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- May 19, 2005
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- 12,709
As we all know, carrying around survival supplies that in theory should work is something of a mistake. You really need to try things out before the SHTF and you really need those supplies. Frequently, the best place to try something out is in your own backyard.
To this end, I decided to take a few minutes today and experiment with my fire-starting equipment. I live in a place where it is often very dangerous to start fires in the field, so I don't find myself starting campfires very often anymore (I'm really not interested in being that camper in the news who accidentally burns down 30,000 acres and has to pay for it). Yet in the event that bad things happen, I want to know that I can get a fire going if I really really have to. So as a part of my BOB and PSK, I'm carrying a blastmatch and a swedish firesteel rod. The question is, which works best?
(Note that I also carry at least one bic lighter with me in the woods. I didn't use it for this experiment because, well, I already know I can get a fire started using a lighter).
I also wanted to find out if my intended emergency tinder would work well. For this, I'm currently carrying petroleum jelly soaked cotton balls. I've never tried these before, but I've read about them in various locations (chiefly, Lundin's 98.6 Degrees) and they seem like a good idea ... in theory.
If you've never heard of petroleum jelly cotton balls, the concept is simple enough. Simply take triple sized 100% cotton balls (watch out for the cheap synthetic stuff as these will melt rather than burn) and coat the outside of them with petroleum jelly. The idea is to mash enough jelly into the cotton ball that it "feels like baby snot." I find that I can fit about 4 of these in a standard film canister.
To use the cotton balls, tear one open so that the uncoated fibers in the center of the ball are exposed. Light using the fire-starter of your choice. The ball will burn like a candle for 3 - 4 minutes with flames of between 1 and 3 inches in height (verified).
For this experiment, I placed a piece of aluminum foil on my grill and then placed the tinder on that foil. I used the aluminum foil mostly to keep the petroleum jelly off my grill, but also so that I could use the foil to smother the flame if I decided that I wanted to put it out.
Conditions outside were wet and humid due to a recent rainstorm, with a wind blowing across the kindling at about 2 - 4 miles per hour. Note that I made no attempt to shelter the kindling from the wind, and I found that the wind was in no way a hinderance to igniting the fire.
To begin, I tried my blastmatch. I like the theory of this. It places a flint bar inside a ABS case that acts as a plunger for the flint. To use, simple press down on a striker built into the case, and slide the case down the flint. This gives a decent amount of sparks with a one-handed operation.
For my experiment I initially tried positioning the blastmatch immediately off to the side of the cotton ball and angled it so that the sparks would strike the center of the ball. My thinking was that the ball would be inside a teepee of twigs and other kindling, and that I wouldn't be able to easily place the blastmatch on top of the cotton ball. However, I found that I couldn't seem to get the angle right for landing the sparks in the center of the cotton ball where I needed them to be. So I finally put the blastmatch in the dead center of the cotton ball. A single "plunge" with the match immediately lit up the cotton ball.
Given this, I'm now thinking that if I had to start a campfire with the blastmatch, I'd place the cotton ball on a small piece of bark or similar material that I could then slide into the center of the kindling once the initial fire had been lit.
For the second part of my experiment, I used my Swedish firesteel. This is a single rod of magnesium alloy 3.75" long. It comes with a cheap metal striker tethered to the steel.
The key to using these sort of fire starters is to make sure you scrape the protective black coating off the portion of the rod that you want to use before attempting to raise a spark. Before attempting to light the cotton ball, I tried two different strikers; the one that comes with the firesteel and a sharpened location (NOT the cutting edge) on the back of my Chris Reeve Mountaineer II. This "sharpened" (use the term loosely) location is near the tip of the knife where the spine drops to meet the point.
Of the two strikers, I found that I could raise a lot more sparks, and that I seemed to have more control over where the sparks landed, if I used the Mountaineer. The key to controlling the sparks using a firesteel is to hold the knife (or whatever you're using for the striker) steady and pull the firesteel backwards towards you. If nothing else, this prevents you from clumsily scattering your kindling by overshooting the end of the firesteel with your striker. Using this method, I found that a half-hearted, not very vigorous effort with the firesteel against the back of the knife was enough to ignite the cotton ball.
Based on this experiment, I came to several conclusions, some of them surprising.
First, the cotton balls work like a charm. I actually "made them" about 6 months ago and left them stored in the film canister since then, so this was truly a thorough test since they were in the condition that I'd expect them to be in after a lengthy storage. However, I have some complaints. First, they're messy to work with, but that's a minor point. I also think they would be a bit difficult to extract from the film canister, and then tear them open, if I had a broken hand or if my hands were simply numb from cold. Finally, they're a little too bulky for carrying in a small PSK. For this reason I intend to keep looking around for some other, more compact, kindling for at least my PSK. I've heard old bicycle inner tubes work well. Or possibly I'll spend some money on a commercial tinder, such as Survival Inc's Wetfire. (That experiment to occur at some later date).
Second, much to my surprise the firesteel worked better for me than did the blastmatch. I fully expected the blastmatch to be easier to operate. For this reason, if I don't absolutely require one-hand operation to start a fire, I'll probably use the firesteel + Mountaineer II combination whenever I need a campfire -- which might occur more frequently now that my kids are, happily, finally old enough to start camping with me.
By the way, my apologies if this was too long. However, I've found that sometimes a detailed description of even the simplest skills can be helpful to people who are just starting out. If you've ever watched the TV show "Survivor," you'd fully appreciate the need a novice might have for a detailed description on fire-starting techniques.
If anyone reading this has tips or suggestions on firestarters or emergency kindling, I'd really like to hear them.
Thanks for reading ....
To this end, I decided to take a few minutes today and experiment with my fire-starting equipment. I live in a place where it is often very dangerous to start fires in the field, so I don't find myself starting campfires very often anymore (I'm really not interested in being that camper in the news who accidentally burns down 30,000 acres and has to pay for it). Yet in the event that bad things happen, I want to know that I can get a fire going if I really really have to. So as a part of my BOB and PSK, I'm carrying a blastmatch and a swedish firesteel rod. The question is, which works best?
(Note that I also carry at least one bic lighter with me in the woods. I didn't use it for this experiment because, well, I already know I can get a fire started using a lighter).
I also wanted to find out if my intended emergency tinder would work well. For this, I'm currently carrying petroleum jelly soaked cotton balls. I've never tried these before, but I've read about them in various locations (chiefly, Lundin's 98.6 Degrees) and they seem like a good idea ... in theory.
If you've never heard of petroleum jelly cotton balls, the concept is simple enough. Simply take triple sized 100% cotton balls (watch out for the cheap synthetic stuff as these will melt rather than burn) and coat the outside of them with petroleum jelly. The idea is to mash enough jelly into the cotton ball that it "feels like baby snot." I find that I can fit about 4 of these in a standard film canister.
To use the cotton balls, tear one open so that the uncoated fibers in the center of the ball are exposed. Light using the fire-starter of your choice. The ball will burn like a candle for 3 - 4 minutes with flames of between 1 and 3 inches in height (verified).
For this experiment, I placed a piece of aluminum foil on my grill and then placed the tinder on that foil. I used the aluminum foil mostly to keep the petroleum jelly off my grill, but also so that I could use the foil to smother the flame if I decided that I wanted to put it out.
Conditions outside were wet and humid due to a recent rainstorm, with a wind blowing across the kindling at about 2 - 4 miles per hour. Note that I made no attempt to shelter the kindling from the wind, and I found that the wind was in no way a hinderance to igniting the fire.
To begin, I tried my blastmatch. I like the theory of this. It places a flint bar inside a ABS case that acts as a plunger for the flint. To use, simple press down on a striker built into the case, and slide the case down the flint. This gives a decent amount of sparks with a one-handed operation.
For my experiment I initially tried positioning the blastmatch immediately off to the side of the cotton ball and angled it so that the sparks would strike the center of the ball. My thinking was that the ball would be inside a teepee of twigs and other kindling, and that I wouldn't be able to easily place the blastmatch on top of the cotton ball. However, I found that I couldn't seem to get the angle right for landing the sparks in the center of the cotton ball where I needed them to be. So I finally put the blastmatch in the dead center of the cotton ball. A single "plunge" with the match immediately lit up the cotton ball.
Given this, I'm now thinking that if I had to start a campfire with the blastmatch, I'd place the cotton ball on a small piece of bark or similar material that I could then slide into the center of the kindling once the initial fire had been lit.
For the second part of my experiment, I used my Swedish firesteel. This is a single rod of magnesium alloy 3.75" long. It comes with a cheap metal striker tethered to the steel.
The key to using these sort of fire starters is to make sure you scrape the protective black coating off the portion of the rod that you want to use before attempting to raise a spark. Before attempting to light the cotton ball, I tried two different strikers; the one that comes with the firesteel and a sharpened location (NOT the cutting edge) on the back of my Chris Reeve Mountaineer II. This "sharpened" (use the term loosely) location is near the tip of the knife where the spine drops to meet the point.
Of the two strikers, I found that I could raise a lot more sparks, and that I seemed to have more control over where the sparks landed, if I used the Mountaineer. The key to controlling the sparks using a firesteel is to hold the knife (or whatever you're using for the striker) steady and pull the firesteel backwards towards you. If nothing else, this prevents you from clumsily scattering your kindling by overshooting the end of the firesteel with your striker. Using this method, I found that a half-hearted, not very vigorous effort with the firesteel against the back of the knife was enough to ignite the cotton ball.
Based on this experiment, I came to several conclusions, some of them surprising.
First, the cotton balls work like a charm. I actually "made them" about 6 months ago and left them stored in the film canister since then, so this was truly a thorough test since they were in the condition that I'd expect them to be in after a lengthy storage. However, I have some complaints. First, they're messy to work with, but that's a minor point. I also think they would be a bit difficult to extract from the film canister, and then tear them open, if I had a broken hand or if my hands were simply numb from cold. Finally, they're a little too bulky for carrying in a small PSK. For this reason I intend to keep looking around for some other, more compact, kindling for at least my PSK. I've heard old bicycle inner tubes work well. Or possibly I'll spend some money on a commercial tinder, such as Survival Inc's Wetfire. (That experiment to occur at some later date).
Second, much to my surprise the firesteel worked better for me than did the blastmatch. I fully expected the blastmatch to be easier to operate. For this reason, if I don't absolutely require one-hand operation to start a fire, I'll probably use the firesteel + Mountaineer II combination whenever I need a campfire -- which might occur more frequently now that my kids are, happily, finally old enough to start camping with me.
By the way, my apologies if this was too long. However, I've found that sometimes a detailed description of even the simplest skills can be helpful to people who are just starting out. If you've ever watched the TV show "Survivor," you'd fully appreciate the need a novice might have for a detailed description on fire-starting techniques.
If anyone reading this has tips or suggestions on firestarters or emergency kindling, I'd really like to hear them.
Thanks for reading ....
