Here’s a step-by-step guide that you can easily follow to set up a fire inside your Wizard Fire Pit. A great skill that every kiwi should have, whether you’re camping in the bush or chilling in your backyard.
To begin, make sure that you have everything you need to get your fire started and then to keep it going. Here is a list of the essentials.
- Fire starters (Natural ones work best)
- Kindling (ie smaller pieces of wood, think pencil size)
- Larger chunks of wood (picture thicker logs)
- Lighter
- Wizard Fire Pit
Step 1: Unbox your Wizard Fire Pit
First things first, take your Wizard Fire Pit out of its box or remove your outdoor cover if you have one. Get your Fire Pit ready by opening the airflow adjuster to the maximum. You can identify this by looking for the “+” sign engraved into your fire pit. This will create maximum airflow.
Step 2: Build your foundation
They say building a strong foundation is important and this is no different when it comes to building a roaring fire. You will want to start by laying handfuls of your kindling (the smaller pieces of wood) into the fire pit. Laying your sticks parallel (side by side) works effectively.
You want to use smaller pieces of wood first because they catch fire easier than larger pieces of wood. This is because there is not enough heat in the beginning to get the bigger pieces going. Think of it as foreplay for your fire.
Step 3: Light your firestarter
Now for the fun part: Next, you can use your lighter to set one of your fire starters on fire. Bunched and tied cabbage tree leaves also work great as fire starters. Now drop the fire starter right next to (or ideally underneath) your kindling so that your smaller pieces of wood can begin to catch ablaze.
Step 4: Add wood to your fire
Now it is time to feed the beast. But don’t go throwing large logs on willy-nilly. You still need to add bits of wood slowly so that you do not snuff out the fire. Gradually increase the size of the pieces of wood and you will find that you build a nice hot bed of embers. We recommend using kiln-dried pieces of hardwood such as Manuka, Macrocarpa also works great.
Note that pine is the easiest wood to get but because of the resin, it will burn with a lot of black soot.
Step 5: Enjoy your fire
You know what we are going to say now: It's time to enjoy the fruits of your labour. The Wizard Fire Pit will take approximately 20 minutes to heat up to the temperature at which you can expect the smokeless effect to take place. When you start seeing flames shooting out the holes in the top, you are in business.
And there you have it, folks – your guide to starting a ripper fire!
