What's your best UL Fire Starter....?
Of all the things that you would want to take, what works best for you in a pinch? Lets just say its all three (windy, wet, & cold) what do you reach for?
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
on your list.....
bic, toilet paper and hand santizer....the only three I carry
also.....
pocket lint....but nothing beats birch bark...typically found most places I camp and very UL cause I don't carry it far. Just from downed tree to fire.
Love people and use things; never the reverse.
Mt. Katahdin would be a lot quicker to climb if its darn access trail didn't start all the way down in Georgia.
I use trick birthday candles(the kind you can't blow out).
SGT Rock suggested it. Works great.
Skids
Insanity: Asking about inseams over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein, (attributed)
I get bent out of shape when I read about vaseline & cotton balls because one can gather with a small knife a small fir branch and sap, or pitch and get a working fire with nothing less than a shoe lace and knife. Some of these flammables are hotter and slower burning and that is key to getting tinder started.
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
Most of the time I find natural tinder is sufficient. My emergency kit has a USL Sparky (can be used with one hand) + commercial compressed cotton which you pull apart before lighting which can be combined with hand sanitizer. There are lots of things that work well. I have also used trick candles, dryer lint, dryer lint embedded in some wax. The most fun was a bit of white gas from my fuel bottle :-)
--Mark
I carry at least one of those 100% beeswax Greek Orthodox candles. They are long and thin and cast a good light as well as being handy for lighting and then starting a fire in my Kelly Kettle. I drip a little extra wax if things are a wee bit damp.
It just occured to me that my tealight candle lantern has a hole in the bottom, so I might be able to make a spring clamp so I can push one of these candles up from below. It might be too hot inside, not sure, but the but the Orthodox folks make really good candles.
I got a whole box of them at Mardens for like $5 or so. Maybe $15. Anyhow I still have 1/2 a box but wish I had bought more. We have a small Greek Orthodox Church in town though, so I have a source. I presume they haven't been blessed yet, assuming they do that. Not sure. Anyhow, I usually say a little prayer when trying to get my fires going. lol
In the natural world, paper birch is pretty hard to beat for tinder. For kindling and small fire fuel, spruce sticks. We have enough of both up here that it is rare to use anything else, but in eastern white cedar groves, eastern white cedar can work for both, but you have to be a little more picky to get something not too green, and not too spongy. Sna
ppy is always a good sign, but snappy can mean wet but frozen when its really cold. The other time it is hard is when camped in really wet areas of the woods, with lots of moss and no cedar or birch or spruce. Then you have to go deep into some fallen tree, as there is often one of those around. A strong knife is handy for that sort of work, preferably a fixed blade, but it doesn't have to be all that heavy.
When stopping at the end of a long day, when cold and tired and perhaps wet, it is most likely you won't bother to make a fire if you don't have to. For this reason it needs to be as easy as possible, also because you make really need too sometime. So a knife helps, and in winter a small hatchet is better if you need a somewhat larger fire in a hurry and need to work with cold hands and mitts on. Also, it makes a huge difference if you have a place on your pack or clothing where you can stuff some good fuel that you come across in you travels, without having to take your pack off, and without having to carry it any distance in your hands. You have to make it easy, or you won't have it when you might need it.
I brought along magnesium sparklers and made a fire with that once.
up over the hills, theres nothing to fear
theres a pub across the way with whisky and beer
its a lengthy journey on the way up to the top
but it ain't so bad if you have a great big bottle o'scotch
Wow you know this is the UL Forum? That almost starts a whole new thread swerve right there!Originally Posted by JAK
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
I tested it in the backyard as I now have two, I got it started on the first try, but the magnesium flys everywhere, its a little hard to get the flakes in a pile at first. For the next two years I continued to see sparks leap from the fire.
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
The BIC works fine
On the other hand... Vaseline-soaked cotton balls is (are?) my favorite fire starter. The last time I fireplace tested such, each cotton ball produced a six- to eight-inch high flame that sometimes lasted more than five minutes. I've not got better fire-starting results from anything else that is as light and easy to carry.
But consideration of how one camps can change selection and use plans for any gear. I never camp with a fire ('cept once in a while with less aware trail mates) and fire starters for me are emergency/survival equipment, not something I intend to use every night.
FB
"All persons are born free and have certain inalienable rights. They include the right to a clean and healthful environment..."
Article II, Section 3
The Constitution of the State of Montana
forgive me for being a little picky here...
The items listed are each in a different class. Flint and steel (though you forgot the charcloth), matches, lighter and survival flare all provide the necessary heat. But tinder and or fuel is still needed for a fire.
Fat wood is just fuel. You will still need the flint and steel, matches, or lighter to get it burning. Same with the sanitizer and esbit. They are just fuels and still require an aide from the first group to burn.
Personally, I carry both a lighter and a box of matches. Though I would be extremely happy too with a flint, steel, charcloth and oakum.
Tuckahoe64, I just grabbed a bunch of items that one would find in a backpack, not everything was listed. This was more for opening a discussion, if given the option of carrying a few packs of Esbit to start a fire in the worst conditions, vs some of the others it was to discover what folks prefer to carry.
My dad used to carry Firepaste to prime his Sweva stove and start a fire. Talk about old school.
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
A Bic Lighter and Hiker Dung.
Don't you bozos realize the next underware bomber could be reading this?
mini Bic lighter.
"Going to the woods is going home" - John Muir
"Only by going alone in silence, without baggage, can one truely get into the heart of the wilderness" - John Muir
Esbit. You (ultralighters) cook with it don't you? Carry a couple extra.
As I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn back from his way and live. Ezekiel 33:11
Dryer lint
Birch
Esbit
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