All this talk about fires! Show your kits

[Fallbrook Forge]

All this talk of fires, and different ways to start a fire and seeing what people use/carry for keeping themselves alive or just to have fun learning how to build fires has got me all worked up!

So, here's what I'm thinking...... Since this comes up every so often around here, lets see if we can't get a consolidated thread of everybodys PSK/FMK/TPSK/NSK/FSK any kind of kit that you have anywhere to keep you alive/happy/whatever or if it's just something you put together for fun. Lets get them all posted here with a brief discription of it's intended purpose and a content list if you can, see if we can't make this a sticky.

Maybe I'm just off my rocker(good possiblity) but I love seeing what other people are using, and getting ideas from other people.
First up is my most basic kit:

Contents:
Victorinox Swiss tool spirit
Fenix EO1
Fatwood
Ferro rod

Purpose is to have the ability to make a fire and see in the dark, thinking about adding a reynolds oven bag for water.....

 

[stingray4540]

Well, I carry a 1/4" firesteel and a piece of fatwood in my Leatherman sheath, and use the back of the saw to strike the steel.
I also have an unhandled 1/4" steel on my keychain, along with a nitro pill fob with half a PJCB on my keychain, and a small piece of hacksaw.
My belt knife also has a firesteel loop with a spy capsule handled firesteel. The spy capsule has a PJCB in it. I use the spine of the knife to strike the steel.

The firesteel's missing in this pick, but the pill fob is there:

 

[Fallbrook Forge]

Very nice! For the spy capsules, you should think about super fine fatwood shavings mixed with the guts of a road flare! That will a start a fire in anything!

BSA hotspark
capsule w/asparin
capsule with fatwood/roadflare mix
peanut lighter
pico pen
vic alux classic
photon light
tick tweezers

This is my favorite kit:

contents left to right:
modified suunto clipper compass
wire ties med and sm
whistle
capsule w/asparin
yellow duct tape
tripple antibiotic
SAK farmer w/ blade, saw and awl only
fatwood
aquamira in backpackinglight.com dropper bottles
mini bic
ferro rod(misch type)
sutures
AMK signal mirror
alcohol wipes(backup tinder)
duct tape with fatwood shavings and road flare guts
fenix LO1
leather strop
falkniven DC3 sharpener
mini sharpie
tylenol cold and sinus/caffiene/imodium/chewing gum
petzl e-lite
ss hook end screws(drive into tree for shelter guyouts)
tin of zinc oxide(ima red head)
paper
not pictured is a 1 liter aquabag

From the leather strop to the right, all of that is in a Tactical Tailor small utility pouch

 

[IUKE12]

Here is my go to fire kit, small tin with fatwood, charcloth, jute and small firesteel. Don't need no stink'n matches

 

[Todd A]

For fire I have a lighter on me,as I still am a smoker, plus this in my pocket.

JK ultra mini Nessmuck, Jute,fattwood, and inner tube, with a LMF Scout.

Plus this in my hiking kit...

Lots of fattwood, Jute, mag block,JK tin knife,mini Bic, and the match tube is packed with PJBs.

 

[kgd]

I've now specialized my fire kit and have it separate from the FAK and other PSK components that are scattered in my pack. I found that I was reaching for the fire kit contents very often and now put it external to my pack for quick access, or it can be unclipped and placed internally during rain, or on mybelt. I do have other firestuff also in my FAK and bag just in case the whole kit gets snagged or lost somehow. This is the convenient fire pack.

 

[Corso]

what size tins are those kgd? I've been looking a tn smaller than an altoids for a while

 

[Rick Marchand]

Steel wool is an exellent addition to a firekit. If I could only have one tinder for all occasions, steel wool would be it. It accepts sparks from a ferro as well as trad. flint and steel. It can be ignited with practically any battery (flashlights, cellphones... even watch batteries!) It's waterproof(sort of) and wind only accelerates ignition.... IMO, you are a fool not to have it considering its many attributes.

Mix it together with jute, cotton balls and finely shredded cedar bark...... oooooooh baby!

Rick

 

[JK Knives]

Here`s a little fire kit I made up. The knife is 4" overall, a little bit bigger than one of my tin knives. The notches on the spine really help throw the sparks.

 

[kgd]

what size tins are those kgd? I've been looking a tn smaller than an altoids for a while

Rupestris handed those out to us at the little Michigan gathering in Waterloo State Recreation Area last Feb. They contained little peppermints (cinnamon tasting). They are quite a bit smaller than the altoids tin and I bet you can find them where they sell chewing gum.

Yes - Rick - when you showed me how to spark the firesteel with two AA batteries I was sold on that stuff.

 

[ziptrickhead]

what size tins are those kgd? I've been looking a tn smaller than an altoids for a while

Look at stores that sell altoids and see if you can find altoid smalls. Basically small altoid mint so the tin is loads smaller. Not sure if they're the same size as the tins kgd has though. I use mine to just store regular altoids so I don't need to EDC the bigger tin.

Heres a picture comparing the 2:



The smalls container is also thinner. Just think of a regular sized tin closed, the smalls thickness is the bottom of the tin to the lip of the lid. When I checked the altoids site they have the smalls listed with a sliding lid tin though so many they're discontinuing the flip tip tin. I still saw some in a drug store today though so I'm sure there's still old stock around.

 

[Corso]

cheers guys for the info

not sure Altoids are avalible over here though but I will take a look

 

[hushnel]

Slow fuse

Slow fuse lit

Small Tin

Contents of small tin

includes, Cotton with PJ in the top the sisal sits on top of it, charcloth protected under a wad of cotton, small steel striker and flint and 4 or 5 pieces of dried napalm fire goo.

Extended camp fire kit

includes Charcloth, sisal. Cotton, steel striker, beeswax candle, flint, cotton with PJ, newspaper, sisal, fat wood, and piece of deer skin.


Contents of camp fire kit

I carry farro rods and assorted strikers like pieces of band saw blade and P38 can openers on key chains and attached to assorted bags. Along with mini bic lighters and in my pocket usually a Zippo or Brunton lighter.

 

[Snakedoc]

This is the basic fire kit that lives in my Maxpedition bag. Some fatwood, a OHT, storm proof lighter, strom proof matches (recently replaced by pjcb's), a tin of fatwood shavings, and a tin of fatwood dust.

And my fire kit on my SoD sheath.
I have changed out a few items since the pic was taken. Tossed the white sawzall blade as it was not a good striker for the ferro rod. In addition to the matches I have added another match case full of pjcb's.

 

[Joben]

Inspired by KGD, Rotte and here is my take on the necker sheath kit concept.

Pics are a little blurry, twas getting dark out.

Here is is next to it's companion, an altoids tin PSK.
The lanyard is long, and has a rubber grommet in the middle, so you can wear it merc-harness style for under-arm carry.
I wore it over my shirt all afternoon, comfortable, fast draw.

You can also double it over and wear it as a traditional necker. A cord lock allows adjustability, or possibly reconfiguration to belt carry.

Here are the contents:

The sheath is kydex from Shotgunner11.
Ferro/Mag rod, Photon Freedom II, 2 alcohol swabs (you can light these with a spark), Baggy; two birthday candles, two twists of wax impregnated jute. Cord end whistle.

 

[Fallbrook Forge]

this is a tinder kit I put together awhile back, it's in a waterproof plano fly box:

dry jute, fatwood shavings, dry cotton, PJCB, waxed jute, road flare guts

 

[Fallbrook Forge]

Well, this thread didn't catch on the way I had hoped it would:grumpy:

Maybe some inspiration is needed:

I feel like this is my crown jewel, my gethome/last minute backpacking trip/prettymuchanythingbag:

Not pictured but in my truck and ready to go is the sleeping bag, it's a snugpak somethingorother in a kifaru stuff sack
The pack is LLBean Bigelow
in the side pocket for easy access

socks
liners
gloves
shirt
wool beanie
Breeden Pathfinder

front stash pocket

TAD Stealth hoodie
Patagonia LS 1/4 zip

side water bottle pocket

swisstool/firekit
snus tinder pack
PSK
PFAK

top lid

polarized oakleys
bic
550
gum
burts bees
black silk bandana

other side water bottle pouch

1/2 liter platty
mil strobe
cinch tight trauma bandage

hip belt(I moved the chapstick and gum here too)

petzl headlamp
butane lighter

and the main compartment

hungry jack mashed taters x3
Vargo Ti cookpot/set(inside is a vargo stove, fuel tabs, alc. spork, some seasonings, chicken bullion, green tea, bic x2
550
AMK weekender FAK(supplemented with some trauma gear)
REI mid weight top/bottom
REI hooded fleece
Arborwear nylon cargo pants
wool neck gaitor
smartwool adrenaline socks
ExOfficio boxerbriefs
silkies
Sea to Summit poncho/tarp
heavier sock liners
SSK(secondary survival kit)
2 liter platty
Swamp Rat Satin Battle Rat w/kit


Things I am adding in the near future as funds allow:
Sewing/repair kit
trail shoes
lightweight boonie hat(anybody know of a good one?)
meal replacement bars/snickers/balance
electrolyte pouches
compact hygene kit
cash/copies of Ids
silky saw
surefire w/extra batteries
jungle juice
water bladder? maybe
some other foods
closed cell foam pad

with this it's at 24 lbs 3oz wich is well below what I am capable of carrying for an extended period

any tips or things you all think I missed, please fill me in

Now, lets see all your kits!

 

[Rick Marchand]

Well, this thread didn't catch on the way I had hoped it would:grumpy:

Maybe some inspiration is needed:

I think it may be that there have been several threads on this topic. Atleast one an month for sure. If my kit changes I'd gladly post it again. I like posting individual pieces of my set up..... but to accumulate pics, write descriptions and formulate a post on the entire system, just seems too large of a task at this time. I mean no offence... quite the opposite in fact... I don't want to disrespect this thread by doing a half-assed job and posting the same pics you guys have been looking at for months.

Rick

 

[haggismonger]

This is what I have been using for a pocket kit for a while now. I found an old WWII army officer's soap dish, and thought it would make a great little box to hold some pocket stuff that I didn't want to have clanking around loosely in my pocket. It's steel, with a baked on finish that's fairly tough. In a pinch, you could probably cook in it. I purchased a dozen of these boxes later, ones from the same era and company, only in a navy blue for the Navy officers. A lot of these went to my scouts, and I'm helping them put together their own little kits, and showing them how to use the stuff inside. If I can get them used to carrying it, that will be the real test.

The box is 2 5/8" x 3 3/4", and it's about an inch and a quarter thick. It's a regular slipcase type box, and it's really well made, back when they knew how things were supposed to be made.

I put the Flag on the top, I suppose in some obscure set of circumstances it might be pertinent to survival, but for my purposes, it's a nice way to provide just a little bit of tension to hold things in place and keep things from shifting around inside. There's a half inch foam bobber you can see inside, and outside the outer edge of the lower portion of the box, I wrapped with 1" teflon tape, to add tension between the top and bottom box.

There's a little bundle of 550, but it's not enough to be a shelter building asset, I keep it as a bowstring. It's a stripped-out section about two feet long, and I threaded one end of it back through itself to make a permanent adjustable loop in one end, and the other end is just straight to be able to make any adjustments on the bow. There's a little photon light, I put some adhesive hook side velcro on one side of it, there's a bunch of jute twine for tinder. I like to use jute, because it's never failed me, and I can use it for other things if I need to, and I don't have to keep it in a special container to keep vas goop from getting on everything. I'm not about to dismiss the fantastic properties of greaseballs, but this kit stays in my pocket, and I don't want vaseline melting all over. My trusty ferro rod is in there, and my little BCM button compass.

The little plastic container there has a Sony microvault USB jumpdrive, 20' of fishing line, and a bunch of hooks. An old CASE pocket knife from way back when is still giving service, the white square looking thing is a little spool of kevlar thread, along the bottom edge is the uncle bill's sliver gripper, on the left side is a modified carbide knife sharpener keychain that I use as a striker for the ferro. behind the pocket knife is a little section of hacksaw, as well. The lighter is obvious, and fits just right, and next to that is a fox 40 mini whistle, made even 'minier' by chopping off the excess plastic and trimming a little here and there.

The steel vial has sewing needles and scalpel blades in it, there are a few paraffin cotton ball tinder thigns stuffed into open spaces here and there, The braided wire saw is coiled in there, a safety pin, maybe to pin on that flag...HMMM. Along the side on the top is a bigger hook, a gig type. Below all that is all the flat stuff, a couple of reynolds oven bags, a wet wipe of sting-eze, a couple of alcohol wipes, a fresnel lens, some moleskin, and at the very bottom is a benjamin. You never know.

It was a good time trying to get everything to fit in there like tetris, and after a million tries or so, I think I have a pretty good setup.

 

[Bushman5]

one of mine: