Types of Fires - Vertical vs. Horizontal
I don't think I've seen any discussion on this either on the forum or on the net in general so I thought I'd do a quick post. There is nothing scientific in this. It's just my observations.
There are basically two types of fires you can build in the woods. Vertical and Horizontal. Both have a proper place and both have advantages and disadvantages. I'm not going to go into the mechanics of building them. Rather, I want to talk about when they should be used and which is best under what conditions. If you are new to fire building, perhaps this will help.
Vertical Fires:
Probably the best example of a vertical fire is a teepee or tipi fire.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...e_Fire.svg.png
I'm sure we've all built this fire. It's a pretty reliable standby and a method that is taught in scouting.
Characteristics:
A vertical fire will produce tall flames that will draw oxygen in at the bottom of the fire. This produces a very hot fire and a very quick burning fire.
Uses:
Since this method produces a very hot fire, vertical fires are great for heat. It's a nice fire to get you warm quickly. It also produces coals very quickly for cooking although those coals will burn up if you don't pull them out. Since it's a hot fire it can also dry damp wood placed on the outside. It can also be a good night time signal fire since the flames tend to be high.
Advantages:
Catches quickly when wood is dry if built correctly.
Nearly smokeless when burning.
Produces a lot of light.
Produces a lot of heat quickly.
Produces hot coals for cooking quickly.
Can be used to dry damp wood.
Disadvantages:
Burns quickly unless large.
Requires a lot of wood to keep going.
Loses coals quickly (unless banked) once it burns down.
Does not produce charcoal since the fire is very hot.
Hard to maintain the vertical fire. It tends to collapse once it starts burning.
Examples:
Teepee
Lean To
Council
Horizontal Fires:
A great example of a horizontal fire is the pyramid fire.
http://www.survivalx.com/wp-content/...RAMID_fire.jpg
This is another type of fire we've probably all built at one time or another.
Characteristics:
This fire burns from the top down. Since air flow is more restricted in a horizontal fire it tends to burn much slower than a vertical fire.
Uses:
Horizontal fires can be used for cooking (parallel or A-frame) because they produce more charcoal and longer lasting coals. They tend to produce more smoke so they are a good day time signal fire.
Advantages:
They can burn a very long time with little attention.
Can ignite progressively larger logs.
Produces good coals and charcoal.
Can store coals/embers all night without being banked.
Easy to maintain shape if adding more wood.
Disadvantages:
Can be difficult to start.
Requires drier wood or some other starter such as fatwood.
Produces more smoke.
Difficult to use damp wood.
Examples:
A - Frame
Parallel
Star
Trench
One fire type that I will mention is a combination of both the vertical and horizontal. That's the log cabin fire.
http://www.thecookinginn.com/tciimages/logcabin.gif
You basically have a horizontal fire built around a vertical fire. You can start the log cabin fire very quickly and, because of the gaps between the logs, it tends to burn hot.
That's it. I don't know if it helps or not but that will give you some characteristics of a vertical and a horizontal type of fire. Both have their place and one is only better than the other depending on what you want the fire to do.
