Fire Starter: Matches or Lighter

[grillmastertoo]

I have read several posts where people include magnesium bars and other various striker methods to start fires...But I also see where it is suggested to carry matches or a lighter as your initial fire starting method....
My question is are there certain types of lighters or matches people prefer....ie torch types, wind proof, water proof, etc.....
thanks

[Lone Wolf]

I have read several posts where people include magnesium bars and other various striker methods to start fires...But I also see where it is suggested to carry matches or a lighter as your initial fire starting method....
My question is are there certain types of lighters or matches people prefer....ie torch types, wind proof, water proof, etc.....
thanks

Bic lighter. that's all i've ever used for 20+ years. no need for matches

[4eyedbuzzard]

I just use a bic lighter most of the time and carry a backup of either another lighter(the bic minis are good for this) or a few waterproof matches. The only problem I've ever had is when a bic lighter gets wet and the flint/striker wheel messes up, which is why I always carry some sort of backup.

[amac]

I carry two mini-Bic lighters, only. The second is my back-up.

[JAK]

My vote is a regular bic, and a mini bic as backup, plus a long wax candle.

I've always brought both matches and lighters, thinking if one failed, the other might not.
I've never had a bic lighter fail though, though when its below 0F you have to warm them up first, and when its -20F you only have a couple of strikes before you have to warm them up again, and your hands also. The regular sized bic lighters are better in winter. A small bic could be a backup.

Its also good to bring a long candle, to light that first, then use that to light your fire, and use some of the wax if neccessary. Wood fires are alot tougher when its really cold, like 0F or -20F, because its hard to know what fuel is dry and what fuel just wet and frozen. Also, the environment sucks the heat out alot faster. If using a hobo type stove it needs to be bigger in winter, and the wood fuel needs to be alot better.

I have not had good results with those magnesium fire striker. The striker works great, but the magnesium flakes are very fussy, and harder to shave off when its really cold. Still, not a bad backup because its waterproof and fairly indestructable, as long as you don't lose the striker, and your knife to shave and strike it with. So now instead of matches I bring a magnesium thingy as backup, but I'm not really happy with it yet.

[grillmastertoo]

so the torch type "emergency lighters" like what Brunton makes are an overkill?.... http://www.amazon.com/Brunton-New-Fi.../dp/B000P3ICZ2 or

http://www.brunton.com/product.php?id=34

i guess whatever makes you comfortable you go with, but im looking for real world experience....

[JAK]

I've heard some experience folks swear by small butane mini-torch type lighters. The main reason I stick with a bic is because they are readily available. I don't like trying stuff I might get, and might work great, but might not see again.

[Lone Wolf]

so the torch type "emergency lighters" like what Brunton makes are an overkill?.... http://www.amazon.com/Brunton-New-Fi.../dp/B000P3ICZ2 or

http://www.brunton.com/product.php?id=34

i guess whatever makes you comfortable you go with, but im looking for real world experience....

yeah. way overkill

[mudhead]

Bic lighter. that's all i've ever used for 20+ years. no need for matches

Don't you stash a book of matches?

[Lone Wolf]

stash them where and for what?

[mudhead]

In the pack somewhere. Like in first aid bag. For what? dunno.

[Lone Wolf]

i've never used a match backpacking

[mudhead]

Never ever ever ever? I do. Each his own. Can't use a mini bic worth a crap either. Fumbly hands.

[Lone Wolf]

never, ever, ever

[4eyedbuzzard]

...i guess whatever makes you comfortable you go with, but im looking for real world experience....

The only bad experiences I've had with bic lighters is that if they get wet sometimes the flint can grind off into the striker wheel and not produce a spark as a result of all the moisture. Sometimes it even jams up the whole assembly. Usually this happens with lighters that have been used for a while--the flint gets shorter and will even cock in the flint holder assembly and jam the whole thing up. Just seems reasonable to carry a backup of some sort--a second lighter or matches aren't more than a few grams.

[JAK]

I find it easier to stash a small lighter than matches. I have a waterproof match container, for carrying long wooden matches I cut down to fit and waterproofed. Too heavy, and I don't like the way the matches break, and even good ones can go out in wind before you get the candle or birch bark lit. I used to carry it around my neck, then I stashed it in my toilet paper roll, then I stashed a 2nd bic lighter there instead, but I don't carry toilet paper anymore. I do deliberately carrying the two or three firestarting items in different places though. Sucks when I discover I can't make tea. I've done that.

The lighter I am using is kept handy in my pocket. The backup mini-bic is stashed away with my candle lantern, and sometimes another in my first aid / repair kit. The magnesium thingy, if I bring that, is kicking around some damn place or other. I just haven't grown attached to that thing yet. Hoping I might lose it I guess.

I do plan on making a proper char making flint and steel kit, and use that regularly, with a stashed bic as backup. A lighter is easier, even matches are easier, but I think you can learn more from char making and using a flint and steel. Maybe not real flint and steel, which it too damned hard, but one of those magnesium thingys without the magnesium. Ferro-cerium. I have gotten better at always carrying the birch bark and spruce sticks to make my next pot of tea. I carry it in the Kelly Kettle or Hobo Stove. With a flint and steel kit it would be carried in a char making tin, filled with char for the next fire, and some char that has been soaked with wax or rendered fat, plus a minibic for when first and second attempt fails, which would be often enough at first.

I've never carried esbit tabs or cotton/vaseline as backup, just a beeswax candle, but for when its really cold like 0F or -20F I think something like that would be useful, to give the usual fuel bundle in the Hobo or Kelly Kettle a real boost. Even a full candle is not enough with sticks that might be wet or dry, as its hard to tell. It would be better to saturate something like cotton balls with the wax ahead of time. In winter if you bring bacon you could replenish your supply of small firestarted by rendering your bacon fat and saturating some natural material like moss or bark after charring it first, then storing it in your char tin after it has cooled.

Of course with an alcohol or gas stove life is easier I guess, but not my cup of tea. I have an Ion stove now though, and I like it, and it fits in as backup also. My plan though is to bring pure ethanol, which I might have to distill myself. I like the idea of carrying 100% ethanol, as a backup to sticks/bark, and also to dilute it to use it for first-aid and sanitizing.

That leads to another though. I like the hand-gel stuff, because the gel keeps it on your hands longer, which is neccessary to make it work. So I wonder what can be mixed with 100% ethanol to make your own hand-sanitizer, so you can carry just the 100% ethanol for many purposes. Some water, plus something to gel it maybe. Ideally something either available in the woods, or carried anyway. Maybe some tree sap, but that would be too sticky. Alcohol and olive oil maybe. Olive oil is also a good food and backup fuel.

[mudhead]

The weight of the bum wipe too much?

[JAK]

The only bad experiences I've had with bic lighters is that if they get wet sometimes the flint can grind off into the striker wheel and not produce a spark as a result of all the moisture. Sometimes it even jams up the whole assembly. Usually this happens with lighters that have been used for a while--the flint gets shorter and will even cock in the flint holder assembly and jam the whole thing up. Just seems reasonable to carry a backup of some sort--a second lighter or matches aren't more than a few grams.

I haven't had the flint fail but mini-bics are incredible hard to use when its really cold. You have to warm them up, but its your cold hands that make it hard also, so you have to keep warming them up also. You have to go deep, like into a deep warm pocket or pouch. Last time I rewarmed my hands in my mitts, but rewarmed the bic under my neck and chin against the shoulder because it needed to get warmer than my hands. That worked well but was a regular sized bic. Last year when it was that cold a mini-bic was much harder to flick, and to keep warm long enough to flick even twice. Regular sized bics are better when its cold. Wonder what Tipi-Walter uses when its that cold.

[JAK]

The weight of the bum wipe too much?

No. Its just a pain in the ass to bury it.
With leaves and snow and stuff you can just leave it steaming.

[mudhead]

Take some matches.