Firemaking FAIL

BlairB

BlairB

Joined
Jun 23, 2002
Messages
837
No, I wasn't trying the bow drill method or any other primitive method. I had an LMF scout firesteel, bic lighter, toilet paper and a Wetfire tinder cube.

Wednsday afternoon I went for an overnight campout near Mt Hood. It had been raining for two days before and the mist coming off of the mountains was amazing, but I don't think it had rained at all that day, at least not in town.

The hike to my campsite took about an hour and a half, so I tore a few handfulls of cedar bark off of a tree and put it in my pocket to dry out while I hiked. After I set up camp, I used my Becker BK-2 to split some wood in order to get to the dry stuff inside. I used my Izula to make a pile of shavings from this dry wood, and got my kindling ready. The Cedar bark I had in my pocket was now pretty dry, so I made a tinder bundle out of that, making sure to break it up and expose as many of the small fibers as possible.

Well, after about 15 minutes of trying with the firesteel I couldn't get the Cedar bark or the wood shavings to catch, so I grabbed several squares of toilet paper. The toilet paper easily lit, but the natural materials still wouldn't, so I broke out the Wetfire.

Now this is the weird part, I couldn't get the Wetfire to light at all. It's been a while since I tried, but I've gotten Wetfire tinder to light after only one or two strikes from a firesteel in the past. I tried the bic lighter. Nothing. I lit more t.p. and set the tinder cube directly on it. Nothing. It just wouldn't catch fire.

I finally gave up after an hour of trying and cooked my chili over a can of Sterno. Within 5 minutes of giving up, it started to rain. I guess there was just too much moisture in the air or something, but that was weird.

That was wednsday. Friday morning I took a few Wetfire cubes out to the patio to see what is up with this stuff. I was able to get one to light with a firesteel, but not very easily. After it was lit, it burned untill it was all black on the outside and then went out (about 15 or 20 seconds). This is unlike my previous experience with Wetfire. I've tested them before and had them burn for several minutes before going out. It makes me wonder if they changed the formula or maybe I got a bad batch. Wetfire is advertised as being able to work in a downpour.

The second cube burned a little better, about a minute or so, but still went out before the cube was consumed.

A third cube Wouldn't take a spark or a flame from a bic ligher. I finally got it to light by first lighting a napkin on fire and using that to light the Wetfire. It burned for about 5 seconds.

A fourth also wouldn't take a spark. It burned for about 20 seconds after being lit with the bic.

Anybody else use the stuff? I'm taking them out of all my kits. I'm not sure what to replace them with, vasaline cotton balls maybe.
 
Some days, fire just doesn't wanna take hold without a fight. I've never used Wetfire cubes. Cotton balls have worked great for me in bad spots. There's also nothing like rolled up paper or cardboard soaked in hot wax. It's pretty bulky sure, but when you know it's going to be wet, there's no such thing as being over prepared for fire. I've gone as far as a ziplock baggie full of sawdust before.
 
I have 5 cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly in my fire kit. They burn for a LONG time, so you have plenty of time to set it in your tinder.
 
I have some wet fire cubes and no issues but again I never tried lighting the whole cube ablaze, I cut mine in half and then shave 1 half of it down into tinder slivers...and cut the second half into 2-4 pieces and it lights every time... now I have heard if the wrapper is opened it loses some of its mo-jo
 
on the Wetfire wrappers? I think their shelf life is about 6 months or so once exposed to air. BTW, I use Weber fire starters. They look the same as the Wetfire material and cost a lot less (about $4.00 for 24 cubes).

Curt
 
go to homedepot in the BBQ grill area and there are these fire packets ,I think you get 12 in a box and light it and you should be able to get a camp fire going,they'll burn for a minute or 2 ....
 
Ah, I've made spark based fires hundreds of times, could even be thousands and sometimes there just ain't no makin' it happen.

Normally it's when you really need fire bad or there's a crowd watching.
 
The few times I've used a Wetfire cube they've lit up and stayed lit for a few minutes at least. I use them basically the same way Tony described...I break them into a few peices and place those on some of the scraped Wetfire powder.
 
I have had the EXACT same experience with the wetfire. I firt got them, tried em they worked. Put them in my kit, tried to use one once and it wouldn't light. Tried some of the others and they barely would light too. I asked the Going Gear guy if he had ever heard about this at the Blade show and he said no. I took them out of all my kits and replaced them with cotton balls and generic neosporin antibiotic cream.
 
scubacat said:
on the Wetfire wrappers? I think their shelf life is about 6 months or so once exposed to air. BTW, I use Weber fire starters. They look the same as the Wetfire material and cost a lot less (about $4.00 for 24 cubes).

Curt
Click to expand...

The seals could have been broken on one or two of them I guess, I didn't check. Thanks for the tip.
 
texastonydobbs said:
I have some wet fire cubes and no issues but again I never tried lighting the whole cube ablaze, I cut mine in half and then shave 1 half of it down into tinder slivers...and cut the second half into 2-4 pieces and it lights every time... now I have heard if the wrapper is opened it loses some of its mo-jo
Click to expand...

I'm going to try this, thanks!
 
StagLefty said:
Can't beat PJ/CB-never had a failure with them.
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Me also. The wet-fire cubes and such seem to be a hit/miss , at least for me. Enough so that I don't trust them. Coniferous fatwood is pretty reliable as a natural source. I keep some in the end of my Strikeforce. Never failed yet either.
 
texastonydobbs said:
go to homedepot in the BBQ grill area and there are these fire packets ,I think you get 12 in a box and light it and you should be able to get a camp fire going,they'll burn for a minute or 2 ....
Click to expand...

That is what I use, makes me feel like the God of Fire for those 2 minutes! RAWR! Then my wife makes the real fire and I die a little bit inside :D
 
I refuse to carry Wetfire cubes anymore. Even if they have been sealed for a while if they are in a high humidity area they are a bitch to light. The only way I've found to light them when they get in this mode is to crumble them up. They're just not good survival tinder in my opinion.
 
R.A.T. said:
I refuse to carry Wetfire cubes anymore. Even if they have been sealed for a while if they are in a high humidity area they are a bitch to light. The only way I've found to light them when they get in this mode is to crumble them up. They're just not good survival tinder in my opinion.
Click to expand...

I have always crumbled up fire lighters and they seem to always light better...the spark seems to light better (how do I put this); on the "fresh" sections of the cube once broken, rather than the dryer external surfaces. :cool: :confused:
 
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