-
If you enjoy the forum please consider supporting it by signing up for a NES Membership The benefits pay for the membership many times over.
-
Be sure to enter the NES/Pioneer Valley Arms February Giveaway ***Smith & Wesson SD9VE 9MM***
Making fire
- Thread starter frenchman
- Start date
- Joined
- May 1, 2009
- Messages
- 3,164
- Likes
- 460
orange oil is flammable; literal orange candles arent really new.
yes it is, squeeze a rind next to an open flame but if oranges were that flammable there would be no citrus groves in FL, you know the lightening capitol north america
Speaking of making fire (I don't mean to hijack the thread), I've started working on the skill of starting fires without matches or lighter (or torch that has a built-in sparker). What do people find works well for tinder around the northeast? So far, my very limited experiments have been as follows...
I bought both an Aurora fire starter, and a Firesteel fire starter. So far, I'm finding the firesteel much more effective. The Aurora doesn't make many sparks and the few that do often miss the tinder. It's taking many strikes just to ignite a cotton ball. Meanwhile, the firesteel is igniting the cotton ball on the first strike. So, I'm liking that better.
Now, for the tinder. Both cotton balls and milkweed seeds have worked great. I imagine cattails would be great too but I haven't had a chance to go grab any from a swamp. Cotton balls aren't natural though, and milkweeds and cattails won't always be available depending on location and time of year.
I've tried getting birch bark to take a spark, but no luck so far. I even shredded it into tiny pieces with a knife, but no luck. Dead pine needles, no luck either. I was a bit surprised as I've read these should both light easily. I'd also like to get some rotten cedar wood and give that a try, once I get back out to the woods to find some.
I also gave CVS hand sanitizer a try... doesn't take a spark, or even a flame... won't ignite! Maybe I need Purel instead.
What do other people find works, preferably natural stuff, and what's the trick for getting it to take a spark?
I bought both an Aurora fire starter, and a Firesteel fire starter. So far, I'm finding the firesteel much more effective. The Aurora doesn't make many sparks and the few that do often miss the tinder. It's taking many strikes just to ignite a cotton ball. Meanwhile, the firesteel is igniting the cotton ball on the first strike. So, I'm liking that better.
Now, for the tinder. Both cotton balls and milkweed seeds have worked great. I imagine cattails would be great too but I haven't had a chance to go grab any from a swamp. Cotton balls aren't natural though, and milkweeds and cattails won't always be available depending on location and time of year.
I've tried getting birch bark to take a spark, but no luck so far. I even shredded it into tiny pieces with a knife, but no luck. Dead pine needles, no luck either. I was a bit surprised as I've read these should both light easily. I'd also like to get some rotten cedar wood and give that a try, once I get back out to the woods to find some.
I also gave CVS hand sanitizer a try... doesn't take a spark, or even a flame... won't ignite! Maybe I need Purel instead.
What do other people find works, preferably natural stuff, and what's the trick for getting it to take a spark?
inside of decaying conifers works well, cedar is preferred
http://survival.outdoorlife.com/blo...-skills-finding-tinder-part-one-–-tinder-wild
Practice with the steel and make sure you are pulling back on the flint vs pushing down with the steel
I've heard dryer lint works well. I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but have a zip-lock baggie filling up every time I wash/dry. I don't put any fabric softener in laundry or dryer sheets in my dryer and not sure if I would try lighting lint that had that stuff in it.
Good to know! I'll keep collecting it. Hope to try it out before the next camping trip.
AMEN BROTHER. or 10 and a roll of duct tape....
Metalhead
NES Member
Cedar bark, you can grind it between 2 rocks to get some really fine stuff to catch a spark, then birch bark when you get a flame and little cedar twigs, you can always find dry squaw wood no matter the weather.
Lighters are a great help as well. lol
Lighters are a great help as well. lol
Dryer lint works great if it is 100% cotton, ie. from towels, but is horrible otherwise. It is mostly unreliable. personally, I prefer cotton balls soaked in melted vaseline. I keep 2 in my emergency kit with me on all outdoor trips. I can get a 1/2 cm square pulled apart so the cotton fibers are exposed and lit from a firesteel in any weather. Far more reliable as tinder than dryer lint.
Andreas
NES Member
This.
I've had horrible luck with random dryer lint.... couldn't get the stuff to burn while pouring charcoal light on it.
Another thing that works great is leftover candle stubs. Take up very little space, put 'em on top of your starting tinder and there's no way it's going out.
A guy had a lighter, cotton balls/jelly and he still couldn't get a sustainable fire...Why?
He didn't know the mechanics of making fire. It wasn't the tools or the resource...it was him.
That was after bragging how he'll get the fire going....Joke!!!!
He didn't know the mechanics of making fire. It wasn't the tools or the resource...it was him.
That was after bragging how he'll get the fire going....Joke!!!!
Lint works great, even just a small amount, with a flint spark and will catch.
What I haven't seen mentioned yet is birch bark, that stuff will burn when soaking wet due to all the oils, in fact, you can easily distill "birch bark oil" for all kinds of uses in a SHTF scenario, just youtube the term.
Birch bark is my preferred starter material for my wood stove, just a small amount under a handful of kindling works great, far better than newspaper.
You can also peel it very thin and use it as emergency tinder.
What I haven't seen mentioned yet is birch bark, that stuff will burn when soaking wet due to all the oils, in fact, you can easily distill "birch bark oil" for all kinds of uses in a SHTF scenario, just youtube the term.
Birch bark is my preferred starter material for my wood stove, just a small amount under a handful of kindling works great, far better than newspaper.
You can also peel it very thin and use it as emergency tinder.
Last edited:
I mentioned birch bark earlier. So far, I haven't been able to get it to take a spark, not even when shredded finely. It takes a small flame great though. For example, I ignited milkweed seeds with a spark and put the bark over it... that works well, and not messy like jelly. I didn't know it could be distilled though... could be interested for me to look into someday, although I hope it doesn't require a lot of bark to get a useful amount.
We're going for a walk this afternoon in the woods.... I'm going to gather some cedar bark and see what I can do with that. It is important that I have a natural source of tinder that works 12 months out of the year, and cedar trees are everywhere.
We're going for a walk this afternoon in the woods.... I'm going to gather some cedar bark and see what I can do with that. It is important that I have a natural source of tinder that works 12 months out of the year, and cedar trees are everywhere.
In God We Trust
NES Member
Use cotton balls but rub vasoline on them first. Keep them in an old pill bottle or dip can.
I have had trouble getting birch bark paper to take a spark consistently as well, but it will work.
I have never distilled birch bark either, but it looks pretty easy, and you don't need too much, its more about having a good metal container to keep it in while heating it up.
I harvest a lot of birch bark each year from dead trees and these last several storms have taking down some nice specimens, although I do find that the bark comes off if the tree has been around for several years.
It's fun to make xmas ornaments with the little ones using natures paper.
I tried an experiment once with Q-tips.
I cleaned my ears and got a little ear wax on them, then I would take one end and fluff the cotton/wax up and put the striker to it and sure enough it caught a spark and I was able to start my wood stove fire with it.
It's a good way to save a few grams from your BOB instead of pre-dipping cotton balls! LOL!!!
That's way to simple and logical.
Cedar is a bugger to find in our neck of the woods, another thing you can make and take with you is char cloth I keep a small roll in an altoids tin that I use to create the char cloth, fyi do not bother pocking a hole in the altoids tin it gets enough air
Seems to be so far. I never gave it much of a thought until I actually tried looking for the trees on purpose. The rural land I own in Maine has lots of cedar trees, but that's far from here. Up there, they seem to be concentrated in low wet areas including areas that are permanently sitting in several inches of water. I should perhaps try looking in similar areas around here.
Cotton balls + Vaseline + UST Sparkie = Fire in any weather. The trick is to nurse the burning cotton ball into a usable campfire. Dry leaves, needles and bark shavings are your friends. Then twigs and bark. Followed by small dry branches.
Yes, there is a cedar forest in the Manchester area from my understanding, I have not been there myself
http://des.nh.gov/organization/commissioner/pip/factsheets/cp/documents/cp-20.pdf
If I find the specific location I'll post up
Last edited:
