Gun Powder

[williejc]

Anybody carry gun powder as a back up for starting fires with wet wood? Friends serving in Vietnam claim to have used c4 to boil water, etc.

[Ryno12]

Gun powder to light wet wood? I can't imagine how. Gun powder burns pretty fast...

[Kain]

Gun powder to light wet wood? I can't imagine how. Gun powder burns pretty fast...

I always carry it to cauterize gunshot wounds. :rolleyes: :jester:



On a serious note, though, while I am sure someone could figure out a way to make it work. You'd probably be better off carrying tinder, and other more conventional fire starters then trying to use gun powder since it does burn quite fast, and even having lit powder that was swept up off the bench on grass I've yet to burn the yard up.

[williejc]

Field & Stream magazine had an article suggesting the practice. I think that gun powder was used to complement usual tinder. Potassium permanganate makes much more sense. I seldom venture more than 200 yards from my truck so my inquiry was academic only.

[Lost River]

I have used some old FFF equivalent black powder in a 35mm film canister. It worked fine.

That said, here is a little trick I use:

Get the "Trick Birthday Candles". The ones that when you blow them out, they relight. They work slick as hell getting kindling/tinder going in inclement weather.

[Tortuga]

I can think of so many fire starter cheats without messing with gun powder. As mentioned above KMnO4 is great and doubles as water purification and anti-septic, cotton balls dabbed in vaseline, trick candles candles as Lost River suggested, Trioxane or other commercial fuel tabs, dryer lint and paraffin wax in fiber egg crate. Heck, drill holes in a magnesium block so you have shavings ready to go.

When it comes to fire starters, I want something at sustains for a little while, vice flashing out fast.

[jsbhike]

A variant of the cotton ball and vaseline is to use one of the antibiotic ointments instead. Burns just as well and adds another use.

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[tog]

I like to go in the forest and collect so called "fat" wood. I scrap it with the back of a knife and put the scrapings in a small tin container. Really good fire starter with a good burn time.

[NWPilgrim]

I carry gun powder in the woods. To keep it dry I package it in brass cases with a lead stopper. Then I stuff several into a plastic and metal dispenser. To make sure no one steals it, I insert the dispenser into a pistol and tuck into into a holster.

ETA: Seriously, though, there are much better ways to start a fire in the woods then the flash of gun powder. Matches in waterproof container, Bic lighter, fire steel, and some tinder as mentioned above. Here in the rainy PNW I always carry a road flare wrapped in plastic when hiking or working in the woods as part of my kit. You get get even wet wood lit with a 15 min flare. The petrolatum based first aid ointment is a good one I also use. Combine that with pocket lint, or even shaved off fleece or such and you have a great tinder that will catch a spark from the fire steel and burn for a while, too. AA battery and fine wire short circuit will get hot enough to start tinder. Another weatherproof tinder is fine steel wool. Will light from a spark, use it on the battery or from a match.

[jsbhike]

Strips of inner tube are supposed to work well and be waterproof. Good to know, but haven't tried it beyond sealing the ends of shock cord due to the odor.