Injured A Hand...now what?

[SIXFOOTER]

Hmm, good thread. Guess thats one of the reasons I carry and can use at least 3 fire making technologies. I have a ferro rod, jet lighter and waterproof matches. Adding flint and steel to the bag of tricks. Two dammaged shoulders might not let me do the bowdrill, but its on the list to try

 

[Mistwalker]

Hmm, good thread. Guess thats one of the reasons I carry and can use at least 3 fire making technologies. I have a ferro rod, jet lighter and waterproof matches. Adding flint and steel to the bag of tricks. Two dammaged shoulders might not let me do the bowdrill, but its on the list to try

Yeah, having suffered severe frost bite and nearly lost toes, I cary a few things when I hit the woods for anything more than just a short walk. In my pack there is a bic lighter, some strike-anywhere's in a match safe with some fatwood slivers, an unopened bottle of NATO lifeboat matches, and a small folder with a magnesium block. There is always the knife and firesteel on my belt and a hunk of fatwood in my pocket. The fire bow, and flint and steel are still in the works....slowly yes, but still in the works.

 

[TheGame]

That's always the hardest part....easy for me because I live surrounded by woods...literally.
.

Well, the good news, is I am also surrounded by woods.

 

[jcl-MD]

Thanks for the info!!
RP#141

 

[fujita yuji]

I'll devote my 777th post to this thread, for consistently informative firemaking tips
provided you, mistwalker.

This is a cool trick, and I think it is also applicable when both hands are available, in that
case it will be more promising ignition than my usual method of holding blade
with left hand and operating the firesteel with right (I'm relatively right handed).

Also I'm quite impressed with your attitude to challenging tough condition
including wet, raining and injured for this time.

 

[SouthernCross]

What really concerns me is an injured and disabled knee, which is a very likely scenario for us fossils with too many collision sports in our history ....

Sounds like your describing me



Kind regards
Mick

 

[Mistwalker]

Thanks for the info!!
RP#141

Glad you enjoyed it!

I'll devote my 777th post to this thread, for consistently informative firemaking tips
provided you, mistwalker.

This is a cool trick, and I think it is also applicable when both hands are available, in that
case it will be more promising ignition than my usual method of holding blade
with left hand and operating the firesteel with right (I'm relatively right handed).

Also I'm quite impressed with your attitude to challenging tough condition
including wet, raining and injured for this time.

Thanks Fujita, I am very glad you enjoy the posts.

It's a variation of something I saw some time back on you tube. I think the guy in the video was using a type of paper bark...which only exist here on ornamental trees in parks...though I have snagged a little here and there to play with

It was sort of a chain of events actually. The injured part was spawned by a challenge elsewhere, doing it in the rain...well that's just something it does a lot of here...doing it now in fact, and I had agreed to do it today while I had time. As for the thread that was actually brought about by a discussion with Tony M in another thread, I'm looking forward to seeing what he and the other guys come up with tomorrow.

Oh, and I am right handed as well...predominantly anyway...and I still use the firesteel in my left hand hold the knife still with my right. Through trial and error we all eventually find what works best for us as individuals. Lol, this firesteel has paid heavily for my learning

Sounds like your describing me



Kind regards
Mick

Ah h#ll, he's talking about all of us at some point. I'm not quite there yet...but I do realize that it's a one way street. When I finally noticed that I started trying to slow down a little


.

 

[tonym]

Here's another method.



[youtube]A6ql8yt_wHo[/youtube]

 

[mtwarden]

^ nice job!

 

[Mistwalker]

Awesome job Tony, I love the technique you and Pit both used for fuzzies. This whole time of playing with different aspects of this concept has made me aware that a minimalist approach likely isn't going to work for me on a lot of my hikes. I live in an area where in rains A LOT, and most of the places I hang out are filled with rocky crags, and pitfalls, Autumn is particularly dangerous when dead branches and leaves can conceal a 20 foot drop onto jagged rocks. In the event this situation happens to me, as it has many wondering around in the woods here, there is a real possibility it will be raining and fatwood will be my best option. Hopefully I'll have some on me but since there is so much here sometimes I forget. I prefer not to lug an axe around here with all of the climbing up and over boulders, crawling over or under logs, and jumping across streams. While I do love the Sojourner design for hikes in some areas and the parks and stuff, I will definitely be back to putting a larger knife on my belt, or at least in my pack, for most of my wanderings in the "real" woods from now on. I don't want to have to depend on a 4.5 inch blade of 1/8 inch steel to bust a fatwood stump with.

 

[August West]

I prefer not to lug an axe around here with all of the climbing up and over boulders, crawling over or under logs, and jumping across streams. While I do love the Sojourner design for hikes in some areas and the parks and stuff, I will definitely be back to putting a larger knife on my belt, or at least in my pack, for most of my wanderings in the "real" woods from now on. I don't want to have to depend on a 4.5 inch blade of 1/8 inch steel to bust a fatwood stump with.

By all means carry what you want but I really don't understand.

You are afraid you might get injured to the point that you can't cut enough fatwood off of a stump with your 4.5" blade to start a fire with. Yet your not so injured that you can't bust the stump apart with a much larger blade.

Not trying to start anything, just curious. Chris

 

[Mistwalker]

By all means carry what you want but I really don't understand.

You are afraid you might get injured to the point that you can't cut enough fatwood off of a stump with your 4.5" blade to start a fire with. Yet your not so injured that you can't bust the stump apart with a much larger blade.

Not trying to start anything, just curious. Chris

My fault man, I really wasn't clear enough on that. Fat wood will burn in the rain. I actually would rather not injure my only knife getting enough pieces...wasn't just refering to the length of the blade but the thickness as well. It's not as much of a sharpened pry bar as some of my other knives. I have some that aren't all that much longer relatively speaking but twice as thick that I would feel much more comfortable with in such a tight spot.

 

[August West]

My fault man, I really wasn't clear enough on that. Fat wood will burn in the rain. I actually would rather not injure my only knife getting enough pieces...wasn't just refering to the length of the blade but the thickness as well. It's not as much of a sharpened pry bar as some of my other knives. I have some that aren't all that much longer relatively speaking but twice as thick that I would feel much more comfortable with in such a tight spot.

Gotcha. :thumbup: Chris

 

[Mistwalker]

Gotcha. :thumbup: Chris

:thumbup:

 

[J_Curd]

I always have 3+ Bics in addition to traditional means for this very reason....hurting your hands is pretty easy in the wood (either that or Im clumsy).

 

[Mistwalker]

I always have 3+ Bics in addition to traditional means for this very reason....hurting your hands is pretty easy in the wood (either that or Im clumsy).

I have hurt my hands in the woods more than any other part of me. Redundancy in fir starting is always a good thing, especially this time of year.

 

[KEmSAT-Survival]

Lighter and some strips of bicycle tire/innertube that I always carry with me. The innertube lights even if it's wet and once it gets going, even the crap that melts off of it burns. Just lay some tiny sticks across it (think: tiny limbs smaller in diameter than a straw), once they get started just move up in size until you get to the size fuel you want to burn.

I usually carry at least three ways to make a fire. In my pack I have a multitude: matches, lighters, flint/steel, magnesium bar, a boyscout flint, pj cottonballs, dryer lint, fatwood....

 

[vector001]

another good reason to have a Bic lighter around your neck, or dummy-corded to a belt-loop, i reckon.

......

one thing i don't see too much is folks carrying their tinder before needing it.

an open zip loc bag with pieces of damp sticks put in them as you walk along, dries out nicely when put inside your clothing - your core heat pushes out the humidity. it's like the old prqctice of drying your wet clothes overnight by sleeping with them under your poncho that you lay on the top of....

- it's a cool trick until you need it in the Rain Forest (it doesn't have to be the Amazon, it can be anywhere in the Pacific Northwest), where you are the most likely to get soaked or lose your gear, ...there is usually a plastic bag to make use of this practice though.


it's all about forsight.

i guess we don't find ourselves in messes too often when we have good forsight though, you are right.


make sure and zip the bag up when you are over water, in case you go in....

......

fatwood, as brother mistwalker showed well, is excellent, but i bet he would've gotten a fire on his first try if he put his tinder in an indentation that he dug out wiht his boot or knife, to funnel the sparks more and conserve radiated heat from them. you canm also make a a corral with all your squaw wood aroudn the fire set for a similar effect.

..........

was the tinder cold in the video?

- that is another advantage to carrying tinder - the little bit of body heat keeps the spark-based firestarters from having to work so hard IME.

...........

great demonstration, brother mistwalker.

mighty fine.

vec

 

[Mistwalker]

Lighter and some strips of bicycle tire/innertube that I always carry with me. The innertube lights even if it's wet and once it gets going, even the crap that melts off of it burns. Just lay some tiny sticks across it (think: tiny limbs smaller in diameter than a straw), once they get started just move up in size until you get to the size fuel you want to burn.

I usually carry at least three ways to make a fire. In my pack I have a multitude: matches, lighters, flint/steel, magnesium bar, a boyscout flint, pj cottonballs, dryer lint, fatwood....

Hmmm, I have some inner tube "ranger bands" around here somewhere that a friend gave me...I need to track those down. Sucks when people give you things the day you kid is being born....I haven't seen them since and had forgotten about them... though I do know that the pj cotton balls he gave me are in my bag, I still forget about them too but they'll still be there if and when I need them.

another good reason to have a Bic lighter around your neck, or dummy-corded to a belt-loop, i reckon.

......


..........

was the tinder cold in the video?

- that is another advantage to carrying tinder - the little bit of body heat keeps the spark-based firestarters from having to work so hard IME.

...........

great demonstration, brother mistwalker.

mighty fine.

vec

Thanks Vector, I'm glad you enjoy the thread, I am hoping more pictures and techniques get added by more of the others here. I am going to add more to it myself I know...just want the next one under dry conditions which looks like it might be a few days.

I really like a bic case shoulder rig that is worn under the clothing that a friend has. I want to pick up one of those if I can and maybe add a small knife and pouch on the other side for tinder.

Yes the tinder was pretty cold. It was cold and damp that day. I also have some experimenting with Cedar bark to do though. I've used it for tinder with lighters and with matches...just now working with it with spark based methods.

 

[C_Kyle]

Here's another method.



[youtube]A6ql8yt_wHo[/youtube]

That was KISS, and worked well.