How do you guys start fires in damp conditions?

StoneColdChuckTX said:
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
Click to expand...

Gasoline can start a big fire in a hurry, and the wood can be quite damp and still burn well. The secret to starting a fire with gas is to be well away from the fire when you light it. If you use more than a few drops of gas there will be quite a fireball when it first lights. If you're using a match, toss it into the fire. If you're using a lighter, light a piece of kindling and toss that into the fire.

A friend of mine has a cabin "up north" and we usually have an evening bonfire in a 55 gallon barrel when we are there. He also has a couple of boats with older outboard motors that are prone to clogged carburetors if the gas gets too old. To play it safe he considers any gas that has been in a gas can for 2 months to be too old and it gets consigned to use starting the bonfire. A quart of gas will usually give us about a 15 foot tall mushroom cloud shaped fireball!
 
Last edited:
I received a survival issue of back packer magazine today in the which they described using old potato chips to start your fire.

So, I had to try it, went in to the kitchen and grabbed some chips and held them over a candle. Those suckers burn for a while. Marshmallows did as well! :D

Wife wasn't very happy with the experiment, but the results where positive.
 
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
Click to expand...

Man,I been using that in East Texas for years.I did not know it was a Amazon
Indian method passed down for years. Oh Well.:D
 
look on youtube for IAWoodsman's One Stick Fire. This is the most reliable, create different sized 'bolts' of wood split from the center of dead wood, which will be much more dry. Using jute and petrol jelly cotton bolls with a match or fire striker, you can get one raging pretty darn quick. I guess the biggest thing after getting these basic techniques down is finding the driest spot possible for building the fire.
 
I've gotten some good fires going with road flares. Some of the fires were even intentional.

(Nice GS, Norsman--I've got an RT)
 
Norsman said:
I received a survival issue of back packer magazine today in the which they described using old potato chips to start your fire.

So, I had to try it, went in to the kitchen and grabbed some chips and held them over a candle. Those suckers burn for a while. Marshmallows did as well! :D

Wife wasn't very happy with the experiment, but the results where positive.
Click to expand...


Fritos corn chips work amazingly well also. :thumbup:
 
I live literally on the edge of the Northern most temperate rain forest, in the snowiest city at sea level on the planet.

Needless to say, it's wet here year round. It rains almost all summer, in late October it's rain/snow mix, then it snows all winter.

by far the best method (without using synthetic materials) is to chop your way to the center part of a dead tree or fallen branches. Around here, if it's touching the ground, it's probably soaked to the core, so you look for a large branch on the ground with smaller limbs sticking up into the air, which helps keep them dried out. Then you shave them as fine as possible and use that for your tinder. Once you get a good fire going you can start adding damp wood.
 
CrimsonTideShooter said:
Why wouldn't you want to cook food over a fatwood fire though?
Click to expand...

Because it's pine and although it can burn hot and is good for a warming fire, it's a bit sooty for open food on a fire. Some of the fatwood I have, man, your hotdugs would probably taste like Pine-Sol. :D
 
My old Scoutmaster used to carry little chunks of thermite wrapped in foil that he used to get our campfires started real quick - we learned the traditional way, then he showed us HIS way.

He was a former special operations guy that loved to share his knowledge and those were always an awe-inspiring rendition of how to get a really good bonfire going. I am always thankful I was in that troop.

It was education, and entertaining. :D
 
If you feed a man a fish, he'll eat for a day.. teach a man to fish and he'll eat the rest of his life.

If you teach a man to start a fire he'll be warm for a day - if you SET him on fire, he'll be warm the rest of his life.
 
I always carry wetfire tinder. I have tried to light a fire when everything is soaked and failed everytime. One Time I got so pissed I threw my knife at a tree. Even with the wetfire tinder I still have to do prep or the fire is out in 15 min. I use a firesteel for practice and a lighter as last resort, but I always carry firesteel, matches and a lighter.
 
KNIFEABILITY said:
One Time I got so pissed I threw my knife at a tree.
Click to expand...

The first thing you learn in nature is anger and temper tantrums only make things worse. Might I suggest anger management classes prior to wilderness survival classes ;)
 
It was a long time ago but yeah foolish. The cold wet wilderness beat me up and won that time. The knife was a bk-7 and it did not stick in the tree but held up well. After my tantrum things only got worse I did not get the fire going for lack of skills.
 
We have all had those pissed off moments, so I understand. What I've found with age though is how damn foolish it is. Throw a wrench or knife and possibly lose or destory the one thing that might keep us going. One thing that "tempered" me was traveling so much to Third World where I had no control over the idiocy (at least that's how I saw it) of how things were done. I have yet to see someone down there lose their temper and throw something of value.....although they still do some stupid shit in my eyes :D
 
Two words: Diesel fuel. :D

Gasoline makes impressive fireballs, but it often doesn't light the wood as well in my experience. Gas tends to burn as vapor while diesel burns as a liquid. Soak the wood in diesel for a while and it will light up well.

Of course, if you want to meet halfway and still have some fireball, you can mix diesel and gas to get some benefits of both of them.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top