Fire Starting in Wet Conditions

S

Sheltowee

Joined
Nov 24, 2002
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Any good tips for starting a fire in wet conditions? This is a skill that I want to get some practice in. Fortuneatly I have never HAD to start a fire in wet conditions. I have always had proper gear to stay dry and warm and didn't need to start a fire. For those who have, and do start fires in wet conditions, what kind of fire starting materials do you carry on you?

Thanks,

Sheltowee
 
I usually carry a zippo lighter and a bic lighter in different pockets (zippo in a leather holder on my belt, and the bic in a coat pocket). I also carry Spark-Lite fire starter tabs (military aviation survival kit type). It makes for a pretty lightweight and reliable combination.
Jim
 
Back "in the day" I did a far amount of canoe trips in places like the Yukon and B.C. . A week to ten day ones,and sometimes we had days of rain.I would say first practice your skills at home in the rain before going out into the wilds.

Now in a canoe one can carry more than a backpacker so keep that in mind.Lighters,water proof matches in water proof containers and some dry tinder(cotten in vasealine etc.)keep it in your gear on you.Set up a tarp and build it under this.Gather up a lot of wood more than you think you need. All wood is dry on the inside, split it to get at dry side, shave off the wet outside on smaller pieces make fuzz sticks.Its kind of like painting in that you put most of the time in prep.work for the best results.:) Once you got it going dry out other wood by putting it next to the fire,keep some under your tent or tarp so you have some dry wood the next day.

To recap,have many fire starters,split the wood to get at the driest part,try to do it under some sort of shelter,gather and dry as much as possible and practice at home or on local camping trips first.

But my favorite way to start a fire in the rain is with a road flare;) .I have a bunch of small ones (about 6 inches)from a railroad car.These are for true emergencies only,and DO NOT take the place of learning other ways.But thats one kick ass gaint match.:D
 
Pitch, pitch, and more pitch. If you can find wood, then you can probably also find plant matter with some sort of flammable pitchy resin. I used to pride myself on "one-matching it" while elk hunting by using pitch.

First I found a reasonably dry piece of bark or wood (only needs to be drier than the ground) to serve as a base. Then, on the bark, I *very* carefully built a little mound of dry whittlings loaded with whatever pitchy stuff I could find.

Equally important is a pile of more dry(ish) stuff to add to the tinder pile once lit. Babysitting the new fire can be a lot of work, and you don't dare leave. It helps to sheild things from the rain with your body.

I used to consider kitchen matches and a pocket knife essential for starting a fire in rain and melting snow, figuring I could always find pitch. Having to do with only wood whittlings is possible, but takes an extraordinary amount of skill when you are cold-numbed and tired (if you are me anyway). When I carried something, I carried wax or plastic. Either one will work as an intermediary fuel. These days I am experimenting with more fangled fuels.

Scott
 
In car or canoe I find a can of Gulflite or even unbranded charcoal staring fluid works great. If you are packing, use all the woodsmans firestarting skills which you can find in numerous forums, but carry a little bottle of fast fire for emergency use.
 
Could you elaborate on where you find and how you extract the pitch? I'm assuming it doesn't naturally look like the black stuff in the can.
 
I think he means pitch wood. This is found in broken trees. The tree lives on after a break and rushes the pitch to the wound. It saturates to wood there and hardens. Stuff burns even wet. You can look for snapped stumps and cut into them to find it. Occasionally I will catch a pallet at work that has a little section of pitch wood to it. Pitch wood works great if you can find it but an easier method is to saturate some cotton balls with Vaseline. They work great and they are easy and cheap to make. I just add a bunch to a good sixe serving of vaseline in a zip lock and mash them till the cotton is soaked.
 
I always carry a 5x8 siltarp that weighs 7oz and in winter or wet conditions I carry the Granfors Bruks Mini hatchet. It will chop as well as a 10" knife with less weight to carry and it is more compact.

ScandavianOnWood2 640SS2.jpg


Pine pitch is a very good first thing to look for. It is yellow resin flowing down a pine tree. Sometimes it is on top of the bark and other times it is on a wound or scar on the trunck of the tree. If none is around chop your way down to dry wood under the tarp and get your fire going. I carry wooden matches, a ferro rod, a candle and a lighter. I consider fire very important.
 
I carry a product called PitchWitch and it's an excellent product to carry for wet and stormy conditions. Works everytime if used as directed. I also carry surplus trioxane fuel bars for fire starting. Actually, I carry at least three ignition sources and three tinders with me. Carrying redundant fire sources is always a good idea.
 
Beezar and Longbow are correct, The ultimate fire starter is indeed pitch. Pitch witch is the best out there.
 
Jerry:

There's ome pics here, and on the fire page:

tinder

Around here we have solid pitch (gum) on spruce trees, and resin blisters on fir trees. Soaking lichen in the latter and then letting it dry gives a great firestarter - which is hot enough to get the spruce gum going. The pines around here don't have any pitch for some strange reason.
 
I live in western Washington, so evergreen trees are not a problem to find. They usually either have rivulets of yellowish resin in places on the bark. Especially younger trees have "bubbles" of pitch in the bark. I take a small stick and pop these bubbles, collecting the pitch on another stick. Pine and fir needles are also very pitchy, as anyone who has ever burned a Christmas tree will attest.

Afer rereading the original post, I should clarify that this is not something I normally carry, although after becomming lost I would immediately start gathering some. There is a lot of it in the forests where I travel. I don't know about pitch availability in other parts of the country - I don't think many deciduous trees produce the flammable stuff I am used to. There are many other naturally flammable materials - many tree lichens seem to work well (the whispy grey ones).

Whatever you carry, you should also be proficient with field expedients. You never know when you will lose your gear or run out of your regular tinder.

Scott
 
jimbo, our local name for the blistered fir trees is piss fir, if you pierce the blister lightly and have something to soak up the pitch when you squeeze the blister it makes great tinder. Catail, inner bark of juniper and cottonwood work great to hold the pitch.

Jerry, look for some fatwood at your local walmart, it is a pine wood product, it burns wet. I think it should grow down where you are at.
 
Yeah, we've got plenty of fatwood down here. I was just wondering about the pitch. I've seen the sappy stuff oozing from conifers, but wasn't certain that was the pitch referred to above.

Now pinching zits on a piss fir is a whole 'nother thing. :)

BTW Jimbo, I enjoyed reading your site.
 
Thanks Jerry!

You'll notice my grand-daughters special choice of knife - anybody's but hers! It's one messy business!
 
I like to gather stuff while I'm hiking, so I try to collect fire pitch as I come across it. That way I don't have to look for some when I get to camp. It makes the hike more fun, too, because you are always observing and trying to find useful things in the area as you walk through. I prefer hardened pitch as it is less messy. Drop your hard pieces of pitch into an empty film cannister and you won't have to worry about it melting onto your extra pair of skivvies in the backpack.

Longbow - sounds like you use the Nez Perce rule of threes?
 
I guess it's cheating but I carry homemade firestarters. I take egg cartons (cardboard-eighteen eggs) and almsot fill them with sawdust I get from work. To this I add melted paraffin wax. After cooling I cut it into 18 starters that typically burn at least 8 minutes per starter.
Stay Safe,
Clyde
 
Beezaur is correct imo,in that the best firestarter is pitch or as we call it down south,"pine Rosin".I usually cut my Rosin from the ground out of the stumps of old cut dead pine trees. The reason for this is that when the tree dies a lot of the resin will accumulate in the stump providing a very pine rosin rich stick which will light even after being wet and will burn a long time.Use this as your base and then choose a dead standing tree around a 2 inch diameter,knock it over and use your blade as a draw knife to cut slivers around 6 inches long.The sharp edges of the slivers catch flame a lot easier than small round branches which divert flame around its circumferance.The underside of a knocked over tree is also a good place to cut slivers.Look into small rock overhangs for loose leaves that are dry and shielded from rain,also check hollow trees for dead bark and leaves.Also remember that the inside of almost all wood is "usually" dry,not always but most times especially with standing dead wood.This is where a good splitting knife or hatchet is handy.
 
Take some extra large cotton balls really smush vaseline jelly into them so they are really mushy and wet with the stuff. Get a cheep waterproof match case the kind with the screw on top and an o ring at a camping store. You can fit about 8 or so of the cotton balls in it. When you are ready to use it pull one of the cotton balls apart into fine stringy strands and lite it. They will burn wet, in the rain, in the wind. Damn near impossible to blow it out. Oh, the best waterproof matches are from REI. Also damn near imposible to blow out. Got both tricks from a retired Air Force survival instructor. They really work.
 
Birch Tree bark will burn even if it's wet, here is a nice site with what looks to be some good information...

Outdoors Online

G2
 
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