How can you make fire

[Von Rheydt]

Ok, just out of interest and as I collect ways of making fire. How many different ways could you make fire if you had to? And, I do not mean the SAR method of throwing a flare into a petrol soaked pile of branches - nor do I mean using PE, tracer or any other exotic means, fun as they may be.

To kick off, my experience:

-The ever present bic
-Swedish fire steel
-Fire piston
-Bow drill
-chemical fire
-flint and steel - the old way
-electricity thru a broken torch bulb onto tinder
-electricity from a car battery sparked onto tinder
-I have practiced with and managed it twice with a fire drill - thats a bow drill without the bow just rolling the drill with palms of hands, it gives blisters
- lens magnifying sunlight onto tinder

My favourite tinders are self made charcloth and vaseline smeared cotton wool balls. If I'm out on the hills I collect sheeps wool from barbed wire fences and use that as tinder.

[bulbvivid]

Though more of a variation on a theme, folks have made lenses from ice to start fires.

Fire from Ice

[11Bravo]

Unroll a roll of 0000 steel wool and roll into it a bunch of dryer lint.
Touch 9v battery terminals to it and you have fire.
Just make sure to isolate the battery from the roll in your pack.

[6933]

Using/experimented/like the Magnesium sticks. Will light even wet kindling on fire. Realistically, if the AO has had lots of rain for a prolonged period, getting a fire started and keeping it going is almost impossible.

[Von Rheydt]

Almost impossible but not impossible. Two options:

1. Standing timber is dead timber that is not laying on the ground. It could be a standing dead tree, fallen branches that have not landed flat on the ground or dead brances that are still part of a living tree.

Find a piece of standing timber at least two or more inches across. Section it in pieces about 10" to a foot long. Split those pieces lengthways so you get halves, then split those pieces lengthways so you have quarters. Then split off the pointbit that is the centre of the original piece. This bit from the inside should be nice and dry. Make a feather stick out of it, really fine though and then it should take a spark.

Make sure you have enough dry pieces to make a nice fire so that you can dry out the damp wood as the fire burns.

2. If you are in an area of coniferous tree's find yourself a dead one or a large part of a dead one that is laying on the ground - does'nt matter if its wet, the important bit will be just as we want it.

What happens with pine trees when they die is that the resin in them tends to gather in one area of the dead wood. If the tree is still in the ground the resin drops to the base.

Once you have found your dead pine tree kick the crap out of it so that all the dead wood comes away leaving the resin impregnated hardwood behind. You can't miss it as it smells like a pine forest condensed into apiece of wood.

This lump of resin impregnated wood is called fatwood ... google it.

Now then, take the fatwood and carve a pile of matchstick sized pieces big enough to light a fire. It should catch really easy from a swedish steel or magnesium block.

The mountain men of the wild west used to use fatwood all the time. It gives a very, very hot flame, burns for a long time, and gives a white light good for reading by.

Fatwood: http://www.videojug.com/webvideo/how...o-start-a-fire

[6933]

Van- Agree. Fatwood good. I was just stressing the point for the uninitiated that fire is not possible 100% of the time. Be prepared. I was also thinking of it raining while trying to light the fire. However, I guess M4Cer's can't read minds.

[Von Rheydt]

......................... However, I guess M4Cer's can't read minds.

Thats not what my wife thinks.

[6933]

LOL. Yep. Wife thinks I should know what is going on in her mind at all times. Scary how similar the Yanks and the Tommy's are. Just don't forget that Yank is a four letter word to many Americans born/bred in the South.

[jhs1969]

I currently keep on hand a fire steel, mag. block and lighters and matches. I would love to add a magnifing glass but have only found the wal-mart types that I'm not sure I want. I've also found that dryer lint makes good tinder, it compact easily and starts really well.

[6933]

A water proof "match" container might be a good way to store some tinder. I think I could jam in a good amount into one of those containers. Or just carry2-3 containers if need be.