Fire starter for cooking and wet wood
- Thread starter lonelyoak
- Start date
Ace Brown
Retired Ol’ Fart
AbleGuy
Officious Intermeddler
Unfortunately, only the driest of well seasoned wood will burn without smoke chasing you around the campfire. If you can quickly start and maintain a very, very hot fire, that high heat should help dry out your fire wood as it burns and limit the smoke.
We’ve used these satisfactorily for starting wet wood campfires in the past.
Of course, you can always easily make your own fire starters (see youtube for tips)
We’ve used these satisfactorily for starting wet wood campfires in the past.
Of course, you can always easily make your own fire starters (see youtube for tips)
JaSAn
Grumpy Old Man
I carry charcoal lighter fluid when camping. It's easy to find,\ and doesn't flare up when lit.
There are degrees of wet wood. In general if it feels wet it is not going to burn. Wood has to dry out before it will maintain a flame. Damp wood can be added to an established fire, but it will smoke a lot.
There are degrees of wet wood. In general if it feels wet it is not going to burn. Wood has to dry out before it will maintain a flame. Damp wood can be added to an established fire, but it will smoke a lot.
ThundahBeagle
Well-known member
All of the above. One more tip: the Estwing Camp Axe (hatchet). Depending on how much rain there has been, even wet wood might be more dry near the core.
Get the camp hatchet and start chipping off half inch, inch, and 2 inch wide kindling strips off of any 16 / 18 in long rounds, halves, and quarter logs, until you get to the dryer core areas. Separate the cores from the edge parts. Pile them up loose log cabin style with the dry or dry-er cores in the fire pit and the wetter outer edge parts stacked up the same way near the fire but not in it.
Start the (dry) cores, adding bigger and bigger pieces. The wetter stuff near by will eventually dry out a little as your fire also gets bigger.
Did this camping near Acadia one raw drizzly weekend and did eventually get a decent fire going. Ya gotta keep at it though, to keep sourcing reasonably dry wood cores
Get the camp hatchet and start chipping off half inch, inch, and 2 inch wide kindling strips off of any 16 / 18 in long rounds, halves, and quarter logs, until you get to the dryer core areas. Separate the cores from the edge parts. Pile them up loose log cabin style with the dry or dry-er cores in the fire pit and the wetter outer edge parts stacked up the same way near the fire but not in it.
Start the (dry) cores, adding bigger and bigger pieces. The wetter stuff near by will eventually dry out a little as your fire also gets bigger.
Did this camping near Acadia one raw drizzly weekend and did eventually get a decent fire going. Ya gotta keep at it though, to keep sourcing reasonably dry wood cores
Singler3360
Member
A few squirts of Sterno gel will work on damp, but not totally wet, wood. I find it works better than charcoal lighter.