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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: eddings220 on January 30, 2010, 10:53:00 AM
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Bought a new Backpack, trying now to put everything in it I need without making it extremely heavy. What do you guys use as a "fire Starter" that is easily packed in a backpack? Thanks.
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I make my own with a dixie cup, wax and sawdust.
Mike
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I use a magnesium block with a built in steel.
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Jute garden string. take a small piece 6" or so, pull apart and make a nest with it. Just like you do when making a fire with flint/steel, fire bow or a fire piston.
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These are all very light. Cotton balls soaked in a little wax, and this compressed wood fire sticks. Both hold a flame retativley long. I also carry weatherproof matches, and a magnesium block.
(http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn125/frassettor/DSC00753.jpg)
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Steel wool works good as well.
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Dryer lint works really well, too.
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if you do a search, I think it will show several threads on this subject.
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zippo and fire sticks.
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I carry several methods for making fire in my pack at all times. Storm matches in a waterproof container, and a flint and steel. I also carry magnesium shavings and steel wool in another small waterproof container. 0000 Steel wool works great.
I normally only use what the weather and wood types dictate I need. If your ever have to camp out overnight next to your animal in the rain or snow having options will make your life much easier.
If I expect truly inclement weather on long range trips, I carry a road flare as well. heavy, but they are great for signalling at night and you can start anything but a rock on fire with them.
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Dryer Lint! collect the dryer lint from your lint trap.Greatest fire sterter and you can compress a vast amount into a ZipLoc bag which will last for the duration of a one week hunt.
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My fire starter kits consist of flint,steel ,char cloth,and dryer lint! And One windproof candle!!
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Military Magnesium block
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Blastmatch, windproof lighter. Cotton-balls dipped in vaseline or dryer lint.
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2'x2' piece of roofing felt paper folded to 6"x6". works great and takes up no space.
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Hard to beat Vaseline soaked cotton balls. That tip is from Peter K. the Air Force survival instructor.
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Originally posted by GREASEMAN:
Dryer Lint! collect the dryer lint from your lint trap.Greatest fire sterter and you can compress a vast amount into a ZipLoc bag which will last for the duration of a one week hunt.
You're right. I've been doing that for years. I also throw in some cedar chips like the ones used for gerbil cages.
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I carry two lighter lots of strike anywhere matches. Fire starter sticks and some pelets that I got from the military as well as a concosuion of dryer lint and parafin.
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Originally posted by Steve H.:
Hard to beat Vaseline soaked cotton balls. That tip is from Peter K. the Air Force survival instructor.
These also work great. I should start taking these again.
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Have carried the cotton balls and vaseline for 30 years, butane lighter. In all that time I have never used them once.
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Vaseline Soaked Cotton Balls..... Who'd A Thunk It? Other than Not Me. :knothead: FirePiston Work Well with the Cotton Balls?? Or just Carry Some Matches in a Small Container IN The Same Bag? Fire Rookie here! :rolleyes:
Being the "Smoker" that I am, I ALWAYS have a Zippo on Me. :archer: :goldtooth:
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Magnesium and dryer lint for me. Been carring it since I learned about it while stationed in Fairbanks Alaska back in '85.
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc157/pactac/th_100_1003.jpg) (http://s214.photobucket.com/albums/cc157/pactac/?action=view¤t=100_1003.flv)
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I go to the supermarket an buy these things called "firestarters".
I then apply flame from a ciggarette lighter,,,also available from most supermarkets.
Once I've applied the flame,the whole lot gets going real strong.
Best thing since sliced bread,,,,,,an a darn sight better than all this other stuff.
Don't you guys have supermarkets ?
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Frassettor was nice enough to gift me with a small kit that has the firesticks and waxed cottonballs. I usually use a firesteel to ignite either, but I also add in a small container of hand sanitizer.
That stuff will ignite with no effort at all, and can be applied in many different ways.
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Sliced up inner tube. Burns hot and long.
You can take the package your freeze dried meals come in, slice up and it really burns for a long time. Don't even have to really dry it off from your meal.
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I should have added that I used "inner tube rubber bands" to hold my gamebags, etc. in compact bundles so I always have some fire starter, even if I didn't pack some just for fires.
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Bic lighter
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Bug dope. Burns real well as a starter and does double duty in the bug months.
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Dryer lint and matches in a waterproof container
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Three or four bic lighters - Water proof matches - firesticks if I am walking or hiking. Use the dry twigs under the spruce bows.
NOW if I am on horse back - A small plastic bottle (coke - whatever) fill half full of DIESEL FUEL. My machete.
I have been out in some nasty ass weather and tried to get a fire started and nothing around but wet wood and nothing beats that DIESEL FUEL for me (don't need much).
One match or your lighter and you are off to the races.
Jer Bear
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I teach wilderness survival courses and practice ultralight backpacking. I have seen most fire starting methods out there and have tried hundreds. Yet at the end of the day, it must be light, work in the rain, and be easy enough to light if I'm experiencing trauma. I carry Vaseline-soaked cottonballs and a striker. Most often I carry a simple one like those sold by the Boy Scouts or Light My Fire. However, the one-handed Blast Match is a super invention that allows you to start a fire easily with no effort in ONE hand. Plus, it will light a host of other natural materials as it produces HOT sparks and gives you control over where they land. Very hard to beat.
Matches are a waste of time, as are lighters. They work, but I wouldn't trust my comfort, and certainly not my life with them. Wind will seek to blow them out and water can destroy the best in minutes. However, the Vaseline-soaked cottonballs burn hotter with the wind, will light when soaked in water if properly coated/sealed in Vaseline, and the Blast Match will work in a driving wind and rain. Also, "waterproof" containers aren't the cure-all. A "waterproof" container with as near-waterproof form of ignition as possible is the best bet.
Also, be sure to carry at least two forms of making fire in separate locations (i.e. one in your pack and one on your person). You can get separated from a pack VERY easily, even just going to the bathroom.
I make and use fire pistons, but they're pretty tough if one arm is immobilized. Plus, you've gotta be good at producing fire from a small ignition source. Matches make a flame, but have fun striking them when you can't feel your fingers and the wind is howling. Lighters can be used one handed, unless again you can't feel your fingers. At my seminars, I usually show how to light a fire using only my mouth. Assuming you can get the materials from your pocket/pack, you can get a Vaseline-soaked cottonball out of a film container, set and "fire" the Blast Match, and get a flame going with just your mouth. Don't try it just for fun, 'cause your eyebrows may be thicker than mine! However, that's a pretty good field test in my book.
Hope this helps!
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If you need something you can light, when things are soaking wet and your hands are so cold and numb you can't hardly make them work, carry a flare.
John
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Check this out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYRKzdSXH34
jer
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For obvious and easy reasons a Bic grill lighter. I'll use that until it's gone and after that a fire piston and some prepared tinder.
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Have always carried either cotton balls with vaseline or dryer lint and vaseline. Both work extremely fast, combined with a magnesium starter. Never takes more than 2 strikes and you've got fire. Vaseline lets it burn long enough and hot enough to build a good size fire quick.
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I have an old time fire starting kit with flint, steel, char cloth and rolled up jute. It also has a magnifying glass in the top.
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firesticks...waterproof matches in waterproof container and a lighter...the sticks are great. You get a solid flame for 7-8 minutes...long enough to light anything that'll burn
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Hunted Adak for years and never carried anything. Why bother, there's nothing to burn.
PW Sound will challenge you to start any kind of fire. Best is to split green alder if you have a good starter.
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I used magnesium. I like the waterproof wood matches that strike on anything and a travel soap container with frito's in it.
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Bic lighter and dryer lint/Vaseline in a film canister. Hasn't failed me yet.
Once, at an office picnic, I used a mag bar, the fuzz off of a cat tail and a hand full of Fritos to start the charcoal...just because.... :D
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Originally posted by Steve H.:
Hard to beat Vaseline soaked cotton balls.
Yip they work great! i keep some sealed in an old film canister, Some Rubber inner-tube, Bic lighter and a magnesium fire steel built into my knife sheath.
A Good Quality 1" Survival Candle is something nice to have in your pack if you have the room for it.
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Pineknot and flint and steel
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I carry a small bag of vaseline soaked cotton balls and a light my fire ferocium rod. Works great!
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I make my own, similar to wingnut, using wax and sawdust (or planer shavings).
Instead of a dixie cup I pour the wax into the 12 cups of a cardboard egg carton. While the wax is still liquid I put the sawdust and two kitchen matches head first into the wax.
I cut the 12 starters apart after the wax is cooled.
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I have never been more than a few miles from any road including my Canada trips. Maybe I should be better prepared but I only carry two Bic lighters in my pack and one old school book of matches wrapped in a ziplock inside my First Aid kit...
Other than some TP (inside the same ziplock as my book matches) I do not carry any tender.
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I carry the usual, some char cloth, coton balls/vaselineetc. I try to gather a little dry tinder while roaming the woods. Of course a windproof lighter. I go with what the situation dictates.
But, if I absolutely need a fire RIGHT NOW, with no screwing around, I carry 2 road flares in my pack. They don't weigh much, will burn hot and for a 15-20 minutes,even in the rain. You can pile up damp kindling and the flare will have it burning in no time. I wrap them in plastic wrap and a baggie to keep dry. There is nothing that works better, or burns hotter.
If I'm making camp and in no hurry, I use my flint/steel/ magnesium to keep in practie. If I'm in a bit more of a hurry, I'll use the lighter. If I'm cold and getting hpothermic, its dark and I need fire NOW, I use the flare.
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I second the "Blastmatch), also a zippo and some tetratrioxylene (sp) tablets that are used for the small military personal stoves. Used one in canada on a caribou trip had a fire 6' high when the calvary came across the lake in a boat in poor visibility to fetch my dads caribou.
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I carry fule compressed trioxane.
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With our Cub Scouts I used to have them pack the finest steel wool they could find and bring small 9-Volt battery, in addition to cotton dressed with vaseline.
Just push two terminals of the 9-Volt battery into the the steel wool and watch what happens. then blow a bit and add to the cotton/vaseline and your off. No wet matches to mess with. if hurt badly and you can get to the battery, just push the wool and battery together...worst case you can hold the battery in your mouth and you can light the steel wool very easily.
Eric - N9BOW
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PS...keep them seperated... (steel wool and 9-Volt battery) It could get uncomfortably hot in your pack ;)
Eric - N9BOW
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Personally I like this as an option in the pack.
http://www.amazon.com/9-Volt-LED-Flashlight-Kikkerland/dp/B001AED6JM Provides light and I have a waterproof ignition system
Eric - N9BOW
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All I carry is a knife, a stick of flint and I carry a perscription bottle of over the counter drugs(asperin, IB, ect) and keep the pills quiet by using cotton balls stuffed as tight as I can. Cotton balls alone is enough, but relying on cotton worried me, so I learned to start a fire when everything is wet using only flint! Man does that try your patients!
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Birthday cake candles! :D
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Mish mash metal match, cotten balls.
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In my opinion you should always have Three types of firestarting options in your pack at all times. Mine are a new Bic Lighter, Magneseum stick and flint and steel.
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My friend "wihill" brought these over today, and let me tell u they are the cats meow! These burn 10 minutes, you can't blow they out, and they are waterproof. These sure beat my cottonballs! Besides that a box of 24 cubes of them only costs $3.50.
(http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn125/frassettor/DSC00796.jpg)
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when i was in the usa a few years back i got a thing from Bass pro shop called light my fire and i use cotton balls and they burn just enough to get a good fire going. never leave home with out it.
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here's one you might of seen or heard of,take a 9 volt battery and some steel wool.works great.
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I have several kinds that I carry depending on the situation. For my day pack I have a magnesium block, flint and steel. It will catch cold wet asphalt on fire. Never have had to use it in an emergent situation but it is comforting to know I have it. In my saddle bags I also carry a zippo lighter, with fresh flint and a small bottle of lighter fluid, a bic lighter and some trioxane fuel bars. The trioxane will burn with a hot blue flame for about 10 minutes and will start a fire anytime, especially good for damp wood conditions. In my camp box at base camp I keep some less toxic firestarters I made out of parafin wax, woodchips and a cardboard egg carton. These things will burn with a yellow flame for about 6-8 minutes and are good for starting a fire in a woodstove of campfire with pine firewood, doesn't have to be real dry wood either. It is always good to have some options for starting a fire, and there are several good ones here.
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I just love a 20min fusee or road flare. You start whatever you need on fire with one of those. Started a beaverdam on fire while skinning a mountain lion one day, just about got wet on that one!