Need Help Making Fires

[Cuchuga]

Today I tried making a fire using natural tinder, a knife, and Firesteel. The only natural tinder(and one not found on any websites I looked at) that actually lit into a flame was a dead grass like plant which grows about a foot tall. I dont know what it is called but I think it is considered a "weed". Anyway, I made a substantial pile of this dried grassy weed and bunched it up very lightly into a dome. I then took what I thought were dry sticks and widdled a pile of shavings to add to the grass after it caught fire. After a few strikes I had the grass flaming. I then added a little of the stick shavings and it instantly hissed, smoked and burned out. Can someone tell me where to find dry wood to add to my small flaming grass pile. It probably would have been easier if it hadn't rained all last night. Rain is kind of a Halloween tradition around here. Thanks in advance for any advice I may receive.


I'd rather fail in my backyard than in a situation when fire is a necessity.

 

[Pritch]

Cuchuga,

First, try to find standing or blown down dead wood that is off the ground but protected from rain by other trees or the like. If it isn't dry enough, find a larger piece of wood, split it to get to the dry center, and shave off some secondary tinder or kindeling from there.

I've heard that birch bark will burn even if wet, so that might be an option as well. Once the fire gets a little bigger, it will be able to dry out some of your fuel.

-- FLIX

 

[Wabajack]

You can usually find dry stuff under trees, if that isn't enough try splitting your wood to get at the dry innards. Many conifer trees will have dead and dry hanging branches from the base of the tree to 6' (See white cedar for a good example), these types of branches can usually be broken off by hand and are good at keeping a fire going.

 

[IH8U]

practicing in the backyard is great, I often do the same. If you can obtain flame then you should easily be able to get a roaring fire. Try pealing off some thick bark from a supply you have available and get your small scrappings from the inner layer, once you get some wood going then damp small sticks and twigs should be able to keep the fire going as they will dry out from the heat of your small scrappings and shreddings.

I'm no expert, but it may help.

 

[skammer]

Cuchuga,

I've heard that birch bark will burn even if wet, so that might be an option as well.

-- FLIX

It does and in some areas is the ONLY natural tinder that will light with a spark or a lighter for that matter after days of rain.

Skam

 

[Wabajack]

Cuchuga,

I've heard that birch bark will burn even if wet, so that might be an option as well. Once the fire gets a little bigger, it will be able to dry out some of your fuel.

-- FLIX

Birch bark is amazing. It makes starting fires a breeze even in -30 weather. I have been using very fine shreaded birch bark with a firesteel for a while without any troubles (Very reliable even in winter).

 

[andrew7978]

birch bark (white birch) works great even when wet. You have to do it right though. If you just put sparks on a large piece of bark it won't work. What I like to do is flatten out the bark and then take a knife and scrape back and forth along the bark (use a side to side motion, not a cutting motion) This will get you very fine shaving of bark. Due to the oil in the bark, it will light even if wet. Get a good amount of this, put it in a pile and then throw sparks at it. I can often light it this way in only one strike.

Also some firesteels work better than others. I have the best luck with the ones by light my fire.

 

[Cuchuga]

What I have found in the hours in my back yard is that the only thing a spark will light a "flame" on and not just a red dot is stuff that is...(searching for word) fibery? Or if a stick shaving has "strands" on the end. But its no use trying to light dry bark, moss, or dry pine needles with a spark in my case. I have even had trouble getting a flame from dry leaves with sparks. I just get that stupid glowing red spot, which when you blow on it it just burns out.

Thanks for the tips, I will try those later today. There is a White Birch tree at my school. I'll be going there tonight and ill try and sneak some bark off of it. Hopefully thats not illegal in Michigan.

By the way, I am using the Swedish FireSteel Scout

 

[cz75b]

Also some firesteels work better than others. I have the best luck with the ones by light my fire.

Sorry to hijack this thread, but that's exactly what I was trying to say a few weeks ago.
I also noticed that there is a substantial difference in firesteels. I noticed some throw sparks harder then others. I think it has to do with the hardness of the firesteels. Some are that hard, that it dulls your scrapper fast!

Birchbark is fantastic stuff. Almost any wood works, as long as you're able to get dry fluffy scrapings with your knife. Preparation is very important, shortcuts are just a waste of effort.

CZ

 

[Cuchuga]

Preparation is very important, shortcuts are just a waste of effort.

CZ

I have wasted 2,500 of my 3,000 strikes not heeding those words. Today I did more prep and actually almost got one going. Tomorrow I'll try the stolen birch and update. Hope it works!

 

[k_estela]

All of the birches have a very high oil content in their bark. That is one reason why you find many rotten birch trees with the bark intact and the "innards" falling apart. Whether gray, white or black, use the bark by shaving it super thin. Tear it into paper thin strips/pieces and hit it with a ferro rod spark.

My favorite choice for starting fires is marcescence leaves. These are leaves that have completed their cycle of life, are dead and are left on trees. Most common of these is beech. These leaves crumble readily and ignite fast. Great tinder.

You can also use leaves that are dead, on the ground and are crisp. If they are crunchy, perfect, that means they are dry. There is an old adage with firewood, If it doesn't snap, throw it back. If you go to youtube and click on this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxGLXD9K01c found under "PWYP FIRE", you'll see me getting a fire going with just dead leaves and my ferro rod.

There are many great tinders out there, these are just a few of my favorites. If you are looking for good kindling, try to create a good sized twig bundle. This should be rougly the width of the end of a large baseball bat when in your hand. Look under evergreen trees and you'll find thin pencil lead thick twigs that light readily and burn hot. Don't go too big as you are building heat and increasing the size of the flame.

Next, go with larger fuel and larger still. You shouldn't add fuel that is more than twice the size of the last size of fuel you added (sorry, hard to explain). Don't get overly ambitious with your fire. Start small but add to your fire consistently and take your time! Don't snuff out the fire by adding too much to it too soon. lastly, many of my students can get great fires started but forget to have a pile of wood to keep the fire going strong. Begin with the end in mind, if you need to boil water, make sure you have everything handy so you don't have to rush to find wood before you fire goes out.

Let me know if you have any more questions. Feel free to post them here.

Good luck brotha!

Kev

 

[Cuchuga]

I just nabbed some birch bark from a tree at my school and plan on trying again tomorrow. Thanks for the great advice. I'll try the suggestions and let you guys know what worked best for me.

Thanks again,

Cuchuga

 

[Pyriel]

When looking for "dry" wood after a rain storm look for the standing dead trees. Start with the small pieces of wood, smaller than your fingers then move up in size. If you find pieces without the bark on they will smoke less (if they are damp there will be some smoke). This can also be used as technique to create a smokeless fire for all those scouts out there.


-Aaron

 

[Cuchuga]

In that video, all you did was pile a bunch of dead leaves and put some sparks into them right? Maybe my stuff is just not dry enough. Well, I'll find out tomorrow.

 

[k_estela]

That is all there is to it brotha. Many people frown upon driving the knife down into the tinder and instead hold the knife stationary and pull the striker back. The latter method is fine if you are striking in an area with a lot of rocks or something that could possibly damage your knife. It is also recommended to prevent sending your tinder everywhere. However, if the area is free of rocks or hard objects, you can drive right down into the pile of tinder. Just make sure to pin the tinder with your ferro rod. I get a much better shower of sparks when I do this than when I pull the rod away. More concentrated and a larger more intense shower.

You should practice both methods of firestarting as well as ferro rod striking with only one hand too. Try your weak hand also. You never know when you'll be in a situation when you'll need to know how. Better learn now than learn the hardway later.

This is the final round of the firestarting contest. I came in second and it was a good close second. I don't know why the fire didn't burn the cord but oh well, the first fire isn't always the hottest I guess. This video is a bit longer and shows how to almost lose your eyebrows blowing flames into larger flames.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CDoCfzdoqE

 

[Cuchuga]

Finally, I made a good fire. It took me a while though as I am still not that great at making fires. This is what worked for me. I grabbed some of that grass, some brown and dead pine needles(which IMO didnt do much), and some dry leaves(dry leaves were key). Early this morning there was a very thick layer of frost on the ground so everything was wet. I found the dry leaves caught in the needles of pine trees, they were in the sun and off the ground. I put them in a neat pile and then added a few strips of thin birch bark in, under, and around the other tinder. After a few strikes the birch went up in flames. The flames from the birch bark spread a little, but burnt out fast so I had to get more dry leaves to keep the fire going long enough to add some sticks. The sticks I added to it were dry and dead pine branches. They were thin and burnt easily. This went well for a little while but eventually I ran out of leaves and was left with a few hot ashes. I put some more pine sticks on them and a few more birch bark strips here and there(these worked perfectly for rekindling a flame in order to burn the sticks). I blew on the ashes which set the birch bark strips into flames, then I got more dry leaves and bigger sticks and before I knew it I had a sustained fire that could handle damp and bigger sticks.

So it seems that without birch bark it would be very difficult to start a fire. I encourage those of you who think starting a fire with firesteel would be easy(I did before I tried) to try it out in your backyard first, so you dont waste time in a survival situation. Not only that but it was fun, and a good skill to know. (not trying to say I'm a pro or anything)

To recap: Dry leaves, birch bark, and dead pine sticks(with no needles on them) is what worked for me. Also, get as much dry leaves as you think you will need, and then get a second pile as big as your first.

Anyway, thanks again for the advice. Oh and I took some pics, but realized you have to be higher up than just a "registered user" to post them.

 

[Fiddleback]

Always Carry Char Cloth.

 

[FoxholeAtheist]

Congrats!

For pic posting, you can certainly upgrade to a gold membership, but you do have some other options..

You can create a free account on PhotoBucket, host your pictures there, and then link to them.

Or I think you can do the same if you get a Google Email account and use their PicasaWeb. Let's see....

Yep, that works!

FWIW, photobucket is the easier solution, but Picasa Web is somewhat easier to use.

Congrats again on the firestarting. Next, try using some cotton lint (or cotton balls) with vaseline. :thumbup:

 

[cz75b]

Congrats brother in Fire!!

It's really rewarding to get a fire, right?!
Cottonballs saturated with petroleum jelly works fantastic! Jus like 0000 steel wool (4x zero) or char cloth.

keep practising, and you'll can start a fire in pooring rain!

CZ

 

[Cuchuga]

Making a fire is very rewarding. Here are some pics. Not very good(it was taken with my cell phone). First one is what I first started out with. The tinder burnt out too fast, so I had to get more dry leaves.

My starting supply(weak I know) And you can see the stolen bark basking in its glory.

Close up of my tinder. You can see that grass I was talking about.

My bloodthirsty RAT and some wood I widdled to be burned.

Finally, fire! Picture a little blurry. But I made fire. Woo!!

Now that I finally made fire, I need another firesteel. Mine is about to break because its so skinny. I'm gonna get the Light my Fire Army version this time(12,000 strikes) Oh, and I did try the cottonballs with PJ, it worked great. I just wanted to make sure I could make a fire with natural tinder too as someone suggested it was a wise idea.

I plan on upgrading my membership soon. The only reason I haven't yet is because I just had to drop a large sum of my money for a hunting trip.