Fire building skills, fire starting gear

[PistolBob]

Was at a leave no trace seminar...at the end they discussed scenarios about being lost in the wilderness....each person gave their feeedback as to what they'd do. When it got to me I asked if there were any trees in this scenario, and they said of course there are trees...then I said light 'em up then. Start a forest fire and they will come looking. Then you're saved.

 

[digitalmonster]

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.

Yup

 

[2A_Tom]

Was at a leave no trace seminar...at the end they discussed scenarios about being lost in the wilderness....each person gave their feeedback as to what they'd do. When it got to me I asked if there were any trees in this scenario, and they said of course there are trees...then I said light 'em up then. Start a forest fire and they will come looking. Then you're saved.

Smokey says,"...

 

[rhino]

One thing that bears mentioning . . .

If you choose to carry a ferrocerium rod ("fire steel"), keep in mind that actually using it as an effective ignition source is not the same as just making sparks. If you have the luxury of super good tinder like dry, fluffy jute or cotton and petrol jelly, pretty much any spark will do. On the other hand, if you're trying to ignite more stubborn materials (especially if it's not really, really dry), you need good technique to get the sparks to come to rest on your tinder long enough to ignite. If you don't do it right, they can and will bounce off and you'll get a nice show of sparks, but not flame (ask me how I know!). I've thrown enough sparks from a ferro rod to make it look like someone dropped a 4th of July sparkler, but they were useless when they just bounced instead of "sticking."

Go out and practice with whatever gear you choose!