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Written by British Red
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Page 1 of 8 (Part 1) Making Fire Ever wondered why if you blow on a candle it goes out, but when a blacksmith blows on a forge it gets hotter? Why when you light birch bark with a spark it flames but a cramp ball just glows? Wood shavings catch fire more easily than branches? Why a chimney makes a fire burn better? I have been making fires for decades and, whilst I had discovered that these things were true, I had no idea why they were true. I decided that an examination of the fundamentals of how fires actually work would help me in my fire lighting efforts. This is the result. | What is Fire? The Oxford English Dictionary defines fire as “the state of burning, in which substances combine chemically with oxygen from the air and give out bright light, heat, and smoke” There are some key words in that definition: Substances (fuel) – the thing that burns Oxygen Heat These things form the fire triangle. | In order to be able to make fire well, we need to understand the properties of each of these three elements and learn to manipulate them well. Then we bring all these three elements together and apply some fire making technique. The result? The ability to make fire under challenging conditions by manipulating the tools available.
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