Fire starting meathods

joncevans

joncevans

Joined
Jul 14, 2005
Messages
200
What do you guys have the most luck with? And what all methods of fire starting have you tried?

I have used the following methods with good success

Bow Drill, 12Oz can bottom, steel wool + 9volt battery, magnesium fire starters, but haven't quiet got the hand drill down yet.
 
I carry 2 bic lighters, along with flint & steel and Vasoline covered cotton balls. Very cheap and reliable.
 
cleaner145 said:
I carry 2 bic lighters, along with flint & steel and Vasoline covered cotton balls. Very cheap and reliable.
Click to expand...

Vasoline, and cotton balls? I guess I dont know that one, how does it work?
 
joncevans said:
Vasoline, and cotton balls? I guess I dont know that one, how does it work?
Click to expand...
Cotton catches a spark pretty easily and the vasoline or petroleum jelly smeared into a cotton ball before hand makes it pretty much waterproof and increases burn time.
 
powells85 said:
Cotton catches a spark pretty easily and the vasoline or petroleum jelly smeared into a cotton ball before hand makes it pretty much waterproof and increases burn time.
Click to expand...


how much vasoline? do you put it on heavy, or light?
 
make sure you buy real cotton cotton balls, there are some synthetics that dont burn well. get a ferro rod, i have used a buch of different kinds, from the walmart 5 buck magnesium block rods to the fire steels and strike forces, bigger the rod more and larger sparks you get. the walmart mag block rods can fall out so put some epoxy on them if this is going to be your emergency fire starter. some folks melt the vaseline in a pan and dip them in the liquid then make up a whole bunch at a time, the liquid is pretty flamable so be carefull if you try this method, i would not do this in my house. i just take a dab and rub it in to the cotton balls.

some folks push them into large plastic straws and seal the ends, then cut them open if they need them.

i put it on light rub it in good, and keep the cotton balls in a film canister, easy to carry and the film canister holds a ton more than you will need. you can get a fire started with 1/2 of a regular cotton ball most times. if it is real wet you can burn 1 then light a second from the first and extend the heating time to dry out damp tinder. they will burn for about 3-5 minutes, giving off enough heat to get your kindling/tinder bundle going.

i have held them under water for 30 seconds shook them off and they are easily lighted with a fire steel or other ferro rod. just fluff up the fibers so the sparks can contact some of the fibers and they will light. i have used the saw blade on my SAK to fluff them like a comb, then used the back of the saw blade or the can opener blade (dont use you knife blade it makes it dull pretty fast) to scrape the ferro rod.

some folks break off a stick and then twist the broken end into the cotton, this makes a large lolli-pop, light the cotton and them use the stick handle to move it under their kindling/tinder bundle. i taught my 10 year old daughter how to make a fire with this method in a heavy snow storm and temperatures around 10 degrees. give them the knowledge that may someday save their life.

alex
 
Thats cool, I'm gonna have to try it out this weekend.. Dont laugh but I do have a dumb question...I keep seeing people say SAK. what does it stand for?
 
sak=swiss army knife, typical red handle most like the models with the saw blade, as it becomes quite usefull in making a camp, the ruksak model is well recieved, as is the one hand treker knife. i have these three and all are great knives. i like the larger sized knives as they fit my hand better and the blades lock, also the saw blade is a bit longer:

http://www.knivesplus.com/VN-53661-Victorinox.HTML

http://www.knivesplus.com/VN-54865-Victorinox.HTML

http://www.knivesplus.com/VN-54874-Victorinox.HTML

some guys like the smaller sized with either the red or alox handles:

http://www.knivesplus.com/victorinox-knife-vn-53964.html

swak= swedish army knife, these are great little camp knives for about 10 bucks, some survival schools issue them to their students.
http://www.ragweedforge.com/760mg.jpg

:)

alex
 
alco141 said:
make sure you buy real cotton cotton balls, there are some synthetics that dont burn well. get a ferro rod, i have used a buch of different kinds, from the walmart 5 buck magnesium block rods to the fire steels and strike forces, bigger the rod more and larger sparks you get. the walmart mag block rods can fall out so put some epoxy on them if this is going to be your emergency fire starter. some folks melt the vaseline in a pan and dip them in the liquid then make up a whole bunch at a time, the liquid is pretty flamable so be carefull if you try this method, i would not do this in my house. i just take a dab and rub it in to the cotton balls.

some folks push them into large plastic straws and seal the ends, then cut them open if they need them.

i put it on light rub it in good, and keep the cotton balls in a film canister, easy to carry and the film canister holds a ton more than you will need. you can get a fire started with 1/2 of a regular cotton ball most times. if it is real wet you can burn 1 then light a second from the first and extend the heating time to dry out damp tinder. they will burn for about 3-5 minutes, giving off enough heat to get your kindling/tinder bundle going.

i have held them under water for 30 seconds shook them off and they are easily lighted with a fire steel or other ferro rod. just fluff up the fibers so the sparks can contact some of the fibers and they will light. i have used the saw blade on my SAK to fluff them like a comb, then used the back of the saw blade or the can opener blade (dont use you knife blade it makes it dull pretty fast) to scrape the ferro rod.

some folks break off a stick and then twist the broken end into the cotton, this makes a large lolli-pop, light the cotton and them use the stick handle to move it under their kindling/tinder bundle. i taught my 10 year old daughter how to make a fire with this method in a heavy snow storm and temperatures around 10 degrees. give them the knowledge that may someday save their life.

alex
Click to expand...

Excellent explanation. I like to carry the firestraws. I use the larger Mc Donalds type and cut them in half. I pack them full, and then seal the ends with wax and a little duct tape. When I need them, I then cut them in the middle, pull out and spread some of the cotton, and the first spark usually gets it going. I easily get about two minutes burn time. I have tried all type of steels, but lets face it, they all do the same thing. I would recommend getiing one or two quality ones such as the fire steels or strike forces and sticking with it. It should outlast you as long as you don't hack away at it like I've seen on "Survivor". Also I use an old hacksaw blade snapped in two for my striker. It works about the best and takes up little space. By the way, I discovered all this thru the great folks on this board.

Good Luck. :D
 
Just for a little variety, try keeping a mini bic in your kit. Or, my preference is a disposable lighter that has an adjustable flame and NO child lock.

Spark-lite is a great little firestarting tool. Same idea as the lighter, but it casts more sparks. Spark-lite tinder, that comes with the spark-lite firestarting kit, is some of the best I've used.

BSA Hotspark is a ferro rod that is small in size, so it easily fits into an altoids minikit, but throws plenty of hot sparks to get your tinder going. I carry one with my Vic Hunter SAK and again, I use spark-lite tinder.

Swedish firesteel is a larger ferro rod. I have a couple of the scout models and they have homes in a couple of different kits. They throw a ton of hot sparks and will last longer than the Hotspark. I still carry the hotspark as my preferred firestarting tool.

Matches work, but are more vulnerable to weather and wind.

PitchWitch is as the name implies, a pitch based fire starter. It works by dripping flaming drops of pitch down into the prepared fire and will start a fire in a driving rain and high wind.

Fatwood is an excellent firestarting material. As is birch bark.
 
Ideas to try. Success is a function of practice.

Sources of ignition:

1. NATO-approved "lifeboat matches"

2. strike-anywhere matches, improved by dipping in wax or more (can wrap top 1" in paper and/or plastic before dipping)

3 strike-anywhere matches

4. butane lighters (don't work much/or at all if their temp. is below freezing)

5. "fire-steel" (ferrocerrium)

6. electric spark (battery/batteries + wire or steelwool)

7. magnifying glass (pretty much a washout in large - dark - areas of the
country)

8. fire-piston

9. flint (or equiv) and steel

10. fire drill

11. fire plow

12. coals carried from last fire

13. ammunition primer

Tinder (very partial)
1. cotton balls smeared with petroleum jelly
2. cotton balls
3. cotton drier lint
4. gun powder
5. liquid stove fuel
6. rubber inner-tube
7. cattail fuzz
8. inner bark of birch
9. fine, dry grass
10. dry paper
11. dry sawdust
12. dry beech leaves
13. magnesium dust or shavings (best caught on sticky side of duct tape)
14. various plastics
 
lighter
matches
metal match
batteries
ferro rods with a vareiety of man-made and natural tinders
natural flint and steel (the steel is a mora with the lamination ground off the spine) with char cloth
natural flint without steel with char cloth (two rocks, presumably with a decent iron content also)
bow drill

Like you, I have not yet mastered the hand drill but I'll keep practicing.:thumbup:
Some day I would really like to buy or make a fire piston and give that a try too!
 
joncevans said:
any body know where to get a fire piston, or how to make one cheap?
Click to expand...

Ward Scientific (wardsci.com) has modern version for 24.95 (Same model sold elsewehere for up to 69.00).

firepiston.com has more bushcrafty versions for more $$, plus kits and instructions.
 
Old rusty muffler hanging down from my truck...

OK, what is a fire plow. I could google but I bet you guys want to tell me.
 
I can't count the number of times we made a roaring fire using dead fall lit by book matches. When the fish are biting and the beer is cold you gotta hang in there no matter what it takes!
 
Instead of vaseline and cotton balls, I use gel sterno fuel. I want to shave some magnesium into the gel and stir it and see how hard it is to put out (kind of like napalm?), but I haven't had the time. I thought that if the magnesium got hot enough, it would reignite the gel. Maybe it's a cock-eyed scheme with the magnesium and all, but the gel sterno stuff works really good on its own. Just smear some on some kindling and it gets a fire going quick. Also, I use waterproof matches. A wet flint will make a standard bic useless.

Zac
 
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