Fire building skills, fire starting gear

longbow · Aug 21, 2011

More homework.........

Post your fire starting skills or gear you have to light a fire.

The water filter thread went very well, and I'm expecting this one to do the same.

I'm partial to UST, but they just got purchased "again" and hope they still make good stuff.

Ultimate Survival Technologies | Survival Kits, Fire Starters and more

snapping turtle · Aug 21, 2011

One good old road flare will get almost any fire like wet wood started even in the rain.

slackerisme · Aug 21, 2011

Here's one you don't hear every day, learned it at a BSA event.

About a teaspoon of this.

Add about an inch of this chopped into 1/16" sized chunks.

Mix those two a bit, then add a few drops of this.

The glycerin and potassium will light on fire. The fire will be hot enough to light the magnesium, and that fire will be hot enough to light a fresh dog turd.

I have read that antifreeze will work as well as glycerin, but have never tried it.

slackerisme · Aug 21, 2011

longbow said:
More homework.........

Post your fire starting skills or gear you have to light a fire.

The water filter thread went very well, and I'm expecting this one to do the same.

I'm partial to UST, but they just got purchased "again" and hope they still make good stuff.

Ultimate Survival Technologies | Survival Kits, Fire Starters and more

I have personally used, and continue to use, their strikeforce product. Along with the wetfire tinder it's practically a fire just waiting to happen. I would recommend lengthening the paracord that keeps the lid and base together, otherwise its a bit awkward to get a good spark.

scott delaney · Aug 21, 2011

9 volt bat and some fine steelwool.....works great on wet wood and in high wind

Exodus · Aug 21, 2011

Char cloth and cottonballs (I like dryer lint) with some vaseline on em, zippo, cheapo lighters, typical firesteel, some firestarter logs chopped into smaller bits, waterproof matches, battery and steelwool.

Mixed and matched throughout bags. I really need to get out and practice old school friction methods.

Bunnykid68 · Aug 21, 2011

Box(50) of mini Bic lighters

jason867 · Aug 21, 2011

Some of this pulled apart.

Light with a spark stick or whatever else you have to light with.

Burns well for a good minute or more, depending on how much you use, a can should be enough to start SEVERAL fires.

In addition, you can stuff a lighter, matches, or spark stick into the can, and keep it all dry. I think the stuff may burn even wet, because I think the water would be repelled by the petroleum distillates that the cloth has in it.

PwrCruz · Aug 21, 2011

Fire steel, bic lighter, steel wool and 9v battery, bow drill (still learning), and lots of diffrent tinder char cloth, dryer lint & cotton balls w/petro jelly, chopped fire log etc...

jblomenberg16 · Aug 21, 2011

Firesteel for me at the moment, and I've made some cotton balls for tinder. Found that the little brown paper inserts in 20rd boxes of 7.62x39 also work good as something to light.

Chase515 · Aug 21, 2011

Fire steel and a feather stick work well for me. I picked up a roll of jute twine at dollar general for a 1$. Cut it into short lengths and roll it between your fingers to fluff it up, one swipe of the fire steel usually has it going. I have also experminted with some of the wifes old candals and dipping cotton balls and old dryer lint in the wax.

Bruenor · Aug 21, 2011

A trick that I learned from a friend was to use the carpet insulation/padding from cars. You can get it very cheap (if not free) from junk yards. One strike on a fire steel and it catches.

This is also useful if your car breaks down and you need to start a fire. The insulation is easy and cheap to replace, and you have the cigarette lighter from the car to start it.

canamscott · Aug 21, 2011

My kit is flint and fire steel, charcloth, matches, knife.

The knife is for peeling bark off of potential kindling and for shaving fine tinder from sticks, goldenrod, nettle or other dried stems.

Matches and charcloth, keep them dry. Favorite tinder plants; sissel (bailing twine), basswood (dried inner bark), cedar bark, stinging nettle (dried outer bark). But if you have the vaseline drier lint by all means use it.

Or make a fire bow. Bow - about any branch that will hold the curve, fire arrow - soft wood, as straight as possible, base - soft wood such as willow, cedar, cottonwood, basswood, aspen, socket - hard wood (oak, hickory, sugar maple) or even shell, rock, antler. String the bow with plant fiber or rawhide or even your boot laces in a real emergency.

I will not start a fire if someone else, thinking they were helpful, fills my fire pit with bark and leaves, the very parts that retain moisture.

hoosierdaddy1976 · Aug 21, 2011

vaseline smeared dryer lint in a foodsaver bag, with some sealed strike anywhere matches tucked in. couple of lighters in a baggie with homemade wax/sawdust starters. need to work on some friction based means.

EvilKidsMeal · Aug 21, 2011

Match books in a waterproof container. I can fit 8 whole books into a small Plano container (approx. 2.5"x3.5") so thats 160 matches.

Strike anywhere matches in a film canister. (seemingly waterproof from my testing) maybe be replaced by waterproof or storm proof matches in the future.

standard bic lighter

swedish firesteel (light my fire army version)

8 wetfire cubes and 3 Weber charcoal lighting cubes. (basically the same as wetfire)

Wetfire stove

All of this fits in the top; front pocket in my bag. 7"x4"x2.5"deep. I fit everything in my bag good enough to where i could designate a purely fire starting compartment.

then on my Buck 119 Special sheath i have a smaller Kershaw fire steel and a cube of wetfire.

Pocket survival kit: mini bic, Swedish firesteel scout version, cube of wetfire, 2 birthday cake candles, and a matchbook.

and if it ever stops raining and dries up in my neck of the woods, i intend to experiment with primitive ways of fire.

what can i say? fire is fascinating as is all the ways of creating it.

Sailor · Aug 22, 2011

While the source of the spark is important, the skills to make the fire in all conditions is equally important. It is a perishable skill keep up on it.

I have taken my gloves off and gotten so cold I could barely operate a bic lighter in freezing rain. I failed at fire but learned.

Collect match sized kindling when you don't need fire. Learn to find dry tinder when its been raining for days. Wet wood will burn if your fire is hot enough.

2ADMNLOVER · Aug 22, 2011

Harbor freight in southern plaza sells the magnesium fire blocks with fero rods in them for $2 a piece .

Bunnykid68 · Aug 22, 2011

Something I have often thought about that I have not seen anyone mention, I am assuming most on here would have ammo handy. If you can create a spark of some kind you could always dump the powder out of one of your shells to help jump start your kindling.

RichardR · Aug 22, 2011

I usually just use a couple of slivers of "fat wood" - the stuff is awesome, it's basically a resin/sap/tar heavy pine wood that ignites easily & burns slowly while also producing a very nice flame.

Zoub · Aug 22, 2011

AJG357 said:
Something I have often thought about that I have not seen anyone mention, I am assuming most on here would have ammo handy. If you can create a spark of some kind you could always dump the powder out of one of your shells to help jump start your kindling.

In terms of fire, given a choice, I would rather have a plastic shotgun hull then the powder in it. Plastic hulls are actually very flammable.

Powder blows around in the wind, burns way to fast. If you have the ability to make a spark there are tons of materials that can be used for tinder that are better than powder.

Fire building skills, fire starting gear

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