Winter Fire Starting

Thank you for sharing that mistwalker it is very informative! Could you tell me more about your sheath and ferrocerium rod and a hard sharp striker please.
 
That sheath is the stock sheath that my mid-tech Bushfinger came in, I need to see if they can be purchased separately. The rod is made by a member here name Blaine (Swonut here on the forum) and he uses very good rods. As for a hard sharp striker. Any hardened steel with a sharply squared edge works well. Carbide tool sharpeners are awesome. In a pinch flint or chert will even work well.
 
Hey Brian. Let us know what you find out about the sheaths. I'm interested as well.
Thanks for your blog post. Nice read.
 
Kal-El said:
Hey Brian. Let us know what you find out about the sheaths. I'm interested as well.
Thanks for your blog post. Nice read.
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Will do Sergio. Thanks man, but unless you travel quite a ways north, hard to imagine it being a necessary skill set for you :D
 
Great blog post Brian. Living up in the NW, this is a skill I learned early on at a young age. It's something I am now teaching to my children. Fire is essential!

Great pictures as always!
 
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Very nice Brian. Good skill to have, that is also quite fun. My 3 year old is always ready to lend a hand when we are prepping a fire.

JRE should be able to get you squared away regarding sheaths. Just drop them a note. They used to sell the stock pouch sheaths by #, but they do a lot with bark river, LT knives etc so finding a corresponding sheath for a Fiddleback shouldn't be a problem.
Kal-El said:
Hey Brian. Let us know what you find out about the sheaths. I'm interested as well.
Thanks for your blog post. Nice read.
Click to expand...
 
First off, I want to apologize and say here that I really do wish I were better at keeping names straight in my head, but honestly I suck at it and it bugs me to no end. In the course of my work I talk with so many people in person and on a global scale on the phone and on the internet, on a daily basis, that names either get duplicated to the point I am unsure of myself and hesitant to use them for fer of insulting a friend... even when I think I have it right, or they are names I do not hear often and they don't stick until I use them in conversations a few times.


Tekton said:
Great blog post Brian. Living up in the NW, this is a skill I learned early on at a young age. It's something I am now teaching to my children. Fire is essential!

Great pictures as always!
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Thank you very much! Yes, I think so too. I think most people do not realize just how tenuous our hold on life really is until they find them selves in an emergency situation far removed from our modern world. Then it can sink in so hard and so fast it can be crushing for some people.


Bush.Hacker said:
Very nice Brian. Good skill to have, that is also quite fun. My 3 year old is always ready to lend a hand when we are prepping a fire.

JRE should be able to get you squared away regarding sheaths. Just drop them a note. They used to sell the stock pouch sheaths by #, but they do a lot with bark river, LT knives etc so finding a corresponding sheath for a Fiddleback shouldn't be a problem.
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Thanks man. I think most kids are like that when you start them young and make it fun for them. My daughter loves to help.

I had car trouble once during a previous marriage. I don't remember what part failed, but we were out on a drive through the river gorge looking at all of the autumn colors when it happened. My oldest daughter, who will be 22 this year was maybe 3 at the time, and my stepdaughter was 12. I set up a little camp area on the side of the river, started a fire, got out my pack, and had my wife at the time put on water for hot chocolate which I keep packs of on hand in the cold months. I got the kids set up and called a friend and had them bring me the part I needed, and I replaced it there. Seems like it was a water pump. We were stuck there for a few hours but the kids never noticed the passing of time, they were busy singing, playing, gathering twigs for the fire, drinking cocoa and roasting cubes of spam over the fire...oh and of course throwing rocks in the water. Their memory of it is a picnic on the river.
 
Nice mist, very good write up.

I took my son out on his first over nighter just last night. My camping buddy used a very similar set up last night. However we don't see snow like that, the fire was very comforting for the mid 30's weather.

Very nice photos too.
 
That was a great write up Brian! It was very informative, well written and the pics were superb! That arete is a stunner! It is definitely worth practicing and getting everything prepared well before giving it a go. I am always surprised how difficult using a fire steel in snowy conditions can be. Thanks for sharing your woods wisdom!
 
Thanks Brian, it's always interesting reading your posts, and the pics are awesome. I really dig your new Arete man! I probably won't be needing any winter fire starting here in south Florida, but you never know, I might go up north sometime. :thumbup::D
 
Texas_toothpick said:
Nice mist, very good write up.

I took my son out on his first over nighter just last night. My camping buddy used a very similar set up last night. However we don't see snow like that, the fire was very comforting for the mid 30's weather.

Very nice photos too.
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Thank you, glad you enjoyed the post. The first over-nighter is an auspicious occasion! You must be in southern Texas, I saw more snow than this every time I lived in Dallas :)


hasco said:
That was a great write up Brian! It was very informative, well written and the pics were superb! That arete is a stunner! It is definitely worth practicing and getting everything prepared well before giving it a go. I am always surprised how difficult using a fire steel in snowy conditions can be. Thanks for sharing your woods wisdom!
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Thanks Todd, I'm glad you liked it! Yeah, I like the emerald burlap a lot, and had hung onto the emerald burlap after I sold the knife with the evergreen handle I had it paired with because I knew I was going to get another in emerald when I ran across the right one. As a kid, getting the fire started was usually my job while my father and brother were out running the trap lines and trot lines. I had learned about the problems with hand dexterity in extreme cold long before I ever used the first ferro rod. The first one I used was the one on the side of an issue magnesium fire starter, which can be a pain in the @$$ in the best of conditions. I was very much pleased when the larger Strike Force first came out. I have probably bought and gifted a few dozen of those over the years. It is still my favorite magnesium fire starter in extreme cold with heavy gloves on. I bought two of them when I was in Michigan and still have one, but it is very seldom that cold here. Usually I am fine with the ones on my knife sheaths.


gusbuster said:
Thanks Brian, it's always interesting reading your posts, and the pics are awesome. I really dig your new Arete man! I probably won't be needing any winter fire starting here in south Florida, but you never know, I might go up north sometime. :thumbup::D
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Thanks Gus, I am glad you enjoy them man. I dig it too, very pleasing aesthetically, and handles extremely well. You never know man. I used to camp and fish out on the west cape of the Everglades in the Autumn and Winter when I lived in Key Largo. I liked having a nice fire as I sat there on the point roasting fresh fish, and pretending I was on a deserted island :D
 
Brian and Friends-

First of all Nice article!!! I figured I share some of my secret laboratory projects since it's in line with starting a fire.

I've been working on a combo for a winter kit for a while now. I hit on it last night when I messed up a scraper and decided to make a mini-scraper, the mini-mite.

I've always liked the idea of a ferro rod on the bottom of the dollar match container, but it's too small and often falls out. So I epoxied a 1/4 inch ferro rod to an UCCO match safe and kind of left it at that until last night. Then, as I was messing around, I realized a mini-bic would fit inside the match safe and this combo was born.

IMG_1191-1324x1765.jpg
Scraping the magnesium block with the ferro rod with a knife just always seemed like a great way to cut up your left hand. I think this helps solve that since the rod is only about 3/4 of the way and you have a much better purchase on the UCCO container.
 
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I love starting fires. My Boy Scout troop was big on this as a skill. That and cooking were basically our only strengths. We were kind of troublemakers. I like to practice these skills in the fireplace. I take two split log pieces and split them down to each part of the stackup. I peel off splinters for tinder, cut small sticks for kindling, and then lay increasing sized pieces above. I start the fire with one match. (usually). Its like re-living my boyhood each time.
 
swonut said:
Brian and Friends-

First of all Nice article!!! I figured I share some of my secret laboratory projects since it's in line with starting a fire.

I've been working on a combo for a winter kit for a while now. I hit on it last night when I messed up a scraper and decided to make a mini-scraper, the mini-mite.

I've always liked the idea of a ferro rod on the bottom of the dollar match container, but it's too small and often falls out. So I epoxied a 1/4 inch ferro rod to an UCCO match safe and kind of left it at that until last night. Then, as I was messing around, I realized a mini-bic would fit inside the match safe and this combo was born.

IMG_1191-1324x1765.jpg
Scraping the magnesium block with the ferro rod with a knife just always seemed like a great way to cut up your left hand. I think this helps solve that since the rod is only about 3/4 of the way and you have a much better purchase on the UCCO container.
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I like it. Its fun to use the ferro rod but when it cold I use a lighter. I have nothing to porove. :)
 
swonut said:
Brian and Friends-

First of all Nice article!!! I figured I share some of my secret laboratory projects since it's in line with starting a fire.

I've been working on a combo for a winter kit for a while now. I hit on it last night when I messed up a scraper and decided to make a mini-scraper, the mini-mite.

I've always liked the idea of a ferro rod on the bottom of the dollar match container, but it's too small and often falls out. So I epoxied a 1/4 inch ferro rod to an UCCO match safe and kind of left it at that until last night. Then, as I was messing around, I realized a mini-bic would fit inside the match safe and this combo was born.

IMG_1191-1324x1765.jpg
Scraping the magnesium block with the ferro rod with a knife just always seemed like a great way to cut up your left hand. I think this helps solve that since the rod is only about 3/4 of the way and you have a much better purchase on the UCCO container.
Click to expand...

Thanks Blaine! I love the little fire kit. While I am pretty much never dependent on a bic lighter as an only fire starting tool, I am also almost never without a couple of them i the woods. I do love that little striker. I think I need a couple of those :)


Fiddleback said:
I love starting fires. My Boy Scout troop was big on this as a skill. That and cooking were basically our only strengths. We were kind of troublemakers. I like to practice these skills in the fireplace. I take two split log pieces and split them down to each part of the stackup. I peel off splinters for tinder, cut small sticks for kindling, and then lay increasing sized pieces above. I start the fire with one match. (usually). Its like re-living my boyhood each time.
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I never got to be in the scouts, by the time we lived in an area that had a troop, I was too old to be in the Cub Scouts. Fire craft is therapeutic for me. Sometimes I walk out into the woods at night just to start a fire and sit by it for a while and meditate.
 
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