With your fireplace’s location figured out, you are going to need to prepare your kindling and fuel so once your everything is lit, you won’t have to scramble and rush in a panic, fumbling for your next step of fuel.

When starting a campfire you have a few options– generally because of the types of larger diameter hardwood that is available in most Australian camping locations you will find that our favorite fire lighting style is known as a ‘lean-to’. Firstly work out which direction the wind is blowing from and lay a nice thick log, perpendicular to the direction.

With your thick log in position, you should lay a handful of kindling against the log creating a covered pocket on the side of the log that the wind will be blowing up and over, this means your kindling will stay lit and not get blown over or out.

Now you should be ready to take your dry tinder out, your objective is to “fluff up” your tinder bundle or ball, which will allow air to flow through it easily and allow it to get really hot, really quickly. If you are using a tuft of dry grass, you should roll it into a ball and then loosen the fibers into a pocket sort of like a birds nest shape, this will take a spark or flame extremely easily.

There are many ways to light your tinder, ranging from a gas pocket lighter, barbeque match, a box of normal matches, a flint, or even your vehicles electric cigarette lighter – with your tinder lit you need to ensure it is taking flame, and then stick it into the pocket of the log, being careful not to smother the tinder, you can start to stack your kindling over the tinder, with a nice flame starting to burn and crackle you can sit and watch and let the whole pile of kindling start to catch, this is where the extra kindling comes in, by adding more as needed and gradually thicker pieces your fire will begin to take shape!

As your kindling burns down you can add thicker sticks leaning against the large log support to create a small pile of red hot embers to ignite the larger diameter ‘fuel’. If you need to cook over your coals, it will pay to get your campfire a little bit larger than you require as the extra heat will allow your fire to generate extra hot coals which you can steal with a shovel to create a cooking “bed”.

PUTTING YOUR CAMP FIRE OUT!

When lighting a camp fire you also need to consider how you are going to extinguish it, this seems obvious but there is a list of horror stories a mountain high of people not being fully prepared and leaving their campfire burning. If you are new to campfires, then maybe the idea of using a fire extinguisher may come to mind, however this is an extremely inefficient way of putting out a campfire, particularly because of the latent heat within your fire, whilst it may extinguish the open flames it is extremely irresponsible to leave red hot coals unattended, this has caused many bushfires and can turn into a life threatening event for many people who may be un expecting!

The best way to put out your campfire is to extinguish with plenty of water, by dousing water over the coals you get plenty of steam, but the water will take the heat out of the embers and stop the fire from restarting itself.

Dousing a campfire with water is better than risking someone coming through and getting severe burns on the hidden hot embers, particularly on the beach where people have covered their campfire with sand to extinguish only to trap the heat and hide the embers which can reach over 600°C for over 12 hours from the time it was extinguished.

We make sure we have a large 10L or so bucket with us and can collect enough water to extinguish our entire camp-fire before we go to bed – or head out for the day!

Benefits of a Camp Oven Stove!
We mentioned before the massive benefits to using an Adventure Kings Camp Oven Stove– This handy device uses a clever principal called “internal heat reflection” and “convection”, to more efficiently burn your fuel and get more heat out of your fire. Not only does the internal reflection help you to get more out of your fuel, it will mean that you get a lot less ash in the bottom of your camp oven.

The other benefit to lighting a fire within the enclosed space of the camp oven is the ability to control the amount of air flow into your fire, this is achieved by both the notched door latch, as well as the adjustable flue dampener. This mechanism uses an easy to operate butterfly valve which prevents air from racing up the chimney, by fully engaging your flue damper you can smother your fire and prevent the fire from fully combusting.

We’ve found the main benefit of using an Adventure Kings Camp Oven is its 2.4m high chimney, this chimney makes it perfect for lifting all the campfire smoke up and out of camp, meaning no more stinging eyes and smelly clothes!

No more online reading for you – it’s time to pack the car and hit the tracks to enjoy the vast and breathtaking landscapes and fresh air Australia has to offer!

To find out more about the range of Adventure Kings Gear for cooking in the bush or to kit out your campsite with the right gear hit www.4WDSupacentre.com.au call us on 1800 88 39 64 or even drop into one of our stores to speak with an expert on the way to camp and we will get you sorted with the best gear for the task!