Becker Skills and Information Thread 01 - October 2013 - Fire

[dresnor]

Fire straws are a convenient way of carrying waterproof tinder. For this post I am showing petroleum jelly and cotton balls but you can add whatever you want on them. This method is even good for packing spices and stuff for cooking in the woods.

First you need 100% pure cotton balls and petroleum jelly. I like the jumbo size because I make petroleum jelly cotton balls without the straws too.



Tools to help making the fire straws. A can with the top cut of to melt the petroleum jelly, a stiff piece of wire or something similar to help stuff the straws (long thin tweezers will works to), and a lighter and needle nose pliers to seal the straws.



Cut the straws to the length you want and hold in the pliers like this. Then melt the end with the lighter and either wait till it is cool before you let go or dip the end in water to cool it faster. Do not dip the entire straw because you will trap water in with your tinder defeating the purpose of the straw.





You should have a pile like this. I use fat milkshake straws because they hold a lot more and are easier to work with.



Melt the petroleum jelly like this. Put a big blob in the can and set it in a small pot of water on the stove. Heat slowly and wait for it to turn into a liquid.



Pour the melted petroleum jelly onto the cotton balls and mix. You can also dip the cotton balls in the melted petroleum jelly and then stuff the straws.



Seal the other end up and your done. Be careful though. If any petroleum jelly oozes out clean it off before lighting the straw to seal it. it will catch on fire.




To use them in the field cut the straw open and fluff the cotton out of the straw, then hit with sparks from a ferro rod or an open flame.

Jeremy

 

[COPPERHEAD88]

Pictures from another contest.

Fire.



The first method was fatwood and a lighter.

Using the "Next fire" way of thinking I used the first fire to make charred cloth.

Then used the charred cloth and a ferro rod to make the second fire.

With the second fire made I used it to make charred punk wood to help with my third fire.

Used my charred punk wood and a Fresnel lens for the third fire.

The fourth fire I used a AA battery and dryer lint wrapped in tinfoil. I ran the electrical current from the battery through the tinfoil till the tinfoil got cherry red and ignited the dryer lint.



I had to wear some welding gloves because the tinfoil got hot fast.

The lint and the tinfoil after then fire was lit.

Very excited about this one!

My last fire was made using potassium permanganate combined with glycerin. When mixed together they create an exothermic reaction and burst into flames. This was hard to document in pictures and do it justice so I went for a video instead. Wait for it! Click the picture to watch video.

 

[rokclmb]

Pictures from another contest.

That's an awesome tutorial Copperhead88. Thanks for sharing that (again).

 

[mac_heath]

A lot of this is going to be obvious to folks here, but I cannot believe the number of people with whom I camp that don't know the basics. It usually starts when I break out a knife or axe and they say, "What are you doing? I usually just pour a bunch of lighter fluid on the logs and go."

Get yer tools ready. Find a stump or some wooden anvil on which to split the wood. #2 son fashioned the baton about a month ago. I haven't yet told him that baton is French for 'last log in the fire.' The boxer is providing overwatch.

Wear gloves if you have them. Take your time splitting the wood into appropriate sizes. Then split a bunch of extra wood to feed the fire after you get it lit. These are small half-logs, about 18" long. I like to have forearm to wrist size for the fire base. Know the limitations of your tools.

I look for wood with a nice, straight grain for making into the small stuff.

I split a bunch of finger to pencil sized pieces. I prefer split wood to sticks and twigs, as it lights better.

For pencil and smaller sizes, it may be easier to use a thinner blade. But in the woods, you run what you brung.

Shavings are important. I can't cut pretty feather sticks worth a damn, but the Beckers all make nice shavings. I run the blade up and down a bunch, then slice off a set of curls. It's also good to keep the curls in one place, not all over the campground. This is why I don't have my kids make shavings for me. They're regular beavers, but you need a rake to collect the shavings.

More shavings. Here, I'm using the 12 and they are nice, thin, and wide.

A decent pile of shavings. More is rarely a bad idea.

All this takes a lot of time. If I'm camping with adults, they've exhausted their petty quips and have moved to wondering if I'm ever going to light it. I've learned the hard way that you need to have plenty of smaller stuff in reserve.

One fire I was rushed to get going, and I only had enough small pieces to get the fire started. It started OK, but went out when all I had to feed it were large, damp logs. Restarting it took forever.

I do this weird hybrid of a log cabin and tipi lay. It starts like the cabin. Wrist+ size for the base. This keeps the tinder and small stuff off the ground where the dampness and cold can suck the heat. A lot of people don't understand the fire triangle: Fuel, Oxygen, and Heat. Elevating the wood also provides airflow underneath.

I go crosswise with slightly smaller pieces, then finger to pencil size in the center. This is the level on which I'll lay my cotton or jute.

About inch-thick pieces on the outside again, then pencil and smaller over top. Be careful not to completely occlude the tinder. You want space to throw that spark.

Another set of crossbeams. Notice this gives lots of space for air.

Shavings on top. The pencil- and shavings go above the tinder because heat rises. Make sure you don't block access to the tinder.

Once it's set up, go split some more wood if you need more for feeding the infant fire.

It might take a few strikes, but I can often start the fire with the first one. I have filed a flat spot on the spine for this purpose. I put it beyond where my thumb might land on the spine, but still as close to the handle as possible.

I leave the knife stationary and pull the striker back. This way, I don't knock into my fire lay. This pic captured my stroke, and you can see the smoke already rise from the cotton. The cotton is dry, not petroleum-impregnated. That isn't a recommendation, it's just what I usually do. I prefer cotton to jute, because you have to spend more time fluffing the jute and making a bird's nest. Jute also seems to burn up faster. Still, I regularly carry both.

The cotton has caught the small stuff above. Get ready to start feeding it more.

Feed in incremental sizes. Too thick, too fast, and the whole thing will smoulder, perhaps even go out.

Here, it begins to look like a tipi. I like to lay the pieces this way so they can get heat, but not suffocate the stuff that's already alight.

Nice and blazing, but I still haven't put a full log on yet.

I've switched to welding gloves 'cause it's really hot. I've got more pieces on deck in my left hand.

This is after a while of burning. Those coals are amazingly hot. I continue to lay new logs in the tipi format.

 

[RM81]

One tip from my Father in-law I was reminded about when seeing the bottle cap candle reposted by DerekH. If you take cardboard egg cartons and fill them with a melted mix of wax, sawdust, and a wick, they work well as a fire starter. Make a carton at a time and just cut them apart after the wax hardens. The egg carton burns in the fire.

There are a lot of great tips in here. The bow drill post is pretty good.

 

[Moosez45]

One tip from my Father in-law I was reminded about when seeing the bottle cap candle reposted by DerekH. If you take cardboard egg cartons and fill them with a melted mix of wax, sawdust, and a wick, they work well as a fire starter. Make a carton at a time and just cut them apart after the wax hardens. The egg carton burns in the fire.

There are a lot of great tips in here. The bow drill post is pretty good.

I got a bunch of the egg carton starters from Vik. Man do those thing work extremely well.

Moose

 

[james terrio]

I got a bunch of the egg carton starters from Vik. Man do those thing work extremely well.

In case anyone didn't notice the distinction in RM81's post, I will point out again that the pulp-based egg cartons work much better than the styrofoam ones. The foam ones make a nasty stinky mess, the paper ones burn away cleanly with no residue. But yeah, definitely...

This thread is great; there's things here that I haven't done in years and almost forgot about, as well as many techniques I haven't tried yet. :thumbup:

 

[DerekH]

This thread is great; there's things here that I haven't done in years and almost forgot about, as well as many techniques I haven't tried yet. :thumbup:

That's the plan! I think we are going to have the definitive thread on firestarting when we are finished here. If anyone else has anything to add, feel free, the contest for next month will be pulled directly from the contents of this thread.

 

[tradewater]

Pulled the fire kit out of a dry hatch to check it before we do a paddle trip tomorrow. This is obviously overkill but when you're wet, cold and NEED a fire fast it gets the job done every time. The snus tin has PJ cotton balls.

A hatchet, folding saw and BK9 ride in the hatch with it.

 

[Eero]

When form meets function sometimes you get interesting results:

 

[LostViking]

Fire Good,


Big Fire Better,


Make much light and heat,


Sometimes it's just nice to have a big fire,

 

[LostViking]

When form meets function sometimes you get interesting results:

Now that is one sexy fire lay,

Could be ancient Japan

 

[james terrio]

If anyone else has anything to add, feel free, the contest for next month will be pulled directly from the contents of this thread.

Oh no, there's going to be a quiz?!?

 

[Switchblade61]

Fatwood match...

 

[DerekH]

Alright, time to unsticky this one, next one will be up in the next day or two. As should this month's challenge. Keep your eyes on the stickies.

 

[zzyzzogeton]

Derek,

Could we make a Becker Sub-forum called "Knife Skills" or such, where these threads all get moved to at the end of the month. No one could create new threads. It would just be a repository of these. The current monthly thread would float like now, but at the end of the month it would move to the sub-forum. All the old how-to threads could be easily found, rather than lost somewhere down in the bowels of old threads?

Just a thought from someone who can't always find old threads that others cryptically reference.

 

[Dudepal]

And I just lost 1 hr on Sunday looking and reading through all this wealth of info. Great stuff guys. Saved for future reference.

 

[DerekH]

Derek,

Could we make a Becker Sub-forum called "Knife Skills" or such, where these threads all get moved to at the end of the month. No one could create new threads. It would just be a repository of these. The current monthly thread would float like now, but at the end of the month it would move to the sub-forum. All the old how-to threads could be easily found, rather than lost somewhere down in the bowels of old threads?

Just a thought from someone who can't always find old threads that others cryptically reference.

We cannot create anymore subforums, that is Spark's realm and I doubt he would go for further subdivision of the forums. You can subscribe to these threads and put them in a different folder than the default subscriptions thread though. That works pretty well. Eventually we might get started a thread up top that has links to the different threads. We'll have to see how this goes.

 

[Ethan Becker]

Just a couple of thoughts other than tis is a great thread.....

I always try to work against a largish log or a wall of fairly large sticks as fire LOVES to climb and the back log or wall acts as a chimney.......Lean your smaller stuff at a very steep angle with the tender under......

I will try to do a drawing this evening.....

What a great compendium of usefulness......

E

 

[BigBert]

Great thread with lots of great info; I especially liked the char cloth tutorial! I call myself a "bushcrafter" but really I just go into the woods with my knives and make fire, lol.

Mr. Becker- I recently watched a video with you and Adam from E2E where you built the fire that I believe you are describing. I admit I was skeptical while you were building it but it turned out to be a great vertical self-feeding fire- a technique I have since used a few times. Thanks for the info!