How to Create a Tee Pee Fire

Fires are named after what they look like. if you're like me, you weren't in the boy Scouts and if you were you didn't get your fire making badge. However, I love sitting in front of a fire and just thinking. Roasting marshmallows isn't bad either, it 's a great time to have with yourself, with your kids, or just you and your best friend. A fire brings people together and it's a great excuse to sit int he back yard in lawn chairs in the middle of winter. In addition to that, for all the people who enjoy meditation; sitting in front of a fire is a great way to meditate. in fact this was the way that ancient man dealt with their problems and the stresses of the day.

Begin by getting a number of dry tiny sticks, leaves, dry moss, etc. Depending on how big of a fire you're going to build will depend on how much of this stuff you will need.If you're going to have a small little back yard fire, say maybe 2-3 feet in diameter, you'll need about 9 good real hand fulls. This is what is called kindling,a nd this is what is going to start and keep your fire ablaze.

Clear a circle three times the size of your fire. If you are planning to build a fire that is 2 feet in diam eter, you should clear a 6 foot radius circle. When I say clear, make sure that there is nothing that can catch on fire: sticks, leaves, dry good (actually why is this stuff here anyway? This should be part of your kindling.) Check above you and make sure there isn't anything above you that could get caught on fire/. Remember, embers fly up and they can burn anything they want or land on

Gather 3 arm loads of woad. Any kind of dry wood that you can find. Make sure some of it is smaller,a nd gradually goes up in size. That would be the optimum, but we all know that that isn't completely a reality. Do your best, that should be your goal. You can always break wood. Once you got the three arm loads of wood toss it down somewhere outside of your cleared circle.

Now it's time to build your fire. Place all the kindling in the middle of the circle in a nice tight mass. Take small wood and set it up like a tee-pee around your kindling. Make sure that there is a little hole to get to the kindling. It's ok if the wood touches the kindling. You're going to want to keep this hole for the duration of your building/. make a conscious effort of this. If you want to add any gasoline, lighter fluid, etc, this layer or the next will be the perfect time to put that stuff on. Technically you shouldn't need it if you got some good kindling, but it always makes things go faster. The point of a tee-pee fire is that it burns from the inside out. Therefore, a tee-pee fire will burn hotter and longer, but when it's out it's out.

Continue to build around and around till you get to your desired size. I've built tee-pee fires that are 15 feet high and 25 feet in diameter. These things can be as large as you want. That one i just mentioned peeled the paint off of a car that was 10 feet away from it. We had to be 30 feet away and even then we were sweating. Make sure you have a few pieces left over in case you want to add to it later, when the fire start to go down.

Since you have kept that little hole you should have a wonderful entrance to your kindling. Take a piece of newspaper, it works best, but any print media is a good idea. Ball up a lot of these piece of paper and be ready with them after you light the kindling. Take a piece of the paper and roll it up and twist it tightly. You might want to do a few of these. Light one of the twisted pieces of paper, reach into the hole and light various pieces of the kindling. If you added any fire starter, be very careful putting a lit piece into a cave of vapors. Remember, its the vapors that catch on fire. Once the kindling is lit, lightly fill in the came with the balls of paper. This will help the fire burn and it will make the fire build better. You now have built your own tee-pee fire.