How to light a fire - useful tips. Bonfire for the New Year's performance Bonfire of the "well" type

No camping trip would be complete without a fire, whether for warmth, for cooking, or simply to create a special atmosphere. If you have never lit a fire before, then this process may seem a little complicated to you. However, the key to success lies in the use suitable materials and understanding the purpose of the fire, so that you can make a fire in the most suitable way for you.

Steps

Preparing to make a fire

Prepare ignition material. To effectively start a fire, you will need lighting material - a fine combustible material that ignites most easily. The material used must be dry, so it is best to take it with you from home rather than look for it locally in the forest. For ignition, you can take various materials, for example, any of the following:

sawdust;
crumpled paper;
cardboard;
paraffin;
cotton fiber;
ready-made purchased material for ignition.

Collect brushwood. In order for the fire to flare up and not go out, you will need to supplement the lighting material with brushwood. Brushwood is a larger combustible material, but not as large as firewood, so the flame transfers well to it. Look around your camp site for small twigs and branches.
- Choose twigs and branches with a diameter of about 3-13 mm or about the thickness of a pencil.
- As with lighting material, the brushwood must be dry. If the branches you collected have damp areas, cut them off with a pocket knife.
Collect firewood. For a fire that needs to burn for a long time, large pieces of wood, or firewood, are needed. Branches with a diameter of 3 to 13 cm in diameter or larger logs, chopped into smaller pieces with an ax, can be used as firewood.
- You should not use live trees for firewood, otherwise you will harm the environment. Use dead and fallen branches and trees as firewood.
- Suitable firewood should break easily. This will indicate that they are dry enough to use in the fire.
- The firewood should not be too large, as it will be more difficult for it to start the fire.
- If you are unsure whether the firewood you find is the right size for your fire, compare the wood to your wrist or forearm. They should be approximately the same size.
Take a lighter or matches. When all the materials for the fire are prepared, you will need to light the flame. Therefore, it is very important not to forget to take with you something suitable for this purpose. Regular matches will suffice, but you may find it more convenient to use a lighter.

Add brushwood and wood to the fire as needed. While the fire is burning, you can continue to throw brushwood into it to keep the fire going. If the fire doesn't burn as hot as you would like, you can add wood to it to help it burn hotter. Start with one log. Add additional logs only if the fire does not gain enough power after the first log.
- A hut-type fire is well suited for cooking, as it does not burn for very long, but maintains a stable combustion.

"Well" type fire

Place the brushwood in a small pyramid on top of the fire starter material. In order for a “well” type fire to flare up, it is necessary to create a pyramidal structure inside it. Place fire starter material in the center of the fireplace and stack the brushwood on top of it in a pyramid. You should definitely start with small brushwood and then lay down the larger brushwood as a second layer.
- Your pyramid structure does not need to be as large as a pyramid fire pit. Two layers of brushwood will be enough for her.
Cover the pyramid with a square of four logs. First, take the two largest logs and place them parallel to each other with opposite sides pyramids. Then take two smaller logs and place them on the remaining two sides, forming a square. The last two smaller logs should lie on top of the first two larger ones.
- The resulting square will have two openings at the base. One of the openings should be located on the windward side so that the wind can supply oxygen to the fire when you light the fire.
Continue laying the “well”. On top of the square of four logs, begin stacking smaller pieces of wood in the same manner. The goal is to build something similar to a well around the original pyramid.
- The process of laying firewood for a fire in this case is similar to the process of laying logs when building a wooden log house.
Cover the “well” with thin, light brushwood. When the “well” itself is ready, take thin, light brushwood and lay it on top as a flooring. Then take matches or a lighter and light a fire from below.
- To obtain best results, it is best to light the fire from several sides at once.
- Continue adding brushwood to the fire until the walls of the “well” light up.
- A “well” type fire provides a longer burn, so it is ideal for warming up around it for a long time.

Putting out the fire

Think about putting out the fire in advance. You are solely responsible for the fire you build, and the burning process often takes longer than you would like. To avoid leaving behind dangerous embers and to do everything correctly, you must have sufficient time at your disposal. It will take about 20 minutes to extinguish the fire, during which you can make sure that the coals are completely extinguished. When you spray the coals with water, you want to make sure that the water reaches as many of them as possible. Therefore, you need to stir the coals as you irrigate them. Be sure to reach the coals at the base of the fire pit so they don't smolder in the depths.
It is wise to take several fire sources with you on a hike. If matches or a regular lighter become damp, they will be useless. An electric lighter is a completely reliable source of fire, since it is enough to turn it over and tap it on the palm of your hand to get rid of any water that has got into it. You can also look for waterproof matches or flint in travel stores.
If you are camping at a tent camp, check the rules that apply there. In some cases, there may be certain restrictions on the construction of fires. It is in your own interests not to break the established rules.
Do not burn synthetic waste in a fire; take it with you for subsequent disposal.
Leave behind the territory in better condition what it was before you. If you use an old fireplace, be sure to clear away any ashes and any surrounding debris when you leave. If you made a fire in a previously untouched place, scatter the stones of the hearth, refresh the vegetation on it and try not to leave any traces behind.

Warnings

Do not leave the fire unattended. Flames can get out of control very quickly.
Always keep a full bucket of water near the fire in case of emergency.
Do not try to contain the flame by hand. You'll just get burned.
Fire can attract curious animals. Despite the fact that the animals are unlikely to dare to approach him openly, they can watch what is happening from a hiding place. Don't leave food items out in the open, you won't realize how creative raccoons and bears can be. It is better to hang food on a tree high above the ground.

Everyone should know how to light a fire - with such knowledge you will not be lost. A real dude certainly knows how to make fire without matches. This is a skill necessary for survival. It's impossible to predict when you'll need to start a fire and don't have any matches at hand. Maybe your plane will crash in some wild area, like somewhere in Alaska. Or, for example, you go into the forest and lose your backpack in a fight with a bear. After all, you may find yourself in very windy or wet weather when matches are practically useless. It doesn't matter if you ever need these skills, but it's still very cool to know how to make fire, no matter what conditions you find yourself in.

Making fire by friction
Making fire by friction is not for the faint of heart. Perhaps this is the most difficult of the “non-match” methods of making fire. Exist different ways making fire by friction, but the most important thing in this matter is which wood to use as a plank and rod.
The rod is a stick that needs to be rotated back and forth around its axis to create strong friction between it and the board to produce a spark. If you create enough friction between the rod and the board, you can create smoldering coals and use them to start a fire. Poplar, juniper, aspen, willow, cedar, cypress and Walnut are best suited for producing fire in this way.
An important point: the wood must be dry.

Hand drill
Method hand drill- the most primitive, simple and at the same time the heaviest. All that is needed for this method is wood, Strong arms and iron patience. Using this method, you will feel real primitive man. So, we make fire using a hand drill:
Gather the tinder into a compact pile that resembles a bird's nest. The tinder nest will be used to ignite the flame obtained from the spark that we have to get. This “nest” should be made of a material that catches fire easily, such as dry grass, leaves or bark.
Make a small depression in the “nest”. Cut a v-shaped hole in the fire board and make a small indentation next to it.
Place the bark under this depression. Smoldering coals arising from the friction of the rod on the board will fall on it - this will give the fire a chance to flare up.
Start rotating the rod. Place the rod in the groove on the board. The length of the rod must be at least 60 cm for everything to work properly. Press the rod onto the board and rotate it between your palms, quickly moving them up and down the rod. Continue doing this until there are smoldering coals forming in the hole of the fire board.
Fan the fire! As soon as you see red coals, tap the fire board so that they fall onto the piece of bark located under the hole. Move the bark to your tinder "nest". Carefully and carefully blow on the coals to start the flame.

Fire plow
Prepare a fire board. Cut a hole in the board where you will place the rod.
Three! Take the rod and place the end of it in the recess on the fire board. Start rubbing the tip of the rod against the walls of the recess in the board, moving it up and down.
Start lighting the fire. Place the tinder “nest” so that the smoldering embers that will arise from friction fall into it. As soon as you catch a coal, gently blow on it and get a small tongue of living flame.

Bow drill
Using a bow to start a fire is probably the most effective of the friction methods because it makes it easier to maintain high pressure and the speed of rotation of the rod. Strong friction arises, which is necessary to make fire. In addition to the rod and plank, this method will require a weight to hold the rod and a bow.
Make a device for weighting. It is used to press down on the end of the rod that is on top: the rod is driven by the bow and therefore becomes unstable. You can use a stone or a piece of wood to hold the rod. If you use a piece of wood, it should be harder than the rod. It is very good to use water or oil as a lubricant to make things go better.
Make a bow. It should be the same length as your arm. Use a flexible, slightly curved wooden rod. The bow string can be made from anything, such as lace, rope, or a strip of rawhide. One condition: it must be a durable material that will not tear. Pull the bowstring and you are ready to start making fire.
Prepare a fire board. Cut a v-shaped hole and place tinder under the hole.
Wrap the rod with a bowstring. Place the rod in the loop of the bow string. One end of the rod should be in the hole that you made in the plank, and the other end should be pressed with a stone or piece of wood.
Start moving the bow. Move the bow back and forth in a horizontal plane, just like when sawing something. As a matter of fact, you have now assembled a rudimentary mechanical system. The rod should rotate quickly. Keep moving the bow until you get coals.
Make the fire burn. Throw the smoldering coals into the tinder and blow lightly on them. Ready! Now you have started a fire.

Flint and steel

This is the old method. Carrying a good flint and steel with you is always a good idea. Matches can get wet and then be of no use, but in this case you can still rely on your flint and steel.
If these things are not at hand, no one forbids you to improvise using quartzite and a steel blade pocket knife.
You will also need lighting material - usually fabric or moss. They catch sparks well and smolder for a long time without flaring up. If you do not have special material for ignition, then a piece of mushroom or birch bark is quite suitable.
Secure the lighting material and stone. Grab the big stone and index finger. Make sure that the distance from your fingers to the edge of the stone is approximately 5-7 cm. The lighting material should be between your thumb and the flint.
Hit! Take a steel rod or use the handle of a knife. Strike the steel against the flint several times. Sparks will fly off the steel and land on the ignition material, causing smoldering.
Light a fire. Place lighter material in the tinder nest and blow lightly on it to fan the flame.

Making fire using a lens

Using a lens, starting a fire is easy. Anyone who melted plastic soldiers as a child by playing with a magnifying glass knows how to do this. If you have never done such things, then here are instructions for you

Traditional lenses
All that is required to create fire is a lens necessary to concentrate sunlight on a specific place. A magnifying glass, glasses or binocular lenses will work fine. If you add a little water to the surface of the lens, you can strengthen the beam.
Angle the lens towards the sun to focus the beam on the smallest area possible. Place a “nest” of tinder on this spot, and a fire will soon flare up.
The only downside to this method is that it only works when there is sun. Therefore, if it happens in the evening or on a cloudy day, the lens will be useless.

In addition to simple method Starting a fire using a lens There are three additional methods of starting a fire using lenses, which also allow you to create fire.

Balloons and condoms
Filling out balloon or a condom with water, you can make a lens from these simple things that will help you get fire.
Fill a condom or balloon with water and tie the end. Give the ball or condom the most spherical shape possible. Don't inflate the condom or balloon too much as this will distort the focus sunbeam. Squeeze the balloon into a shape that will focus the beam. Try squeezing the condom in the middle to form two smaller lenses.
Condoms and balloons focal length smaller than regular lenses, so they need to be placed at a distance of 2–5 cm from the tinder.

Making fire with ice
Ice and Fire is not only a quote from Pushkin, which you probably remember from school course literature. You can actually start a fire with a piece of ice. All you need to do for this is to shape a piece of ice into the shape of a lens and then use it for its intended purpose, like any other lens. This method is especially good for tourists in winter time.
Get it clean water. In order for ice to be used to make a lens, it must be transparent. If the ice is cloudy or contains any impurities, then no matter how hard you fight, you will not get fire with it. The best way get a transparent piece of ice - fill a ball or cup with clear water from a lake, pond or melted snow and let the water freeze. A piece of ice should be approximately 5 cm thick to serve as a good lens.
Use a knife to shape a piece of ice into a lens shape. Remember that the lens is thicker in the middle and narrower near the edges.
Once you have a rough shape of the lens, polish it by hand. The warmth of your hands will melt the ice enough to create a nice smooth surface.
Start making fire. Position the ice lens at an angle to the sun in the same way as if it were a regular glass lens. Focus a beam of light on a pile of tinder and see how useful it is to remember the quote from Alexander Sergeevich.

Coca-Cola can and chocolate bar
I saw this method in a YouTube video, pretty interesting stuff. All we need is a can of Coca-Cola, a bar of chocolate and a sunny day.
Open the chocolate bar and start rubbing the chocolate itself on the bottom of the jar. This polishing will make the surface of the tin bottom shine like a mirror. If you don't have chocolate with you, toothpaste works the same way.
Make fire. After polishing, you essentially have a parabolic mirror. The sunlight will reflect off the bottom of the jar and focus on one spot. This is somewhat reminiscent of the principle of operation of mirrors in a telescope.
Turn the polished bottom of the jar towards the sun. This will create a perfectly focused beam of light aimed directly at the tinder. Place the tinder approximately 2-3cm away from the focal point of the sunlight. After a few seconds, a flame should appear.
While I can't imagine being somewhere on the edge of the world with a Coke can and a chocolate bar, this method of making fire really works.

Batteries and natural wool

As with the chocolate and the bottle, it is difficult to imagine a situation in which you could find yourself in extreme conditions without matches, but with batteries and a piece of clean wool. But you never know how life will turn out. This method is quite simple and fun, so you can try it at home.
Stretch a piece of wool. It is necessary that the strip of wool is approximately 15 cm long and 1 cm wide.
Rub the battery with a piece of wool. Hold the strip of wool in one hand and the battery in the other. Any battery will do, however optimal power- 9 W. Rub the “contact” side of the battery with wool. The wool will catch fire. Blow lightly on it.
Transfer the burning wool to the tinder. The wool will not burn for long, so hurry up!

Answer from Igor Komarov[guru]

In common parlance, such a fire is called an underground fire. Making a turret like the one in the photo is very simple, so we won’t talk about it. It’s better to talk about how to make an underground fire yourself (The Dakota Fire Hole).
Its flame is invisible to others, it is convenient to cook food on it, and, most importantly, after several hours of burning, the ground above the fire will be so warm that you can safely spend the rest of the night on it.
In order to make such a fire, you need to dig a well with a depth of 25-30cm and a diameter of 15-35cm. On the windward side (where the wind blows), at a distance of 20-25 cm from the hole, another well of the same depth is made. but a little smaller in diameter (15-20cm), for ventilation. Next, the two wells are connected by a tunnel at their very bottom.
The Pyramid bonfire produces a large flame. It is suitable for quickly heating people and drying clothes, but it quickly burns out.
Bonfire "Pit". To set up a fire of this type, you need to dig a hole in the ground. To preserve heat, it is advisable to line the bottom of the pit with stones. On such a fire you can boil water, cook food, or bake a roast in the ashes.
Bonfire “Fence” (“Nodya”). To set up this type of fire, you need to drive four pegs into the ground, between which you place firewood in the form of a fence. The fire is lit from below. It can burn for a long time, generating a lot of heat, if you mix dry and damp firewood. This type of fire is very convenient for drying clothes.
Bonfire "Lattice". At the base of this type of fire, two thick dry logs are placed, on which firewood of smaller and smaller diameters is stacked in several rows in the form of a dense lattice. This type of fire is best suited for joint events with the participation of the entire navigator squad.
A slightly modified version of the “Grate” can be used for cooking food, heating people, drying clothes, shoes, etc. Such a fire can be built if dry and raw firewood. As dry wood burns, it dries out wet wood, so the fire can burn for quite a long time.
A fire of three logs is equipped in such a way that the “Pyramid” fire serves as its filling. Please note that the lower two logs are laid on logs to form a blower. A third log is placed on top of the same logs. The advantage of this type of fire is that it can burn for two hours or more without additional firewood.
The simplest device for placing flat-bottomed cookware over a fire is a three-legged stand. It can be made by placing three approximately identical stones around the fire or sticking them directly into hot coals

Answer from Fleur d'Orange[guru]
with a spark))

Answer from Voron[guru]
download, unpack and run...

Answer from Victor V[active]
light it up and that's it

Answer from A A[guru]
so we will need a lot of firewood, gasoline and matches, put the firewood on the floor (you don’t have to remove the carpet), pour gasoline on top, strike a match and voila - the fire is ready!

Answer from Edward Halford[guru]
first you need firewood... and so that the humidity in it is less than 106%.... otherwise, to ignite such firewood you need a heating temperature of such strength... when the water begins to split into hydrogen and oxygen. (as a rule, only beginners can light such firewood because they don’t know it)

Answer from Vladimir Nikulin[guru]
Are there any matches? Set it on fire, everything burns in the summer!

Answer from JEREGA_[guru]
First, prepare a place for ignition. It should not be under trees. Since the temperature of the fire can damage the branches. In general, I chose the place. Using a sapper shovel, you remove the turf with vegetation about 80 cm by 60 cm. Place the removed turf around the future fire pit. You also remove a layer of earth into a depression of about 10 cm - 20 cm. Did. We begin the search for dry wood. Spruce, pine, and birch branches are suitable for quick ignition. In order not to carry paper with you, alcohol tablets are ideal for lighting. (1 pack - 10 pcs). Well, then you lay the branches like a well, lightly sprinkling the middle with the smallest sticks. You take the tablet, set it on fire and place it in the middle of the well you have made. To be sure, you can set one more on fire. Well, then you begin to collect brushwood that is a little thicker (but dry)

_____________________________
It would be nice to have a 3 or 5 liter bottle of water with you, so that at the end of the rest you can put out the fire and cover the fire pit with earth again. The turf is laid last. You can also water it with water.

Reading time: 6 min

Summer has arrived, which means that thousands of city dwellers are rushing from noisy, dusty cities to the bosom of nature in search of a cozy green corner. What could be better than sitting by the fire, watching the sparks rush into the starry sky, listening to the crackling of logs and the stories of experienced tourists.

But to organize proper gatherings, you need to know many secrets associated with the fire. In this article, we’ll look at how to choose the right place, what types of fires there are, and how to start a fire using improvised means!

Fire is the strangest creation of nature, it appears instantly, spreads with terrible speed, sweeps away everything in its path, leaving behind only smoke and ashes. Every tourist should remember this when choosing a place to make a fire.

Important points– the presence of a reservoir within walking distance, the absence of trees and shrubs in the same area, it is important that their branches do not hang over the fire. Ideal place– an old fireplace or trampled area, previously cleared of dry grass, pine needles, and leaves.
Dangerous places:

old peat bogs, as a fire may start underground that cannot be controlled and extinguished;
clearings with dry forest residues;
young coniferous trees where crown fire spreads quickly;
a windfall with a lot of dry, broken trees.

If tourists stay for more than one day and pitch tents, then the fire should be at a decent distance from them, since any spark falling on the tarpaulin can lead to dire consequences.

After choosing a location, you need to carry out several more important activities, the benefits of which will become clear a little later. Firstly, place the fire not on the surface, but in a recess (the heat will remain longer, and sparks will not fly onto tourists’ shoes).

Secondly, the pit can be lined with stones (large pebbles) around the perimeter.

What types of fires are there and what are they used for?

Only at first glance it seems that all fires are the same, in fact there are many differences and nuances. Firstly, fire can be lit for different purposes; the most common types are:

smoke (two different purposes: get rid of midges, mosquitoes or send a distress signal, show your location);
heat (the main goal is the comfort of the tourist: heating, drying clothes and shoes, cooking);
fiery (different purposes: lighting a resting place, scaring away animals, heating water and food).

There are also bonfires different types, depending on how the firewood is stacked. The most popular: well, hut, star, taiga.

To create a well (or log house) logs of the same thickness and length are taken. They create a kind of log house, the fire in this case is very even, suitable for cooking and heating.

Bonfire hut– firewood is placed vertically, connecting at the top, resembling a hut, it can have different thickness.

Starfire suitable for long burning, the logs are stacked in the shape of a star and set on fire in the center. As they burn through, they are carefully moved forward.

Taiga fire will also burn for a long time, producing a hot flame and a lot of coals. To start such a fire, take one large log and place smaller logs on it. It is important to place them with one end on a large log and only on one, leeward side.

Smoke fires help drive away mosquitoes or give signals about lost tourists, as they are visible from afar. To create such a fire, you need to light a regular fire, lay fresh, resinous pine paws and branches or green tree branches on top.

What kind of ignition products are there, and which ones are best to use?

An experienced tourist always has matches on hand, which are the best way to light a fire. But he also knows that there are other aids that can be used by the tourist:

means for ignition only;
means for starting a fire in the most difficult cases;
long-burning means that can replace a fire.

When preparing for a hike, it is important not to forget about matches; they also require some modernization. One match will be enough to start a fire in damp weather, but the product itself must be dry. To protect them from moisture, they are covered with paraffin at home, stored not only in a cardboard box, but also placed in an airtight plastic bag. Special attention deserve hunting matches, but it is better to leave the so-called iron matches for effectively lighting the fireplace.

The forest has its reliable helpers, the best means For kindling, dry pine needles and dry moss are considered. Birch bark is used quite often; ancient people knew about its properties of easily igniting and actively used it. Modern man can only remember the achievements of his ancestors and use them in time.

Special product for ignition - dry alcohol. Its advantages: it flares up quickly, there is no soot. Flaws: crumbles during transportation and burns when exposed to moisture, scattering fragments.

Kindlings made with paraffin, which protects against moisture, are actively used. And used as a kindling agent different materials, including wood pulp, hardboard, sawdust.

Lighting a fire in rainy weather

A tourist prepared for a hike may become confused if the weather begins to let him down. For example, it’s time to stop, put up tents and light a fire, but the rain doesn’t seem to stop.

Experienced people give the first advice - take your time. The firewood is wet, even if you have matches and paper, you still won’t be able to light a fire. The second tip is not to use liquid flammable substances such as kerosene, gasoline, acetone, as there is a risk of setting your own clothes on fire and getting burned instead of getting a fire going.

Dry fuel (alcohol or other dry flammable substances) becomes the most a good helper. It is only important to take care of the tourist’s backpack. To preserve their flammable properties, you need to protect them from moisture and cover them with paraffin when preparing for travel. Dried citrus peels (lemon, orange) have the same excellent characteristics. Thanks to the availability essential oils light up quickly and last high temperature. Just like chemical dry flammable substances, crusts must be covered with paraffin.

By good means for kindling are considered:

oiled paper, which is placed in a tin can;
birch bark, it needs to be torn into thin strips and rolled into a lump;
dry lichen.

To light a fire in rainy weather, you need to collect as dry wood as possible, build a fire from it, and place kindling inside it, then dry, thin sticks, dead wood, brushwood, thicker logs on top. Now the structure needs to be set on fire, trying to protect the kindling from raindrops.

How to light a fire in the forest in winter without matches?

There are summer and winter hikes, so it is important to know how to light a fire in any weather, in any conditions, using matches or using improvised means.

As assistants, in the absence of matches, any flammable substances can be used; an important clarification is that they must be dry. This role can be played by: fabrics, parts of clothing, twine or rope, dry leaves, sawdust, tree bark crushed to crumbs, dry moss, fluff or bird feathers. It is good to moisten these products with vodka, cologne (substances containing alcohol). Now it’s time to begin the creative process of making fire; there are several ways.

Chemical method of starting a fire

It is only good for prepared tourists. It will require powdered potassium permanganate and glycerin; without knowing about this method of making fire, it is unlikely that a person will carry these drugs on a hike. But an experienced tourist will have them at hand; they take up little space, but can be a lifesaver. The ignition method is simple: pour in 1 gram of potassium permanganate, carefully add 2-3 drops of glycerin, the main thing is to quickly remove your hands, as the process develops very quickly. A fire breaks out - the tinder moves, the fire begins to flare up.

Optical method

Works only in sunny weather. With the help of a lens, which can be glasses, glass, or a magnifying glass, a ray of sun is caught and directed onto the tinder. In winter, as a lens, in the absence of other means, you can use a piece clear ice. With the onset of cloudiness or twilight, the method becomes absolutely useless.

Geological method

Classic use of tinder and flint. Any hard stone can be used as flint. By striking it with a knife or any piece of metal, you can create a spark that will ignite the tinder.

Friction is used, but getting a spark requires some experience and a lot of physical strength. Therefore, if there have been no training or trial attempts, it is better to use other methods of making fire.

How to light a fire with a battery and foil?

Knowledge is great power, using a battery lying in your pocket and a piece of foil, you can also make fire. Secrets: the battery must be in working order, and the foil must have paper base, a wrapper from chewing gum, candy or regular chocolate. Foil can be without a paper backing; the ignition process is a little more complicated.

The method for making fire is as follows:

Tear off a strip from the wrapper: width – 1.5 cm, length – twice the length of the battery.
Make two tears in the middle of the foil (one on each side) to create a thin bridge, approximately 2 mm wide.
Wrap the jumper with dry, flammable material (moss, sawdust, thread, fluff).
Apply the ends of the foil strip to the poles of the battery, the strip will become a current conductor, in the narrowest place it will heat up and ignite the paper part of the wrapper.

The more ignition methods a person knows, the more confident he feels on a hike.

How to effectively maintain a fire?

Starting a fire is a big deal, but it's also important to know how to keep it in good condition so that it does its job, keep you warm, ward off mosquitoes, signal your location, or cook porridge.

Secret one– what kind of wood to use! It is known that wood coniferous trees flares up very quickly, but the fire is short-lived and quickly ceases to exist. Deciduous trees, on the contrary, they take longer to light up, but the fire turns out to be very hot and burns for a long time. Using these properties of wood, experienced tourists start a fire using pine or its “colleagues”, and support the fire with birch, oak and the like.

The second secret– the fire requires attention. Sometimes you don’t need to add wood to keep it burning, but just lightly stir the logs in the fire or blow it. The influx of oxygen will allow the fire to flare up with the same intensity.

The third secret– fire protection. You can install awnings over the fire (at a sufficient height), which will also prevent it from dying out; under them it is much more convenient to dry things and warm up.

How to use a fire to send a distress signal?

And in three pines, the ancestors were sure, you could get lost. If this happens, the main thing is not to panic, not to start frantically rushing around in search of a road or at least a path. You need to start thinking positively, first of all how to inform people about your location. The goal is to send a clear message. The most simple ways: flares, mirrors or fabrics used as flags.

In the absence of these helpers, the only hope left is the fire. True, this needs to be done special rules:

A fire should be started in a high, open, clearly visible area, on the top of a mountain or hill, in a forest clearing. There is advice to build a fire on a raft, lay a layer of sand and stones on top of the logs, and light firewood on top; such raft fires are clearly visible from the air.
If possible, make not one, but three fires, located on the same line at a distance of 40–50 meters, with a supply of firewood for each. In international practice, such fires are a distress signal.
It is important that the fires are not fire, but smoke, since the smoke rising in a column in dry weather is visible 50 kilometers away, that is, much further than the flame. You can use spruce branches, raw branches or grass.
If you're lonely standing tree, then in order to save a person’s life, you can sacrifice him. To do this, cover the tree with kindling and, when a helicopter (rescue plane) approaches, set the kindling on fire. The fire will reach the crown and turn the tree into a kind of torch, visible from afar (but this dangerous way, if the fire spreads to other trees or grass, then no one will help you).

The main thing when making fires is to follow safety rules so as not to injure yourself and not harm the environment.

We hope that this material will serve practical guide novice tourist. And during the hike you will remember valuable tips!

If you have mastered the course “How to make a fire correctly?”, then you can go camping.

Hiking in Crimea

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All fans and admirers of the automotive industry know that the behavior of a car on the road largely depends on the correct adjustment of the angles of the suspension wheels. It is well known how much time is devoted to checking wheel camber and toe angles; the recommendations of leading experts require them to be performed every 5-7 thousand km. Most important role The so-called caster angle plays a role in ensuring wheel stability. It is often forgotten not only by car enthusiasts, but also by specialists at service stations.

What is caster and the importance of adjusting it

The word castor, or caster, is the Russified sound of the English term caster angle - angle of deflection. The easiest way to imagine the geometric arrangement of the angle is on a two-wheeled vehicle - a bicycle or motorcycle. In this case, the caster angle, or caster angle, will be the angle of the steering column. There is no fundamental difference for a car, only the amount of caster will be smaller and not so clearly and clearly expressed.

Contribution of caster to the wheel stabilization mechanism

Interesting! Using caster to self-stabilize a wheel vehicle proposed back in the 19th century by the Englishman Arthur Krebs with the aim of improving the suspension of swivel wheels.

The pattern of formation of the stabilizing effect of the caster angle is very similar in mechanism to the stabilizing effect of the weather vane. If you pay attention to the simplified image of the MacPherson suspension, the analogy becomes clear.

In the case of a weather vane, pressure stabilizes the position air flow, for a car wheel, similar work is performed by the friction force of the wheel resistance on the road surface. The point of its application will coincide with the contact patch of the tire with the road, and in the case of a positive angle, it will be located a short distance behind the axis of rotation. Any deviation of the wheel from the straight line of movement causes the appearance of a compensating moment from the friction force, returning the wheel to its previous position. As the caster angle increases to a certain value, the value of the compensation and stabilization forces increases - the steering wheel becomes heavier, and the car's steering deteriorates. Most car models come out of the factory with a slightly higher caster angle.

When mastering a new model, it is easier and safer for the driver to deal with a car that does not suffer from an excessive ability to scour the course; A positive caster angle significantly reduces the threat of a sudden and sharp change in direction of movement with possible skidding and overturning of the vehicle under the influence of lateral inertial forces.

With the accumulation of small deformations of the suspension under load during the first months of operation, the caster value decreases somewhat and comes within the recommended norm.

Stabilization due to the caster angle has a pronounced dynamic character - with increasing speed of movement, the resistance force and the moment of stabilization increase. The effect persists even with the minimum positive caster value. As a rule, for front-wheel drive cars, the caster angle is less than that recommended by the manufacturer and can be 1-2 degrees. For the rear wheels, the stability of the maintained course of movement is enhanced by the displacement of the driving pulling wheels in front of the center of gravity.

Classic model with rear-wheel drive it has a caster value of up to 4 degrees on the front wheels. Greater stabilization efforts increase the load on the steering mechanism components and cause greater wear on the steering rod bushings. Therefore, they do not try to overestimate the angle; the average value of the caster angle for modern passenger cars does not exceed 6°. If the steered wheels have a large axle load, the caster value is reduced to 2° to reduce the effort required to control the steering wheel.

Interesting! For most Mercedes-Benz models, the caster value is within 10-12°.

The reason is the desire to ensure high maneuverability of the vehicle with relatively large body dimensions. The fact is that an overestimated value of caster or longitudinal inclination, in addition to the stabilizing effect, increases the camber angle of the wheel when it turns along the axis. Increasing the wheel angle has a beneficial effect on the car's ability to make deep turns without skidding.

How the caster value is controlled

Like all angles, in geometry the caster angle is obtained by calculation or direct measurement using special device.

Option one - direct measurement

It is difficult to call this method the most accurate. But it is simple and accessible for use in a garage. In the first option, it is necessary to manufacture and install at the measuring points special clamps with support pins. When installing clamps, it is necessary to ensure that the centers of the pins exactly coincide with the virtual line passing through:

A thread or thin copper wire is stretched between the centers of the measuring pins. A thread with a plumb line is additionally suspended from the upper pin and secured measuring device- you can use a geodetic protractor. The beauty of this method of measurement is its simplicity and clarity, the downside is the simply monstrous measurement error, which allows you to see the magnitude of the angle with an accuracy of fractions of a degree.

Advice! In a pin suspension, you can use a bar with a reinforced protractor and a plumb line without an additional thread-pin system.

Option two - measuring and calculating the caster value by the tangent of the angle

The measurement method already has enough high accuracy, but assumes basic knowledge of geometry. As in the first case, it is necessary to install pins at the measurement points and tension the threads. To calculate the caster angle, we need to measure three distances as accurately as possible:

L1 - the shortest distance along the thread stretched between the pins, through the attachment points of the ball joints or shock absorber strut, depending on the suspension design;
Using a construction level indicator and a ruler, we measure the distance L2 - from the center of the lower measuring pin to the vertical thread with a plumb line. The measurement must be performed strictly according to the readings of the level indicator. Mark with a marker the point at which the ruler with the level indicator intersects the vertical thread with a plumb line;
L3 - the distance along the length of the thread with a plumb line from the center of the upper measuring pin to the point you marked with a marker in step 2.

Advice! Select to set the pin position to obtain the longest possible thread length. The longer the length of L1, L3, the larger the value of L2, the more accurate the value will be.

Option three is complex, requiring skills and knowledge

In the conditions of service stations or repair shops that service and repair car suspensions, a method is very often used in which the caster value is determined by calculation, measuring the wheel camber in two positions - the maximum turn to the left and to the right at the same specific angle.

Most measurements are performed using specialized stands and devices. With certain skills, you can measure the amount of camber using a ruler and a plumb line, but the accuracy of such measurements will not be higher than the previous option.

How caster values affect suspension performance and vehicle handling

At negative values At caster corners, the car is unexpectedly easy to maneuver, the steering wheel is light and practically does not allow you to feel the road. As the speed increases, unpredictable yaw appears; the driver has to make every effort to timely align the direction of movement. At 70-80 km/h the car loses control.

With small positive caster values, the car is easy to control, and up to 80 km/h there are no significant problems with maintaining course.

With increased positive caster values, the car is also easy to control, but high-speed cornering is much worse predicted; at low speeds, maneuverability is quite good.

The caster angle is adjusted by setting required quantity adjusting washers under the lever supports for a multi-link system or at the mounting points of the suspension extension for the MacPherson system.