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I've got what I think is an intersting challenge: How many ways can you start a fire?

cockpitbob said:
My scout sons take a paper egg carton, put dryer lint and sawdust in each compartment, then pour in melted wax. They work great.

Personally, every car, backpack and anything else I have has 1 or 2 little Bic butane lighers. They'll start hundreds of fires and are more reliable than "waterproof" matches, a fire drill, 9V battery or anything else except possibly a flint and steel.
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yup dryer lint works great, that's what I use to get the chiminea going
 
Don't post about it - do it, and post about how well, and how long it took.

Materials (what you used, and what was your source)

Weather

Light level (it's easier to do it when there's daylight)
Time involved ( include the time to scrounge up the materials)

Anyone can light a zippo, bic, match, or steel wool and battery to "start" a fire....but to build one, and get it lit when the rain is coming down is more important than just getting a flame.

if you have not read it:

http://www.jacklondons.net/buildafire.html
 
Okay,

cotton ball in Vaseline with fire steel is pissa,
the fire steel with fine birch bark dust, my kid did this when he was like 10 up in the whites,
and my favorite, cedar bark shredded started with a piece of file or a real striker. In New England we have white quartz everywhere and it will rip a spark off steel no problem. But,,, you need char cloth or some dry chaga,aka tinder fungus.

If you are not prepared your screwed. I always pick up birch bark or shred cedar when I'm out.

So probably the best bet is carry a lighter and use the fire steel as primary. And be a junk collector and never walk past birch bark.
 
Point37 said:
i have used steel wool and 9v battery...i use dryer lint with a lighter/matches all the time...have used a magnifying glass as well as flint/steel...maybe a can of sterno or some in a smaller container...i've been wanting to try that bear grylls char cloth technique but never bothered...birch bark is also pretty flammable...when i'm hiking i always carry a throw line with me and sometimes a sinker in case i need some dry wood i can toss the line up to get dead pine branches for firewood...also makes a weekend of camping really cheap...whatever works and is fastest is what i use
Click to expand...

I found birch bark burns nicely once it burns, but it sucks trying to use as tinder. I even shredded it up nicely and the stupid stuff would not take a spark. It is great kindling though. I have been meaning to try cedar, but I can't find it anywhere I usually go. So, I have no plans to rely on cedar due to the difficulty of finding it.
 
squatch413 said:
I'm a fan of a firesteel and feather sticks.
Click to expand...

+1. Hands down. If you can do the wood-within-wood you will be all set.
Even in a tropical biome you can get a fire going in the rain.

For all of you getting lint out of your dryers I have seen many times people try to light lint from non-cotton lint traps and watched them fail to light it with a spark. The best lint is from washing cotton items such as socks and towels.

If you are intending on lighting Vaseline/ petroleum jelly on cotton balls with leave one small section of the cotton ball Vaseline-free to accept the spark easier.

This is a great thread and it seems that most posting would do okay if needed.
 
I've gotten a roaring fire going in the woods of NH in Feb on snow cover. Used firesteel, magnesium shavings, dead leaves & pine needles, birch bark, and little twigs to begin with. Then hanging dead branches of hemlock and chunks of dead tree that had fallen but got hung up on something before hitting the ground.
 
The question should be "How many ways can you start a fire when you are really cold and everything is wet?" Because that is one of the only times you need a fire.
 
cockpitbob said:
My scout sons take a paper egg carton, put dryer lint and sawdust in each compartment, then pour in melted wax. They work great.

Personally, every car, backpack and anything else I have has 1 or 2 little Bic butane lighers. They'll start hundreds of fires and are more reliable than "waterproof" matches, a fire drill, 9V battery or anything else except possibly a flint and steel.
Click to expand...

I made these without the sawdust and it burned for near 15 minutes. Most anyone can get a fire started in that kind of time. The ignition source is another issue but those are GREAT Fire Starters once you get them lit.
 
It's great that so many of you have given this some thought. Knowing a number of ways to successfully start fire in a dire circumstance would make you indispensable. Chances are, too, that you're facile in other survival techniques. It's all how you keep your head during an emergency.

Thanks, all, for your contributions.

Rome
 
Mike-Mike said:
The question should be "How many ways can you start a fire when you are really cold and everything is wet?" Because that is one of the only times you need a fire.
Click to expand...

Good point. I'm pretty confident I have enough ways to start the tinder for a fire. It is not as if I'm likely to be dropped in the middle of a forest, with no vehicle or civilization anywhere around, and have to figure out how to make a bow drill from scratch. If I'm in the woods in an emergency, I either hiked there or drove up to it. In either situation, I'll have something with me.

The trick is when everything's wet. I'm not bringing a load of dry firewood with me no matter what, so I need to use what's out there. I should practice it to see how it goes, including that method of cutting the dry innards out of a log that's wet on the outside, whatever you call that.
 
I carry with me: lighter, vaseline soaked cotton balls, water proofed matches, magnesium fire starter and blade, and the blast match (which is AWESOME especially if you have only one good arm to work with).
I also use those esbit tabs for heating water for dehydrated meals so those can also be used for fire starting if necessary.

(what else am I forgetting?)
 
Some of this thread is sideways , maybe - with " my tinder. " vs " my ignition system. " ... I know they go together. My post , ( lighter/matches/mag & flint ) mentioned spending the prep time to insure the thing not only ignites , but turns into a blaze.

My pack , which is my weekend camping pack ( gets out maybe 15 weekends a year ) has tinder sources as well. : The obligatory Altoids tin has Vaseline cotton balls , and that's where the magnesium bar lives , in its own ziplock baggy. I also have a small plastic bottle of Hoppes 9 , which burns long and slow , too BTW. There's a few tabs of C-rat fuel for coffee , but make great fire helper outer.

There's also a candle lantern - one of those collapsible deals with the glass latern and metal base with spring loaded base and long run candle. The wax alone is good accelerant , or you could sacrifice the whole candle if you really meant it.

Spare clothes are kept in seep rate waterproof bags - linty stuff would be usable.

If you have redundancy - matches and lighter , you can use several wooden matches at once as tinder/kindling ...

Gunpowder works for me , two 45 rounds or one 556.

I said earlier , prep work matters a lot. A razor is really useful for shaving fuzz sticks and the like , I know everyone has a custom best in the world knife , but it's probably not as sharp or convenient as a folding rig for a standard utility razor. Use your Big Knife for splitting a branch to expose the dry business inside that dead-on-the-tree pine branch , and the razor to make a pile of dry fuzzy kindling or tinder.
 
Vaseline infused cotton is great to have whether you are using flint and steel or a lighter to start a fire. One thing to note is that they light faster if you pull the fibers apart a bit. It also makes a wider space to catch the sparks of the flint.

I recommend testing your flint and steel kit long before you need to rely on it. They are not all alike.

I picked up a cheap one for sh!t& and giggles recently. I was able to start a fire with it, but the flint separated from the little handle. The lanyard holding the 2 pieces together was too short to make is easy to use, and it didn't throw sparks as easy as others I have.

I won a beautiful beeswax candle from toekneepea a few months back. He included some coffee filter paper he used to filter the wax.

It worked beautifully camping this summer. Got a roaring fire in no time in spite of a very heavy rain and wet wood.
 
Last edited:
SteelShooter said:
That would be tough in December in Alaska [wink]
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True. However, one of my goals in life is to make sure I am never stranded in Alaska in the winter without any equipment. It seems like an unlikely scenario. If I am in Alaska at all, I am probably on some kind of organized tour or cruise. Even that is not likely... Way too expensive.
 

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