From keeping warm on chilly camping nights to barbecuing chicken on a bonfire, a fire is of utmost essentiality. Here are 5 essential yet ordinary items to carry to your camping trip to light that big bonfire, sit around it and sing out aloud like nobody’s business.
1. Matchbox
Carry a bulk of matchboxes and keep them within accessible reach so that you can light a fire as soon as you need one. Matchsticks are easily available and can be carried in a small pocket in your rucksack. Gather a big bunch of firewood, twigs, and wooden scraps and light them all up and watch it burn and keep you warm and safe against fleas and mosquitoes.
2. A magnifying glass and a laser torch
Carry a magnifying glass with a lens of big aperture and a laser torch. Collect the firewood. Hold the magnifying glass over it and concentrate the laser light to a point on the firewood by adjusting the angle between the lens and the torch. The point where the light gets concentrated will start to burn like mad! And before you know it, you have made yourself a cheery bonfire that will burn through the night.
Add a little amount of water to the magnifying glass to intensify the focal point of the beam and hasten the act of burning.
3. A pocket-knife and a flint
A pocket-knife can come in handy in a number of ways from keeping attackers at bay, to chopping vegetables and even lighting a fire! Rub the steel hilt of the knife with a char cloth and a flint and spark off the straw and tinder nest with this. You will get a steady and strong campfire.
4. A soda can and a tube of toothpaste
Polish the bottom of the soda can with toothpaste until the can starts to shine and glint like a mirror. You can even use a bar of chocolate instead of the toothpaste for the same results.
After the polishing is done, the bottom of the can will act as a convex mirror that will concentrate the light (light from a laser torch or plain sunlight if you need a fire during the day to cook roasted chicken) to a single focal point and the firewood or straw and tinder nest will quickly catch fire that will last as long as the wood or nest does not burn out to ashes.
5. A steel wool and a battery
Take the steel wool and distend it to about six inches in length and a half inch in breadth. Grasp the stretched steel wool firmly in one hand and the battery in the other hand. The battery power needs to be preferably of nine volts or more in order to be effective.
Rub the battery with the steel wool vigorously. The steel wool will turn red with friction and start to burn. Transfer the burning wool to a collected mass of firewood or straw and tinder nest and you will have lovely bonfire.
