Fire starting {hunting in the cold}???

[Mulligan]

A small Rx bottle with cotton-balls saturated with Vaseline is the very best fire starter in nasty weather.
My son did a science experiment on this after a man froze to death not far from our home. We carried steel-wool prior. After his experiment, we only carry the Vaseline saturated cotton-balls.
We have used it several times in tough conditions and have always been very happy with the results.
A good space blanket is your friend, not the cheap ones..... the good ones are around $20.00.
CW

 

[rr2030]

Much good advice here. The bottom line: if plan A is to grab a BIC lighter out of the glove box as you exit your vehicle before you head into the woods, you need a better plan. And the new plan needs to include items that fit in your skull as well as the items that fit in your pack.

Just my mask wearing, hand washing, social distancing $0.02

 

[rayporter]

i can make a whole meal in these two cups. the cups nest in the holder and will hold a water bottle and fuel bars. cup o soup, mac n cheese, ramen, oatmeal, along with my coffee. just stick a fuel tab under sit on a few mountain tops real comfy.

good for over nighter. more than one night and the alcohol stove works well.

 

[msinc]

Were you not somewhat afraid that all those close dead leaves and debris would also catch fire and cause a major issue ?
Just looks to me you should have cleared some debris from around the fire area, at least several feet around it.

No. For several reasons...the photo doesn't show it, but the leaves were raked back. It also doesn't show the bucket full of water taken from the stream in the background. Biggest reason though is that with all the rain we had that night and morning, napalm wouldn't have lit that stuff on fire. It also helps that I own the 300 acres around the fire.
That was the point in waiting until everything was soaked...it's always a little harder to light a fire then.

 

[msinc]

Bic type lighters are useless when wet. By all means carry one with you, along with lifeboat matches and a ferrocerium firesteel type fire maker, as shown in another post, some are attached to a magnesium block.

It's important to educate yourself on what materials you need to gather to make a fire, and locate these materials in other than optimum conditions.

Yes sir, it always amazes me the number of adults that are incapable of building a fire, no matter what they have to start one. Starting a fire is one thing, building one so it will actually go and make heat and be usable is another.
Around these parts the two natural materials that make good tinder when it is raining is eastern red cedar bark and river birch bark.

Edit: I have used trioxane and it works great, also those little white pellets that Gerber used to sell. Anyone know if either one is still available??? Road flares no doubt work, but they only work once.

 

[IdahoSharpshooter]

One of the things we learned in Ranger School was fire starting. A waterproof 35mm film can carried three cotton balls soaked in Vaseline. A second one carried a dozen wooden matches cut down to fit. Pocket held a zippo. Got a small backpack? Stick a squeeze bottle of Ronsonol in a ziplock, and some more of those wooden matches in with it.

 

[Rustytigwire]

Great read guys, dont stop, 5 pyro stars.
Tom

 

[bayjoe]

Nobody carry's wax candles ?

 

[bloc]

Well, I'd recommend a feroceriumn fire starter with striker. Matches and lighters are great and I carried both. But used properly, ferocerium is fail-safe, and it was what I used.

The cotton ball/vaseline solution for a starter is a good one: the trick to lighting one very easily is, first, to pull it into two pieces. You'll find that there are many little filaments of impregnated cotton at the separation point of both halves and (second) you should recombine the two halves with the filaments aligned upwards. Those filaments will ignite with almost sinful ease and the cotton ball will burn for several minutes.

As good and less messy than the cotton balls is to use Fire Starter squares. I use Rutland but I'm sure other brands would work. Just rough up an edge with a knife and hit it with a spark. (Back in the day, when I was teaching wilderness survival for our SAR team, I strongly recommended them. A square will burn for 4 - 5 minutes.)

Pro tip. No, a godsend. Take a 14"x14" square of heavy duty aluminum foil with you. Fold it up a couple of times for carrying. You will spread it out and build your fire on it.

Why? The earth is damp, and dampness is the enemy of small fires. As your fire heats up the earth beneath it, the steam will fight with your fire and may ultimately extinguish it. The foil prevents this (you can build a fire on mud with it).

JFWIW.

 

[Rustytigwire]

Someone should make and market small cigar size flares

 

[msinc]

One of the things we learned in Ranger School was fire starting. A waterproof 35mm film can carried three cotton balls soaked in Vaseline. A second one carried a dozen wooden matches cut down to fit. Pocket held a zippo. Got a small backpack? Stick a squeeze bottle of Ronsonol in a ziplock, and some more of those wooden matches in with it.

Yes sir, a 35mm film can is a handy item indeed.....albeit rare these days!! I have two left, one for matches and the other I made a tube type turkey call out of. Wish I could find about a dozen more!!!

I have to admit, I try to keep up with "survival skills" as much as possible, always an interesting topic, but until this thread I never heard of the aluminum foil trick.

 

[bluealtered]

It's great to hear what others do to get home again. In our area it's common that almost every car, truck, jeep, atv, utv etc. has what i call an overnight bag to keep you warm and dry when needed. No matter how many cell towers there may be in your area, if you count on that cell phone to keep you alive you should be in town instead of in the wild.

 

[Immike]

When trying to stay warm, I usually add (lean) the wood from the backside to build a reflector to direct the heat to my side, leaving the coals exposed to me. Try this next time, much warmer for you.

 

[hunter67]

Great comments. I use cotton balls with bag-balm in case I need it for cuts, kind of dual duty. Pitch wood is a must I have always got a fire going with it and it burns like there is gas on it. Bic lighters also don't work great with cold and elevation. I found that out in Wyoming at 10,000 feet. Butane torch lighters work great in place. Always have three different ways to start a fire and learn to make a stick flower is what I call it. Shave a stick so it has curles on it and they will start.
Check out Darrell Hollands website on fire starters he makes a nifty one.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

I'm going to add the foil to my pack, nothing helps getting some sleep than a fire or the ability to start one.

 

[bloc]

Yes sir, a 35mm film can is a handy item indeed.....albeit rare these days!! I have two left, one for matches and the other I made a tube type turkey call out of. Wish I could find about a dozen more!!! . . .

Go to Amazon and search for "match containers." There are lots of options. A tad pricey but as robust or more so than the film canisters.

 

[Webster]

Go to Amazon and search for "match containers." There are lots of options. A tad pricey but as robust or more so than the film canisters.

You can get 10 Bic lighters for $1 at my local stores.

 

[bloc]

You can get 10 Bic lighters for $1 at my local stores.

Absolutely! The advantage of the containers is they can hold items other than matches. Like vaseline impregnated cotton balls. You can get a powerful lot of them in some of those containers.

Bic or other lighters - like my personal favorite Ronson - have their place as do matches.

But IMO the best fire-starter is the ferocerium rod and a good striker. You don't have to worry about lighters running out of juice or not working well at altitude, or matches not working because the striking surface is damaged or unavailable.

With a single ferocerium rod, you get thousands of "lights", and you can use your knife to get sparks if you lose your striker.

Full confession, I'm something of a romantic and I just love the idea that I can start a fire under really bad conditions using a principle that was useful thousands and thousands of years ago.

Just my opinion. YMMD.

 

[rr2030]

With a single ferocerium rod, you get thousands of "lights", and you can use your knife to get sparks if you lose your striker.
.

FWIW: Not all knives, or for that matter, all metal things will spark wen struck on the Ferrocerium rod, best to test it before heading out into the sticks.

 

[bloc]

FWIW: Not all knives, or for that matter, all metal things will spark wen struck on the Ferrocerium rod, best to test it before heading out into the sticks.

Correct on both points. One should know how to use one's survival equipment and test it before its needed. You need to know not only that the equipment works as you think it will, but that you can make it work properly.

Thanks for that.