Fire in the sink ...

theonew

theonew

Joined
May 16, 2006
Messages
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I have a confession, I haven't put a BOB or a PSK or a FAK or even a WSK together. I mean I have some gear but probably not enough and its very disorganized. There is really no excuse, and I live in NYC, where another terrorist strike is quite likely. But today we were having some work done on the boiler of my building and it looked possible that the temperature in my apartment might drop into the high 60s :eek:, so I spent a little time testing my firesteel in the kitchen, you know, just in case all of the 20+ ways of easily starting a fire miraculously failed :D I really haven't played with the firesteel other than seeing how I can make the biggest shower of sparks. So today I tried toilet paper, it almost caught, some of the fibers were singed. Then I took a gauze bandage and cut it in half and shredded the fibers with my fingers, and WOW, that caught on the first strike. I tried it several more times and found it very easy to catch. That was sort of satisfying. But I really look forward to the 1st Connecticut Wilderness Skills Gathering, my fire-starting skills suck. I'm sure you all will be glad to know that I safely weathered today's "storm", apartment temperature never got below 72, though at one point I had to put on socks.:D
 
I too have a lot of survival gear but have never put it all together either.
My favourite tinder is drier lint, like cotton balls but much finer fibers and basically kiln dried.
 
theonew said:
I have a confession, I haven't put a BOB or a PSK or a FAK or even a WSK together. I mean I have some gear but probably not enough and its very disorganized. There is really no excuse, and I live in NYC, where another terrorist strike is quite likely. But today we were having some work done on the boiler of my building and it looked possible that the temperature in my apartment might drop into the high 60s :eek:, so I spent a little time testing my firesteel in the kitchen, you know, just in case all of the 20+ ways of easily starting a fire miraculously failed :D I really haven't played with the firesteel other than seeing how I can make the biggest shower of sparks. So today I tried toilet paper, it almost caught, some of the fibers were singed. Then I took a gauze bandage and cut it in half and shredded the fibers with my fingers, and WOW, that caught on the first strike. I tried it several more times and found it very easy to catch. That was sort of satisfying. But I really look forward to the 1st Connecticut Wilderness Skills Gathering, my fire-starting skills suck. I'm sure you all will be glad to know that I safely weathered today's "storm", apartment temperature never got below 72, though at one point I had to put on socks.:D
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Nice.

I did the same thing(fire in the sink) but with fatwood shavings. I wanted to show my kids how easily it would catch with the firesteel. Needless to say, they had me do it 3-4 times just for the 'ooh-aah' factor.
 
MedOpsPogue said:
Nice.

I did the same thing(fire in the sink) but with fatwood shavings. I wanted to show my kids how easily it would catch with the firesteel. Needless to say, they had me do it 3-4 times just for the 'ooh-aah' factor.
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I need to try natural tinder next :thumbup:
 
I have way to much gear!! I have to simplify me thinks.......I have 4 backpacks of different sizes and enough gear to fill 3 of them...I just got a new PSK carry option..look for the pics later tonight. Gene
 
MedOpsPogue said:
Nice.

I did the same thing(fire in the sink) but with fatwood shavings. I wanted to show my kids how easily it would catch with the firesteel. Needless to say, they had me do it 3-4 times just for the 'ooh-aah' factor.
Click to expand...

I can't quite get the "ooh-aah" factor... my mom is more like "WTF are you doing in here? Burning stuff again? God Damn you idiot!" factor...
Mikel
 
I'm grateful that I don't have to resort to a sink. Our smoke detector goes off when we boil water in the tea kettle, so I'm pretty sure even a tiny glowing ember in sink would set it off. :eek:

I finally live in an area where it is legal to burn trash, so every week I take the cardboard and credit card offers out back with my ferro-rod and get a little practise in. :thumbup:

I mess around with a variety of tinders, and when something doesn't work, I always fall back on dryer lint. I think the extra-high dog hair content in mine makes it very reliable. :D

I gave my wife a ferro-rod, and I wish she would practise with it. She says she wants to come burn trash with me (how's that for a romantic evening together?) but whenever I go out, she's always doing something else. Oh well, maybe one of these days. At least she really likes the smokey smell on me when I come back in afterwards. ;)
 
One thing I always try to add when people are talking about starting fires - If you can't do it with "natural" tinder, you need improvement. If you can't do it with "natural" tinder 5 minutes after it's been raining or snowing for 3 straight days, you need improvement. Here's a little story for you about how I learned this lesson the hard way. I was deer hunting the second weekend of November in Ontonagon County in the U.P. of Michigan. It was about 16 or so years ago and was actually pretty nice for that time of year up there, mid 20's during the day - high single digits at night. I was about 17 years old, you guys know - I knew everything. I started following deer tracks in the snow about noon. About 2:00 pm it started snowing, around 3:00 pm it started snowing hard. Somewhere around 4:00 pm I followed tracks into stand of Pines (They call them deer yards in the U.P. Its about the only places they can go in the middle of winter to get out of the several feet of snow). Somewhere around 4:30 p.m. the lightbulb went off in my head - "hey, it's gonna be dark soon, you are a LONG way from camp, time to start heading back". Heres the best part - that same light bulb said "hey, you haven't looked at a compass one time since you left camp". No problem, I knew I had a baseline (a two-track) to my west. Lightbulb again "hey, idiot, you left your compass in you HEAVY coat you were wearing this morning while stand hunting". Not a problem, I follow my tracks back in the snow - after about 500-600 yards I couldnt' see them anymore from the fresh snow. So, I did what every experienced outdoorsman does - I panicked and started walking, FAST. I finally realized about 5 mins before dark that I needed a fire and some shelter. I pulled out the trusty Bic lighter and my knife and made some fuzz sticks - couldn't get them lit. It was at that very moment that I realized, despite all of the stuff I learned from my Dad, I didn't know squat. Luckily, the guys from Camp found me about Midnight - they came searching on snowmobiles. The worst part was that I watched my dad light dozens of fires in way worse conditions - but I never paid attention. Dad put me through remedial woodsmanship 101 and I've never had another problem. I am confident that I could start a fire in any condition I will ever encounter and it's all because I was lucky enough to learn the hard way without dying. Heres a fun game for those of you that hunt - next time you are in camp bet everyone a dollar that they can't start a fire within 15 minutes. I'll almost guarantee that you take in more money than you payout and thats sad.
 
http://zenstoves.net/Stoves.htm

Pick up some denatured alcohol and build yourself an alcohol stove.

You can burn stuff all day long in the privacy of your home. Heck, you can cook Ramen noodles!

However, your apt. temp may balloon up to 75 degrees. In such case, break out your flip flops and tank tops.


:D
 
Guyon said:
However, your apt. temp may balloon up to 75 degrees. In such case, break out your flip flops and tank tops.
:D
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In that type of survival situation, I would probably end up having to turn on the air conditioners :eek:
 
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