Fire building skills, fire starting gear

[SteveL]

Good Stuff, all of this forum material should be reviewed by everyone who has family to care for....

Steve L

 

[Dorky_D]

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

This!

 

[Dorky_D]

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.

Menard's has it in a large bag!

 

[Greyson]

Lighters are great. I carry several BIC's. Accelerants are great. I carry Everclear.
Oh, and I carry one modified knock-off Zippo: Remove the cotton and stuff the cavity with spare "flints" (Ferro Rods) and char cloth.

Go to Arbys and get an extra one of those little ketchup cups (Walmart has these in the party aisle). Cut about 2 inches of jute and tie a knot in one end. Place the knot end in the cup and fill the cup with wax. When you really need some extra fire starting power, take a taste of everclear (personal reasons), fray out the Jute wick some. The spark from the zippo will light it. While burning, the wax melts and flames spread about the fire lay.

 

[Greyson]

Before resorting to my lighter, I set everything up as well as possible and try more primitive methods.
For me, a flint and steel kit is the most fun.... My steel is a couple of inches snapped off of an old file. My flint is a sliver of quartz or a chunk of broken geode. Cheap! (Free actually). Strike the steel with the quartz and catch the spark in charcloth. Add more charcloth and blow it up into a ember.

 

[jblomenberg16]

Its alive!

 

[Reverend Dreed]

assuming you have the spark already put some new unopened tampons in you gear bag. When needed put used motor oil on the tampon, wipe the oil from your engine dipstick works well. Ignite the tampon and place it in your tinder pile.

 

[Rocdenindy]

Since its been brought back to life, as far as the ferro rods from Harbor Freight...I have bought several and the work good. The biggest draw back is the striker. The hacksaw blade always sucks. I spend $4 and get a striker from Survival Resource Outfitters in Beech Grove. then for $7 or less, you have a reliable fire source with tinder. Also, always remember that the cotton in an empty zippo is ready made firestarting material.

 

[seagullplayer]

Drier lent is pretty handy. You can use it like you would cotton balls with a little Vaseline in a zip lock bag.

We have an inside wood stove. I stuff a toilet paper roll full of it to start a fire.

With the HF setup if you sand/scrap the coating off the ferro rod first the hack saw blade works better.
Hint: The little chain that holds the striker to the block is just so you don't loose it. Take the chain off when you use the striker.

 

[patience0830]

Sassafrass twigs in a ziploc. Waterproof matches and a torch style butane lighter.

 

[Greyson]

Drier lent is pretty handy. You can use it like you would cotton balls with a little Vaseline in a zip lock bag.

We have an inside wood stove. I stuff a toilet paper roll full of it to start a fire.

I wear a lot of wool and synthetics. The lint does not burn as well as I'd like.
I do make a point of saving the lint from when I wash sheets and towels.

I made charcloth from a old pair of jeans once. It didn't make an ember. I smelled it and it was terrible. Sadly, those jeans had very little cotton in them.

 

[Greyson]

Birch bark contains natural accelerants. Pine tree sap is awesome, thus, pine cones burn well I hear.

 

[morrismm]

Dryer lint and firesteel. Pile on twigs, light the lint, then gradually add larger and larger twigs (moving your way to branches and eventually logs). That's what we used in Boy Scouts!

 

[2A_Tom]

In my pocket, Bic and Carmex (dual purpose). In my EDB flint and steel, matches, Bic, cotton balls, dryer lint and Carmex.

 

[seagullplayer]

You could look all day for a birch tree here in Southern Indiana. They are few and far between around my place.

Do you guys have them up in the "flat lands"?

In my woods bag I carry a candle and lighter. You can skip a lot of time consuming preparation when using a candle.

 

[rhino]

You could look all day for a birch tree here in Southern Indiana. They are few and far between around my place.

Do you guys have them up in the "flat lands"?

In my woods bag I carry a candle and lighter. You can skip a lot of time consuming preparation when using a candle.

Those little prank birthday candles that don't blow out easily would be ideal as a fire extender.

 

[seagullplayer]

At Wally World you can buy a plastic red water tight container about the size of a pill bottle with 25 "water proof" matches in it for about $1.
There is plenty of room for a couple of those little birthday candles it right inside...

 

[2A_Tom]

I came back to post. BIRTHDAY CANDLES.

 

[1DOWN4UP]

I too keep dried birch bark around,and the king of fire starters has to be FRiTOS corn chips.

 

[Sailor]

I too keep dried birch bark around,and the king of fire starters has to be FRiTOS corn chips.

Yeah birch bark is not very common here. Pine trees are, fat wood is readily available, and does a great job.