So before your primitive mind gets bogged down in specific wooden structures that will supposedly guarantee a merry fire, let's start with the basics. Every fire needs three things; fuel, oxygen and sufficient heat to kickstart the burning.
The fuel part is easy, you're most likely trying to burn wood, moving on. Oxygen should be the easy part right? Well not so fast, it may be all around you but there is a good chance that if your fire won't light its because the oxygen can't get to it. Let me explain.
As a fire burns it consumes the oxygen around it. If the oxygen is not replaced the fire goes out. At the same time the fire is heating up the air immediately above it and emitting smoke and soot. Because this mixture of de-oxygenated air and smoke is hotter than the oxygenated air surrounding the fire, it rises and wafts gently away, hopefully not to inform some rival caveman that you have food and cavewomen that he should come and evaluate for a hostile takeover bid. As the smoke and hot air rise they suck fresh oxygenated air into the fire to sustain the blaze, thus completing the circle of life. Its a beautiful thing but it can go horribly wrong.
So what can disrupt this process is the air getting blocked, either from rising or from rushing in to fill the void left by the hot air. Generally if you're outside nothing is going to block the hot air from rising, but there is quite a bit that can get in the way of letting enough fresh air into the fire. One example is if you've started your fire in a pit or in a particularly well built ring of rocks or even in a densely stacked pyramid of wood. In these scenarios it is possible that the warm rising air is competing with the fresh air trying to get in to the fire and so the fire is asphyxiated like the ardor of your cavewomen who by now may be ardently wishing that the rival caveman would show up. He may not have fire either but at least he doesn't have a history of disappointing them and so may not do so in the future.
So here is the first lesson, your fire has to have a clear path for smoke to escape upwards, and clear paths from sides or underneath for fresh air to be sucked in. To belabor the point, fresh air has to come in from a different and lower point than the smoke goes out. It does not matter how much heat or fuel you have, a fire is limited by how much oxygen is available to it. Later on in your evolution to Fire Lord this will become a useful trait, for now just make sure that there are clear routes for fresh air to get to the base of your fire. But don't leave it too open because...
You have to trap in the heat. Yes, air has to get in, smoke has to get out and heat has to stay put. You can see why it can be so hard to get a fire going. If you don't trap enough of the heat to sustain the chemical reaction then all that fresh air and fuel just sort of hang around awkwardly for a while wishing someone would say or do something or that they could have left with the cavewomen.
So let's recap, you have to have a way for fresh air to get to the bottom of the fire, for hot air to get out the top of the fire and some kind of barrier so that enough of the heat stays in to keep igniting the fuel. Eureka! Fire at last! So now how do you do it? Well hit the back button and read on.
The fuel part is easy, you're most likely trying to burn wood, moving on. Oxygen should be the easy part right? Well not so fast, it may be all around you but there is a good chance that if your fire won't light its because the oxygen can't get to it. Let me explain.
As a fire burns it consumes the oxygen around it. If the oxygen is not replaced the fire goes out. At the same time the fire is heating up the air immediately above it and emitting smoke and soot. Because this mixture of de-oxygenated air and smoke is hotter than the oxygenated air surrounding the fire, it rises and wafts gently away, hopefully not to inform some rival caveman that you have food and cavewomen that he should come and evaluate for a hostile takeover bid. As the smoke and hot air rise they suck fresh oxygenated air into the fire to sustain the blaze, thus completing the circle of life. Its a beautiful thing but it can go horribly wrong.
So what can disrupt this process is the air getting blocked, either from rising or from rushing in to fill the void left by the hot air. Generally if you're outside nothing is going to block the hot air from rising, but there is quite a bit that can get in the way of letting enough fresh air into the fire. One example is if you've started your fire in a pit or in a particularly well built ring of rocks or even in a densely stacked pyramid of wood. In these scenarios it is possible that the warm rising air is competing with the fresh air trying to get in to the fire and so the fire is asphyxiated like the ardor of your cavewomen who by now may be ardently wishing that the rival caveman would show up. He may not have fire either but at least he doesn't have a history of disappointing them and so may not do so in the future.
So here is the first lesson, your fire has to have a clear path for smoke to escape upwards, and clear paths from sides or underneath for fresh air to be sucked in. To belabor the point, fresh air has to come in from a different and lower point than the smoke goes out. It does not matter how much heat or fuel you have, a fire is limited by how much oxygen is available to it. Later on in your evolution to Fire Lord this will become a useful trait, for now just make sure that there are clear routes for fresh air to get to the base of your fire. But don't leave it too open because...
You have to trap in the heat. Yes, air has to get in, smoke has to get out and heat has to stay put. You can see why it can be so hard to get a fire going. If you don't trap enough of the heat to sustain the chemical reaction then all that fresh air and fuel just sort of hang around awkwardly for a while wishing someone would say or do something or that they could have left with the cavewomen.
So let's recap, you have to have a way for fresh air to get to the bottom of the fire, for hot air to get out the top of the fire and some kind of barrier so that enough of the heat stays in to keep igniting the fuel. Eureka! Fire at last! So now how do you do it? Well hit the back button and read on.