Experiment: Winter Fire Failure

[Moosez45]

Hey, that vid got me an award. Tis true in either case.

Moose

 

[Mistwalker]

I'm all for a BIC lighter. I gots 2 with me all the time. That said, if you don't prep your tinder and wood right, it don't matter if you have a Bernz-O-Matic torch, fire will not be yours. Some up there said 95% wood prep, 5% ingnition. I have to agree.

Moose

One of the reasons I like to have a couple of bars of trioxane, a few wetfire cubes, or bottle of PJCBs in my pack in the colder months....as well as a couple of lighters and two types of fire steels. The longer burning, the hotter burning, and the less environmentally sensitive your tinder is then the less initial prep that is required to achieve fire. I spend a lot of time in the woods with my kids and other people who are less knowledgeable about the woods which makes me responsible for there well being. If stopping for a break on a hike then I'll just use the more time consuming methods to make fire, if stopping for fire due to being wet in the cold and trying to avoid a cold weather injury then I want the fire doing it's own work so my hands can be free to deal with other things like gathering more fuel and building a windbreak. With trioxane there is practically no prep. It burns very hot for roughly eight minutes so all I need is two larger limbs or logs to help vector the heat up through the wet wood and starting with a mass of wet limbs as large as my fingers or even a little larger just ignite the trioxane and start piling on the wood. Then just keep piling on stuff up to a few fingers width in diameter, it will burn.

 

[Guyon]

Just bought a few of the military gel packets myself. Going to try them out with a canteen stove soon. Look for some pics in W&SS.

 

[Mistwalker]

Just bought a few of the military gel packets myself. Going to try them out with a canteen stove soon. Look for some pics in W&SS.

Cool, I'll keep my eyes open. If I miss it send me a link...life has been a bit crazy and a lot hectic lately...

 

[KuRUpTD]

One of the reasons I like to have a couple of bars of trioxane, a few wetfire cubes, or bottle of PJCBs in my pack in the colder months....

For those of you who like Wetfire cubes try using the Weber firestarter lighter cubes for a MUCH cheaper alternative.

 

[adaman04]

For those of you who like Wetfire cubes try using the Weber firestarter lighter cubes for a MUCH cheaper alternative.

Those look like mini Esbit tabs. Cool. Esbit isn't worth a damn for cooking on so I use the fuel tabs for fires and shove the little cup stove full of wood.

 

[tonym]

@ the OP

Fire preperation needs to be done properly, if you rush your preperation you will most likely fail in incliment weather. You are in WA, allthough I have never been there, I pretty sure it is a wet climate. Leaves will not be your best source of Tinder. Look for the dead branches at the base of conifers. you can use your knife to make a large pile thin shaving shavings. Also look for fatwood, there should be a ton of it in your area. To figure out how to find fatwood, do a search for "fatwood" in the Wilderness & Survival skills section of bladeforums. Please do not start a " how do I find fatwood" thread there. There is countless threads on the subject allready.
Once you get the fatwood, create a large pile of shavings of it with your knife. If the spine of your knife is good and square use that.

After your tinder is prepared, make sure you gather and prep your kindling properly. Again look for the small dead branches on standing live pine trees or other connifers. They are usually dry even in rain or snow. If not split brances to get to the dry stuff.

Maybe this video will help. It was done the day after a hard rain in New England. Notice that I built the fire off the cold wet ground.

[youtube]2okWHpQlrHw[/youtube]

 

[AKC75]

Great thread! I'm learning some things I want to try this evening.