Went to friend's camp on a lake in the Adirondacks this weekend. We used to lay down newspaper, baby sticks, to kindling and finally logs to make a fire in his 4 ft. diameter steel ring. It's a foot tall with a wind block on the lake side.
Jerry says, nope, watch this!
He took a 22" diameter log and gut it into quarters with a chain saw from the flat side down about 3/4 of the 2 ft. length. He says some people make a hex, three cuts. Anyway, sprinkle the saw dust into the cracks, stand it up in the pit and hose it with some BBQ lighter fluid.
Amazing, it acts as a chimney! Toss kindling, logs on top of the flat as required and in minutes you've got a fire!
The slits burn open on the bottom to an oval type shape and air rushes in toward the top.
Camping good, 
glad to be home......
RossD
PowerDork
8/18/14 1:29 p.m.
Swedish Fire torch/log trick. http://www.instructables.com/id/Swedish-Torch/
edit: HAHA beat you by a minute!
a variation of the Swedish torch.
http://www.smartbushcraft.com/how-to-make-a-swedish-fire-torch/
edit: hahaha got beat by a minute.
Damn, and here I am thinking the guy is clever......
A slab of birch bark will burn like gasoline, even if it is wet. Try not to collect bark from live, standing birch trees, it can kill them.
I like paper towel tubes filled with dryer lint. That's always worked for me.
bluej
SuperDork
8/18/14 2:42 p.m.
Frito's. All that grease..
powdered coffee creamer thrown against a birch tree as hard are you can will create an event that you swear is going to burn all of Canada to the ground
NGTD
SuperDork
8/18/14 3:28 p.m.
pilotbraden wrote:
A slab of birch bark will burn like gasoline, even if it is wet. Try not to collect bark from live, standing birch trees, it can kill them.
That - and it burns longer and more intense than paper. I have called it nature's gasoline for a long time.
I was in Scouts Canada and I always had the crapiest sleeping bag compared to the others. I became very good at lighting fires because I was cold first.
I keep a mason jar of vaseline mixed with dryer lint to quickly and easily start fires.
RossD
PowerDork
8/18/14 8:49 p.m.
In reply to HappyAndy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuZ7NoIz0Zc
In reply to HappyAndy:
Know how grain silos occasionally explode? Aerosolized flour, or better yet, coffee creamer powder, makes a pretty decent bomb. Try putting a tablespoon worth in your hand, hold a lit bic in front of it with the other, and blow, WOOF. Google "thermobaric bomb" for more info.
You need some sort of ignition, a spark or a flame. Just throwing the creamer against a tree isn't going to make it explode unless the tree is on fire. 
My dad uses sawdust mixed with diesel. He keeps it in a sealed 5 gallon bucket. Its usually cedar sawdust that he gets from work (paper mill = unlimited sawdust). It smells great mixed with diesel. It's stable, has a relatively high flash point and can start the wettest/greenest campfires. Combine that with the Swedish log-stacking method and its nearly fool-proof 
