How do you guys start fires in damp conditions?

CrimsonTideShooter

CrimsonTideShooter

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Oct 23, 2010
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Well? How do you do it? I need to know how to get a fire going in damp conditions or with no dry wood around. Figured this is the best place to ask.
 
I did a lot of artic winter training in the Sierras and all the Pines have moss that grows on them. If you look around it's pretty easy to find brown dry moss that lights up FAST for tinder. Also up under the canopy of green branches you'll find a bunch of dead dry branches perfect for kindling. Some may require you to throw a line over them to bring them down but even in an artic area there's plenty of dry material if you know where to look. If all you can find is some wet wood, scrape down into the core and it will usually have some dry usable wood also.
 
CrimsonTideShooter said:
Well? How do you do it? I need to know how to get a fire going in damp conditions or with no dry wood around. Figured this is the best place to ask.
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This is something I have a good bit of experience with in the south east U.S.,... and I've done several threads on the subject... but the best method for you is going to depend mostly on what part of the country you're in.

Here is one way...

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=750505


and here is another thread on wet conditions fire starting that has a little video that might put the first thread in perspective.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=786817
 
Being from Alabama, you can find pine knots and stumps just about anywhere you look in this state. They will get a fire going in a hurricane.
 
Best thing you can do tinder wise is to take a minute and think of little places that the rain can’t get to (or get to as easily) and start looking for tinder there. If it’s damp, try getting it close to your body to warm it up and dry it out some (assuming you aren’t sweating like a Sasquatch, that would defeat the purpose).

While that is drying, you can start looking for dry wood. As Joe said, the dry stuff is in the center so you have to get to it. Batoning is the best way to split smaller wood to get to the dry portion. Baton the initial stuff into toothpick or slightly larger diameter pieces, just to get the fuel going. Continue adding batoned pieces until you get a decent fire going. At that point wood that is a little more damp will dry out a little as it burns.
 
Living in New England I've had to get fires going several times in less than ideal conditions. One thing I've found that works well for me to keep a flame going to get some wet tinder started is hand sanitizer.

I always have a bottle in my psk. A glob about the size of a quarter will burn for a solid 5+ minutes and produces a hot enough flame to start small tinder even when wet.

Hand sanitizer keeps your hands clean in survival situations and can help start a fire.
 
Unless you're in a rain forest in the wet season, you can almost always find something dry to burn... damp wood can be dried near the fire itself, splitting the wood exposes the inner layers and allows it to dry out as well as burn.

A piece of dry inner wood can be made into a feather stick (or fuzz stick) to increase the surface area and serve as kindling, if everything else is wet.

There are a few good videos on YouTube - just do a search for: start a fire in the rain
 
inner core...find the dry...
and my necklace has a waterproof pill holder with 4 or 5 PJ cotton balls so I can cheat anytime I feel lazy. :)
 
Go to Wal-Mart or chain pharmacies until you find them. Little tubes like toothpaste tubes with Vaseline Intensive Care in them. Squirt a noodle of that on cotton balls, #0000 Steel Wool, fatwood shavings and just about anything else you can find and you will definitely have a hot little tinder pile when you strike it up.

Purell is good stuff, too! Make sure you don't get the greenish type with Aloe Vera in it, in my experience it won't burn very well. Ironically, that is the type that is the better hand sanitizer because Isopropyl Alcohol dries the skin and can crack the skin and allow more germs to enter than having unwashed hands to begin with. The Aloe Vera type moisturizes your skin while the alcohol kills the germs, etc.

I was testing out all kinds of tinder and fuels last weekend, pretty cool for a hot fire! :D
 
First time I ever went to the jungle I was anxious to see how the guides driving the boat up the Amazon would start a fire in the damp conditions. I figured it would be some cool Indian method that has been passed down for years. I was right. When we finally stopped the boat at the river's edge and set up camp, they gathered firewood then took about a gallon of gas from the boat and set the shit on fire with a cigarette lighter. It made an impressive blast. It seems that method had been passed down generation to generation ever since the invention of the gas burning engine. :D
 
My Dad always taught me how to make a one match fire. However, ( :D ) he also was very fond of the Peruvian Indian Method of Firestarting. He would change the oil in the pickup truck before he pull a camper with it, you know? So, he would take the used nasty oil and that would make for another type of "one match fire."

One year we were camping below the Conowingo Dam and he dropped the camper, grabbed a tow chain out of the back of the truck and pulled a huge tree stump over to where our camping area was. It took us the better part of five days to burn that stump to ashes. Talk about a nightly bonfire!
 
R.A.T. said:
First time I ever went to the jungle I was anxious to see how the guides driving the boat up the Amazon would start a fire in the damp conditions. I figured it would be some cool Indian method that has been passed down for years. I was right. When we finally stopped the boat at the river's edge and set up camp, they gathered firewood then took about a gallon of gas from the boat and set the shit on fire with a cigarette lighter. It made an impressive blast. It seems that method had been passed down generation to generation ever since the invention of the gas burning engine. :D
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:thumbup: LOL...

I've been known to use a whole bottle of life boat matchs :D
 
R.A.T. said:
First time I ever went to the jungle I was anxious to see how the guides driving the boat up the Amazon would start a fire in the damp conditions. I figured it would be some cool Indian method that has been passed down for years. I was right. When we finally stopped the boat at the river's edge and set up camp, they gathered firewood then took about a gallon of gas from the boat and set the shit on fire with a cigarette lighter. It made an impressive blast. It seems that method had been passed down generation to generation ever since the invention of the gas burning engine. :D
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That's always been my favorite method. Explosion are fun, and it beats rubbing two sticks together. Most folks use diesel, but they don't know what they're missing. :D
 
This is cheating, but on motorcycle trips I bring a canister of white gas... a few drops anywhere burns and lights quite well. :D

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