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How to Build an “Upside-Down” Fire
If you’ve always been a proponent of the tipi-style fire – you know, the type of fire with the tinder on the bottom and sticks and logs organized tipi-style overhead – but never enjoyed the constant prodding and poking necessary to keep the fire alive, this article is for you. Why? Because we’re going to be talking about how to build an “upside-down” or “self-feeding” fire, a fire that requires minimal effort while it’s burning to keep it alive. How can this be possible? Read on.
Forget What You Know About Campfires
An upside-down fire is called “upside-down” because it’s essentially the opposite of the tipi-style fire. In essence, you’ll want to place your biggest logs at the bottom and your tinder at the top. Doing so seems counter-intuitive, but once you build a fire that really lasts by itself, you’ll see how it works.
You start by placing the heaviest logs next to each other as tightly as possible. You take the next biggests sticks and logs and place them perpendicular to the layer beneath, slowly building this way upward until you have a complete “pyramid” style fire. Make sure that the longest sticks/logs are at the bottom, and that they decrease in length moving upwards.When you get to the top, you can use firesticks to get the fire going – firesticks are high-resin sticks that help to start fires. What happens next is how the art of the upside-down fire works: gravity pulls down embers and heats up the layer below, slowly kick-starting the entire fire itself. The result is a relatively slow-starting but long-lasting fire that you don’t need to poke or prod.
How to Practice an Upside-Down Fire
Now that you know the basics, it’s time to do some practicing. Gather plenty of firewood near your closes firepit. You can try building “mini-upside-down” fires in order to start practicing. As you practice, you’ll need to fill in the blanks between reality and this article, so don’t assume you’ll build a perfect fire the first time.
After you’ve built a small fire successfully, you’ll be ready to move onto the bigger ones. Once you’ve mastered these, you will be able to enjoy long-lasting fires that produce a consistent flame, ideal for campfires and the occasional marshmellow. These fires will also be great ways to consistently cook a breakfast skillet in the morning.
Photo Credits: mikemol
