Campfire - Types of Fuel

Types of Fuel

There are, by conventional classification, three types of material involved in building a fire without manufactured fuels.

  1. Tinder lights easily and is used to start an enduring campfire. It is anything that can be lit with a match and is usually classified as being thinner than your little finger. A few decent natural tinders are birch bark, cedar bark, and fatwood, where available; followed by dead, dry pine needles or grass; a more comprehensive list is given in the article on tinder. Though not natural, steel wool makes excellent tinder and can be started with steel and flint, or a 9 volt battery without difficulty.
  2. Kindling is an arbitrary classification including anything bigger than tinder but smaller than fuelwood. In fact, there are gradations of kindling, from sticks thinner than a finger to those as thick as a wrist. A quantity of kindling sufficient to fill a hat may be enough, but more is better.
  3. Fuel can be different types of timber. Timber ranges from small logs two or three inches (76 mm) across to larger logs that can burn for hours. It is typically difficult to gather without a hatchet or other cutting tool. In heavily used campsites, fuelwood can be hard to find, so it may have to be brought from home or purchased at a nearby store.

In the United States, areas such as State Parks and National Parks which permit camping most often will allow the collection of wood lying on the ground with the exception of parks that have erosion problems (i.e. campgrounds that are near dunes). Cutting of living trees is almost always forbidden; Squaw wood (dead parts of standing trees) may also be prohibited.

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