PSK Basics #1 FIRE

pict

pict

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Jan 7, 2003
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FIRE – Fortunately I have never been caught without the means. Getting soaked to the skin on the AT in PA taught me early on that fire making was essential. My worst mistake in this area was taking a six-mile hike in 10-degree weather with my daughter and only taking along an electrically ignited Bic lighter for fire making. Mid-hike I tested it and couldn’t get a flame to last more than a half second. The hardest time I’ve ever had lighting a fire was here in Brazil during rainy season. It took a full half hour and an entire votive candle to ignite the kindling. My PSK has a Sparklite, Sparklite tinder, straw packed with treated cotton, three birthday candles, and six waterproof strike-anywhere matches.

On wet rocks… On an early “mountain man trip” (we were know-nothing kids) we had a rock taken from a stream explode like a hand grenade. That got on the unforgettable list. Years later I had a survival student start to razz another student for having trouble getting his fire going. Just then one of his rocks blew up and dumped his dinner onto his fire. God has a sense of humor and perfect timing.
 
Wet rocks and flint rocks are the worst for exploding. I've seen softball sized rocks travel fifty or more feet and land on a car hood. Rocks are easy to form a fire ring but logs and/or dirt reduce the hazards and are more stable. If rocks 'must' be used, pile earth against the fire side when you dig your pit. Another method is to build a nice wall of wood (not a twiggy pile) twixt the wind and the fire. This works to dry future firewood.

Side note on priority: Shelter is the first concern in a survival situation.

"twixt the wind and the fire" sounds like a movie title.... :)
 
I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with anybody here. I'm just using this as an excuse to blather on about my own views. (Merek, maybe Pict meant his post was "#1" in a series of informative PSK Basics Articles, rather than that fire is his "#1" priority.)

I subscribe to the Rule of Threes for my priorities. For the three-minute slot, I generalize backwards to oxygenating your cells (rather than needing to breathe, you need to get oxygen to your cells). This lets me include bleeding and breathing in the same slot. So my number one priority is answered by my Medical category of gear.

For the three-hour slot, I use the term Shelter. But the underlying generality is, a la Cody Lunden, keeping your core temperature within it's limits. So does fire belong in the shelter category? Maybe. And in Florida, maybe air conditioning does, too. But I'm also tempted to put fire in the Signals group, since it's so useful for visual signalling, day or night. And what about the Water and Food group? Without fire I've got one less purification and preparation method.

In the end, I decided that Fire was a category of survival gear/skills all by itself. In my list of priorities, I put it between Shelter and Water. But if I get rescued within 72 hours, I don't even need water. So making sure I get rescued comes before water, too. Thus far it looks like:

Medical (3 minutes)
Shelter (3 hours)
Fire (for shelter, signals, water, and food)
Signals
Water (3 days)
Food (3 weeks)
Tools

The Tools group isn't part of the priority list. Tools are those things that are so general in purpose and application that they span all the categories. Examples: knife, cord, tape, sewing kit, maybe even a pot.

Other priorities and groups of gear have seemed to deserve their own categories. The knife, for example, by virtue of its importance, and my love of sharp things. And navigation -- compass or GPS. Surely that would be a good group. But in the end I felt like I wanted seven groups, so I put navigation in the Signals group, and knives in the Tools group.

Thanks for reading.

Bear
 
Okay. Having now read Pict's "Read this post first" post, I know what this thread is about. Here's my contribution, slender though it is, to the Fire group.

Sparks and stoves: On one of my overnight backpacking trips I happened to have my EDC keyring. I keep a BSA Hotspark on this ring. For fun I tried lighting my Trangia alcohol stove by throwing a spark into the middle of the alcohol. Worked like a charm!

Now my preferred method of starting an alcohol stove is with a spark rather than a lighter or match. This adds weight to the value of the ferroceum rod in my PSK. I think of it as being just as useful as matches.

Bear
 
Like Bear, I consider the Rule of Threes to be a good guideline for what I carry. I consider medical care to be the top of the heap, followed by shelter, then water, then fire, then food.

I lived on the West Coast of Canada for many years, which is largely a rainforest sort of ecology. Most wood one would find was either soaked or rotten, making for poor fires. One would be at the mercy of the prevailing weather conditions. I quickly learned that if I wanted to enjoy camping, I'd better come prepared to do without fire entirely, which I mostly did. Good clothing choices (which I consider part of the shelter rule), coupled with effective shelter can allow one to do without fire for quite awhile. If you've got that in place, you have the luxury of time to get your fire happening. I carry a minibic lighter and a ferro rod or two as part of my regular EDC, both of which are very capable of providing fire with relative ease where I live now (3 hours east of the Rockies). The problem now is that the forests are so tinder dry in the summers, that fire is best used only in emergencies. So I've started to think of fire as a luxury, but not a strict necessity, especially for the standard 72 hour time frame. That being said, I still always make sure I have robust means of making fire and the skills to accompany the equipment.
 
why did you chose to do fire as the most important? i would have made the first thread about shelter, because its usually most important in survival. a well made shelter will keep you warm, and dry. a fire will just keep one side of your body warm and you can still get wet. water is easy to gather in most places. people can go days without food, so i think id be a good idea to get a shelter thread going.
 
In an emergency, shelter is the first priority, but, building a fire is much harder. Primitive fire skills are one of the things that I practice the most because it's difficult to become proficient. Even with a sparker or a pack of dry matches, firebuilding can be sketchy in perfect conditions.
 
I'm with Bear, obviously: medical is the first priority, but... assuming there's no medical need... then shelter.
 
I'm a rules of 3 man myself. However, I consider fire to be a major partner in the shelter group, as well as a very versatile tool for several jobs including shelter building, cooking, signaling, reading, medical, etc.

I used to carry nothing but disposable lighters on me when in the bush. I figured that I could always get some natural tinder and get a fire going. Then one afternoon while hunting the Sierras, a thunderstorm built up and let go right on top of me. I was soaked in a matter of minutes. Temps had fallen from the 80s to the 50s and a strong wind came up. Yep, I was headed for real trouble and there was no way I was going to start a fire out in the open. Especially with nothing but a half used disposable lighter. Lucky for me my partner (ex marine) happened on me, got a shelter up and got a fire going. The hypothermia never got past the shivering stage and I learned a list of invaluable lessons in wilderness survival.

Now-a-days in my PSK I carry several ways to get a fire going, including a BSA Hotspark, Spark-lite tinder, water proofed strike anywhere matches, 2 of the trick BD candles and yeah, I still carry a disposable lighter in a pocket.
 
Thanks for the responses. In keeping with the PSK line on the thread I figured I'd start with fire before shelter because you don't normally pack too many serious shelter resources in an Altoids tin.

Depending on where you are all of these needs could vie for the number one slot. On my Alaska trip last Fall shelter and fire would have been #1. Here in the rainy season of Brazil water is very low on the priority list, keeping it off you is very high. Later in the year you won't get wet at all but could very well die of thirst.

When this series is done you will not only have the items people carry but their collected experience as well, something that gives weight to the contents of the kit IMO. Mac
 
tknife, you have trouble with primative methods? easiert way is get a flint and a cotton ball, a nice stroke with a knife and that cotton ball will go up with no added fuel, like magnesium, or vasaline. secret is to have every material right next to you before you start the tinder.
 
Pict,

Ok here's my take regarding fire gear :)

First of all, I have to admit that I often had a hard time lighting fires in the bush, especially every time I had to or tried to rush it. No matter how, one has to find flammable materials, and soaked wet wood just won't do it.

One very useful tool to find dry wood is a large blade or a hatchet. It's not that much useful in order to cut the wood, but much more to split it, and access dry wood, or either pitch wood inside a trunk. A small blade can do it too, but it has to be a tough one... at least tough enough to baton.

For me, a SwAK or equivalent is the absolute minimum for that. A Fallkniven F1 is better in the short blade range. There are, of course, many others. Even in my smallest PSK's, I thus pack a small fixed blade. At least a SwAK in triflex (which is pretty tough for a tight and lightweight package).

Igniting the stuff is not the hardest part if you can find suitable tinder. But there are times and places where good tinder simply doesn't exists. Your rain season example is a good one. High altitudes can also be cruel places, where you can sometimes find some rachitic trees, but little bark and little tinder, especially when the mosses are burried under the snow. For that matter, I always carry some readily usable tinder. It's priceless.

One of my favourites is the classical cotton ball with vaseline. It works well and it burns long. Other than that, I make myself what I call "rocket fuel" : equal parts of magnesium dust, fat wood dust, bigger fat wood shavings, and creosote from the chimney. This stuff burns as hot as hell, and can ignite almost any poor quality tinder. I also carry some fat wood, which is lightweight and burns well.

As far as fire in concerned, I consider redundancy to be vital. Some fire starting equipment will work in a given situation, while others wont... and as the elements seem to work against you, you have to move up to "heavy artillery"... So I carry the following, and use them in order :

- Level zero : Fire steel + natural tinder. Despite the hot sparks, you need good quality tinder to ignite it with those sparks. If HAS to be dry and fluffy or very thin and flammable (thin fat wood shavings for example). So if I can find "sparkable" tinder, I use the firesteel first.

- Level one : Matches (NATO storm proof matches) : the work well in the wind/rain but last only 20 secs. To be used only with pretty dry tinder/good firestarter. They will work at any altitude and extreme temps.

- Level two : Adjustable butane lighter : they tolerate wind a little but not that much. Their most useful trait is that you can keep them burning for a long time (up to a minute, not much more). They allow to dry out some kindling a little and ignite stuff even if it's a little wet. Pick a true flint one (no piezzo-electrics !).

- Level three : Fire steel + coton balls + vaseline. Those kick in when it's wet and windy, or if I have poor kindling/no tinder, etc. They can be ignited with anything : match, lighter or fire steel.

- Level four : Fire steel + rocket fuel (see recipe up here) : this stuff can only be truly ignited with the fire steel, but it will burn very hot and quite long even in the worst conditions. It ignites almost anything if you put enough of it. I usually carry 2 full film vials filled to the neck with them. I keep that stuff for emergencies or if everything else has failed.

Cheers,

David
 
elvenbladesmith07 said:
tknife, you have trouble with primative methods? easiert way is get a flint and a cotton ball, a nice stroke with a knife and that cotton ball will go up with no added fuel, like magnesium, or vasaline. secret is to have every material right next to you before you start the tinder.
Click to expand...
I practice mostly with the hand drill. I learned from the Fire God himself, he can get a coal in 3 seconds. I am hit or miss with it, and have the caluses to prove it.
 
I can say in all honesty that I have never been cold after making a friction fire... coal or not Mac
 
tknife said:
I practice mostly with the hand drill. I learned from the Fire God himself, he can get a coal in 3 seconds. I am hit or miss with it, and have the caluses to prove it.
Click to expand...
Sorry for the hijack, here, but what are you using as a board and spindle ?

I've had (relatively) good results with dead, dry mullein stalks on a cedar board... and thank God I had the calluses beforehand, otherwise I'd have blisters instead of hands :D I like the fact that hand drills require less materials than bow drills, so I want to perfect that technique...

Got any good links or tips to share ?

Thanks in advance,

David
 
I have had the best luck with a mulefat spindle (also known as seep willow) and an ash board. I have also tried cottonwood and even a larger piece of mulefat for the board with good luck. If the wood is too hard or too soft, it will be more difficult.
The main mistake I was making is spinning fast, but without enough downward preasure. The downward preasure is more important than the speed you can spin the drill.
Also, try playing with the size of the notch in the base board. I found I was making mine too narrow. When I made the notch deeper and wider, I got a coal. Hope that helps! Friction fire is a really fun, but frustrating hobby. ;)
 
This shelter vs fire first debate is THE most hotly contested topic amongst survival instructors.

My take and what I teach my students is:

Neither Fire or Shelter take priority over one another. It all depends on the situation.

120 degree desert heat means shelter, is first.
Horrid pounding freezing rain means, shelter is first.

-40 degree winter temps means,fire is first.
Wet clothing from falling in a 1 degree lake,fire is first.

I have experienced all these conditions and speak from first hand experience that if you get the order wrong your life is in serious trouble. TO pidgeon hole survival to hard and fast rules is risky at best. they are only meant to be a guideline common sense should make up the rest.

Building a shelter first while wearing wet clothes in sub zero temps is not
common sense.

Building a fire first while your noodle is cooking in the desert sun is not common sense.

The list goes on.....

Anyone who tells you there is a one size fits all set of rules with no flexibility is an idiot and should be avoided.

Skam
 
For those of you who are into primitive skills, how quickly could you make a cooking fire starting from you knife to flames using friction in typical conditions where you live? I know some of you guys are very good at it. Others, like me, are not. I have only been able to make a fire under a half hour using a dry bamboo fire saw. I'm not taking about the time it takes to rub up a coal but to find, shape the hardware, perfect the shape fo the hardware, friction the wood until it is dry enough, find tinder, fuel etc.

It has been my experience that this skill does not burst into flames from head knowledge alone but takes a great deal of practice and TIME if you need to depend on it. Mac
 
In good conditions on my home turf, I could probably go from nothing, to a small fire in maybe ten minutes. The good thing about the hand drill is it can be put together quickly. The slowest part is carving the notch. (And of course getting the coal can be tough sometimes ;) )
 
Tknife:

I'd really, really, enjoy a separate thread from you that outlines your hand drill process from start to flame -- with pictures, of course. Any chance of you giving us such a tutorial?

Bear
 
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