Alternate Fire Starters...I'm a Failure!

Charlie Fox

Charlie Fox

Joined
Oct 3, 2000
Messages
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Well, we just got back from the wilds of Montana(OK, it was a KOA, but it's as close as I can get my wife to REAL camping!) and I tried several times to start a fire using the natural tinder and the fire steel from my survival tin...without success. Oh, I got the tinder started but the ember would soon die. I'M A FAILURE:rolleyes:

SO, I need help. How does one do this magical thing with the fire steel? Thanks!
 
You should practice with some fine steel wool. Build a nest around it with light and airy grasses and thin bark strips etc. Once you get the steel wool sparked, quickly pick up the bundle, and blow a thin, but strong stream of air onto it. Don't compact the surrounding material, or you may block the air and smother it. Continue blowing, while avoiding inhaling too much smoke (This can be tough!) until a flame appears. Once you get an actual flame, you can compact it a bit so that the fire can catch and grow, and get ready to place it under your larger sticks. Hope that is helpful. Spark based fire just takes a little practice.
 
If you are using tinder from a kit, as opposed to tinder you find and process in the wild, try using cotton lightly greased with petroleum jelly. Use the cheapest real cotton you can find, not the synthetic stuff. I have a huge roll of J&J I inherited from my mother thats about 30 years old and has enough to start about a million fires. Cotton balls or the new pre-formed squares women use to do make-up work well too. A light application of cheap, unbranded vaseline, worked into the cotton adds heat and burn time.

This stuff is extremely easy to light with a fire steel. It forms very hot flames immediately, and burns long enough to get nearly any kindling going. A little goes a long way, and enough to start a bunch of fires packs into a really tiny container. It is much cheaper than any of the commercial tinders, and it works a lot better too!
 
Or try the ol egg carton thing-

Get an egg carton (the recycled kind) and fill the little chambers with drier lint. Melt some wax to seal it and presto, little fire balls.

If you just can't seem to get the hang of things with the F&S supplement a small magnifying glass in your kit as well.

Cheers-
 
thats why the military puts magnesium bars on their sparkers. i have taught my 10 year old to use the ferro rod and some vaseline soaked cotton to start fires in 10 degree weather when it is snowing and the wind is blowing. just pack some of the cotton balls in a 35 mm film canister and you will have enough to start all the fires you need.

alex
 
Hey Charlie! When I was learning how to use my firesteel I practiced in the kitchen in a stainless bowl (it was winter). I bet you've got cotton and vaseline in your house right now, or at least that you'll be at or near a store that sells it in the next day or two. So why don't you try greasing up a little wad of cotton, fluff it up, and shoot some sparks on it! Then come back and tell us all how easy it was and how well it worked. It'll be a great testimonial for all the other fire challenged outdoor people out there.

Incidently, the cotton and vaseline thing is not my invention. I've seen it posted here and there on many occasions. When I finally tried it myself it was one shower of sparks, one hot flame, and one more convert to the cult of the greasy cotton ball!:D
 
OK, I tried the cotton ball/vaseline method...well, it was anti-biotic cream, but it worked great! Since I already have a small packet of the cream in my kit I repacked some cotton and steel wool in the small areas that were left over. I will keep PRACTICING! Thanks for all the help!
 
Charlie,

Nah, you're not a failure, just more :)experienced:) What natural tinder did you try?

Check my website for the natural tinders I've tried.

Mike
 
Gee, you all have to do things the hard way...

What about a can of lighter fluid and a zippo... Matches? Hell, I don't go anywhere out of NYC without a gasoline/white-gas stove. If you're gonna go through all that trouble, you might as well get something that works comfortably.
 
Hi MM. Those things are great ways to start fires that I use regularly. But it is just so much more satisfying to do it with a firesteel and stuff you scrounge out of nature.
 
Originally posted by MelancholyMutt
Gee, you all have to do things the hard way...

What about a can of lighter fluid and a zippo...
Click to expand...

Amen. A big squirt of lighter fluid, throw on a match.
 
Best emergency firestarter I've ever used was a standard road flare.

I carry one in my day pack when hunting, etc., and when I hunt on horseback, I keep two in my saddle bags. I've only had to use them three times, in the past 40 years, out in the boonies, but when I needed them, I REALLY NEEDED them! One of those babies will just about light a bucket of water! (Almost.)

FWIW. L.W.
 
That's a good, common sense practice, Leanwolf. Good advice.
 
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