Putting color in your campfire

[Cyrus]

A friend puts copper pipe with garden house inside of it in the campfire. When the pipe gets hot the flames take on different colors. I have never seen or heard of this before. Does anyone know what causes this?

[tbhd]

I don't know what causes the color but we use old mini Christmas tree lights for the same effect. Of course, the light bulbs are REMOVED.

[Ozz]

I guess the copper oxidizing?? the garden hose is the wild card...Just guessing

[clutch]

My dad showed me that years ago and always told people that it was the blue spruce he put in the fire.

[Tom Gina 06]

Wow brings back memories here we did that as kids also. Not sure how but the effect is great!

[tom41]

you take a 1/2" or 5/8" 1foot piece of copper, drill small holes 3/8 ok about every 1 1/2" apart on 2 sides. then use a "plastic" not rubber hose of the same length, hose inside. the chemicals from the plastic and the copper makes blue, green, red, and bright colors. when the pipe is cooled you can reuse the pipe, just get another piece of plastic hose. A Texan friend showed me this yrs ago, he called it a "Texan" fire stick.

[MikeandBarb]

Its fun to watch people when they see the different colors for the first time and kids really get a kick out of it!

[simonsrf]

Tom,

What a great idea, I've never heard of this trick.

When you say plastic hose, are you talking about the kind used for sprinkler systems, or the type you use to wash your car?

Looking forward to trying this!

Thanks.

[tom41]

Robbie its just the cheapest old plastic hose you can get. Like the 6 or 7.00 ones you can get at hardware store, yes like you would wash your car with. look around somewhere bet you can find an old one someone has thrown out. also when you put it all together, put it deep down in the wood that you gonna use for the fire. and it shows up really good in a picture. good luck!

[Fordzilla]

We have found pine cones that are made for fireplaces that have copper sulfate stuck to them that we use in the campfire which creates the same or really similar results. They burn for 15-20 minutes. I will try and get the name of them and post later.

[HughM]

I'll agreed that its really something to see. We use to get kids around the fire and do a "fire dance" and put the pipe in the fire with a bunch of sticks. You should see their face when all the colors come out of the fire!!!
Just be careful and not breathe the fumes from the plastic burning.

[paparonsr]

Some of us call it "Rainbow Wood" Really pretty!