Start with the block. Set the round on a knee-high one, look for the cracks already in the end grain, and swing so the tool meets the wood square rather than at an angle. Let the weight of the head…
Stack firewood in a single row on a raised base, build both ends so they hold themselves up, and keep the pile under about four feet tall. Leave a gap between rows rather than gaps inside a row. Cap the…
Store firewood outside on pallets or a rack, at least 30 feet from the house, somewhere sun and wind can reach it, with a cover over the top and nothing over the sides. Keep it four inches or more off…
Season firewood by splitting it, stacking it off the ground where sun and wind reach it, covering only the top, and waiting. Softwood needs about six months. Most hardwoods want a year, and oak often takes two. The target is…
The best types of firewood for a campfire are dense hardwoods: oak, hickory, beech, sugar maple, ash and black locust. They burn slow, throw steady heat, and collapse into a bed of coals you can cook on. Softwoods like pine,…
Set up a campsite by splitting it into four zones before you unpack anything: sleep, kitchen, fire, and storage. Decide where each one lives while your hands are still empty. Do that, and camp flows. Skip it, and you spend…
Cook over coals, never over flames. Let the fire burn down for 45 to 60 minutes until you have a glowing bed covered in gray ash, then rake it level and set your grate about four inches above it. Flames…
To light a gas fire pit: open the propane tank valve slowly, wait about thirty seconds, then push and turn the control knob while holding a lighter or pressing the igniter at the burner. To turn it off, close the…
Put out a campfire by drowning it with water, stirring the ash and embers with a shovel, drowning it a second time, then feeling the whole bed with the back of your hand. It is not out until everything is…
A campfire is three sizes of wood stacked in the right order. Put a loose handful of tinder in the center of the ring, build pencil-thin kindling around it in a teepee or log cabin, then add wrist-thick fuel wood…