Making fire

[Fitz]

It's over by Hacket Hill.

http://www.nature.org/ourinitiative.../newhampshire/placesweprotect/mcsbrochure.pdf

Don't get caught snagging stuff.

Fitz

 

[jmjkd]

What are you guys talking about? There are cedar trees every where, we are I NE, they are in parks, backyards on the side of the roads.??? it's like where is the Dunkie donuts???

btw cedar is not the only tree you can get tinder from. The reason why people always look to cedar is because cedar is suggested as a starter wood for a bow drill so naturally people tend to know where the cedar is and they make a note of it. If you are not into nature just do what otherts have said...Get a lighter but add a can of gas. Butabing..... Fire.

 

[Boghog1]

What are you guys talking about? There are cedar trees every where, we are I NE, they are in parks, backyards on the side of the roads.??? it's like where is the Dunkie donuts???

btw cedar is not the only tree you can get tinder from. The reason why people always look to cedar is because cedar is suggested as a starter wood for a bow drill so naturally people tend to know where the cedar is and they make a note of it. If you are not into nature just do what otherts have said...Get a lighter but add a can of gas. Butabing..... Fire.

Cedar in the wild in NH is rare, there are varieties that people use as ornamental plants in there yard but people tend to frown upon cutting down their trees. if you read the report I posted above there are about 20 known localities in the state of NH that have cedar swamps left. about as easy to find cedar in NH as it is to find black ash

 

[jmjkd]

Good research BH then folks in your area need another resource. Nature is plentiful, pick another tree they all burn.

 

[Boghog1]

inner bark of most any decaying conifer will work smashed between two rocks the fibers become fine enough to catch a spark easily

 

[NHAtHeart]

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.

Works great we used to do dryer lint in scouts. I saw this thread and decided to go practice, one strike with the flint on the dryer lint and I had fire.

 

[squatch413]

Another handy thing with lint is to take either paper ketchup cups or cut an egg carton into individual cup, fill them with lint or lint vaseline combo and dip them in melted parafin wax.

 

[Prepper]

I'm still trying to get dead/dried pine needles to ignite with a firesteel. It is frustrating that something seemingly simple, that people all over the Internet say is very easy to do, isn't working.

What I most recently tried was to pick a bunch of dead needles off trees, bring them home, let them dry, then put them between my hands and rub them back and forth to make a messy tangled crunched up pile of the things. Then, I left them alone for a couple more weeks. Only then did I try lighting it. Stupid things still don't even come close to igniting when showered with sparks, over and over again for a couple minutes.

Its useful that I can easily light milkweed and cattails, but those can be hard to come by in the spring or when covered with snow.

 

[daveyburt]

Use cotton balls but rub vasoline on them first. Keep them in an old pill bottle or dip can.

I've had great luck with the cotton balls, even in soaking wet conditions. Dip 'em in hot parafin and not only are they now waterproof, the wax allows a long slow burn.

The dryer leavings work almost as well.

 

[fubar]

000 steel wool is very good tinder. Has to be dry though. I've heard of people igniting it with a battery , but I use a spark thing.

I keep cotton balls & Vaseline in an Altoids tin , and a magnesium bar with a striker on it in my pack.

And I carry a lighter , too. But if the world is wet , which is often is , then an oil based tinder and maybe a bit of shaved magnesium helps damp and wet stuff burn. Just because you have a lighter doesn't mean you'll be able to light stuff up without a bit of assistance.

And , OP ? If you're going to carry a fire steel , it's not cheating to carry a bit of prepped tinder as well.

 

[Coyote33]

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.

Newspaper works well, and is easier than going into the basement for lint. I guess if I was in the woods, pine needles and pine cones would work, and have for me before.

 

[MisterHappy]

000 And , OP ? If you're going to carry a fire steel , it's not cheating to carry a bit of prepped tinder as well.

If you have to make a fire, there's no such thing as cheating. There's only success, or no fire.

 

[Prepper]

If you have to make a fire, there's no such thing as cheating. There's only success, or no fire.

I agree, which is one reason why I don't at all feel bad about bringing stuff like matches and lighters with me. Yet, I'm hoping to be better skilled at various ways to start fires, just in case. I've had matches just "stop working", and lighters don't have enough vapor pressure to work when temperatures get cold (I can warm it up by holding between my legs or something but it takes a little while).

I'm hoping it is possible to only have a firesteel and readily be able to start a fire anywhere. So far, I'll be limited to ability to find matured milkweeds, cattails or maybe some fluff from goldenrod or something... which are around much of the year and many places, but not all. So, it'd be nice to get it to work with materials I can find any time of the year, almost anywhere. But, for now I'm comfortable cheating by also bringing cotton balls with me. I just leave them in the truck with other emergency supplies, which I likely would not be too far from if something happened.

 

[MisterHappy]

Oh, yes, the more ways that one can accomplish a task, the better.

When the kids want to light a fire out back, they have to do it some "new" or different way.

 

[nighthawk]

I have had great success with a fire piston. Takes up very little space. Some even have a space in the lid for char cloth.