Backwoodsman Guide to Fire

Master the ancient art of fire-making and explore primitive cooking techniques with timeless articles from The Backwoodsman Magazine.

As a child, Charlie Richie Jr. watched his father start friction fires, build solar-powered ovens, carve his own utensils—and fall in love with the Old Ways of Living. In 1980, Charlie Sr. was inspired to create The Backwoodsman Magazine, with a mission to preserve and share timeless outdoor skills that will forever be relevant.

In The Backwoodsman Guide to Fire, Charlie Jr. collects 25 of the magazine’s best fire- and cooking-related articles from the 1980s and 1990s, written by seasoned craftspeople. Discover several traditional and modern fire-making methods—from bow drills and flint-and-steel sets to emergency kits built from everyday items. Plus, learn how to create fire in any condition, including wet weather or low-resource environments. But fire is just the beginning. This guide jumps into backwoods cooking and bushcraft ingenuity. The selections often feature how-to plans and instructions—complete with illustrations—and they focus on wilderness cooking with a variety of braziers, ovens, and smokers made from natural and repurposed materials.

A testament to human ingenuity and the enduring importance of traditional craftsmanship, this book ensures that critical survival techniques and “the art of making” remain accessible to future generations. It offers personal empowerment, creativity, and deep environmental engagement.

If you’re an avid outdoorsperson who might find yourself in an overnight survival situation, this is an essential book. If you can’t walk through the woods without seeing every stick as tinder, kindling, or part of your next campfire, you’ll love this rugged collection of fire-making and wilderness-cooking articles for beginners and hands-on adventurers.

Inside you’ll find:

• 25 of The Backwoodsman Magazine’s best fire-related articles
• Instructions for creating clay ovens, garbage-can smokers, fireless cookers, and more—no modern cookware needed
• Technical illustrations that aid in understanding each step-by-step process