Tips & Warnings
Double waterproof your matches by dipping the match heads in melted paraffin and letting them dry before storing them in a waterproof container. Scratch off the paraffin with your fingernail before striking the match.
Hickory burns the hottest and is good for cooking.
Softwoods, such as cedar and pine, burn hot and leave a taste in cooked food, so start a fire with softwoods and keep it going with the hardwoods, like oak or hickory.
If all the tinder is wet, look for bark from dead trees. The underside of bark is usually dry.
A mix of dried and green hardwoods added to a hot fire makes it last longer.
Double waterproof your matches by dipping the match heads in melted paraffin and letting them dry before storing them in a waterproof container. Scratch off the paraffin with your fingernail before striking the match.
Hickory burns the hottest and is good for cooking.
Softwoods, such as cedar and pine, burn hot and leave a taste in cooked food, so start a fire with softwoods and keep it going with the hardwoods, like oak or hickory.
If all the tinder is wet, look for bark from dead trees. The underside of bark is usually dry.
A mix of dried and green hardwoods added to a hot fire makes it last longer.
Don't put moist stones around the fire. They can explode when heated.
Bury or completely saturate the campfire with water before leaving the area. Wood can smolder for days.
Snakes, scorpions and other creatures live in rotten wood, so use caution when handling.
Some parks forbid the gathering of wood for fires, so check with authorities first.
Never build a campfire in a tent or enclosed space.
Don't put moist stones around the fire. They can explode when heated.
Bury or completely saturate the campfire with water before leaving the area. Wood can smolder for days.
Snakes, scorpions and other creatures live in rotten wood, so use caution when handling.
Some parks forbid the gathering of wood for fires, so check with authorities first.
Never build a campfire in a tent or enclosed space.
Article Written By Jim Gober
Jim Gober is a garden writer from Rockdale, Texas. His articles appear in five Texas newspapers and he preaches the gospel of gardening every Saturday on local radio. He sells organically grown flowers and vegetables and manages a 150 acre wildlife preserve. He shares his love of gardening, floral and landscape design, and the natural world through his writing. He lives on the Big Lump Farm named after a local coal mining ghost town and is known as "The Big Lump Gardener."
