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Can you start a fire?


Can you start a fire?  

25 members have voted

  1. 1. Well can you?

    • No
      0
    • Yes with a modern lighter
      15
    • Yes with the old ways
      16
    • Yes with damp materials
      10


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I heat with wood in the winter, in the past when power is out in the warmer months I build small fires out side to cook over, make coffee. My skills to make a fire the old ways are fair, but I can after some trying and time.

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I don't smoke, used too, but quit several years ago. I still carry a Bic lighter in my pocket and still periodically test and/or replace as needed.

I also keep one, along with tinder and an old fashioned road flare in my GHB. I have started many, many a campfire using a road flare, even with damp materials when camping as a youth in the Mississippi piney woods.

I have started a few fires using steel and flint, but could never conquer starting a fire using friction. But certainly admire the skill and patience it requires.

Looking forward to reading about our members skills. 馃檪

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I grew up in a camping family. When my sons were younger I spent 12 years as a Boy Scout leader. You bet your azz I can start a fire!聽馃槂

One should always carry a pocket knife and a lighter. With these two most basic of tools, a smart man can survive darned near anything.聽馃槈

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20 minutes ago, Grayfox54 said:

I grew up in a camping family. When my sons were younger I spent 12 years as a Boy Scout leader. You bet your azz I can start a fire!聽馃槂

One should always carry a pocket knife and a lighter. With these two most basic of tools, a smart man can survive darned near anything.聽馃槈

I don't carry a lighter in my pocket, but there's one easily accessible for sure. I have a knife handy everywhere I go though.

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5 hours ago, RED333 said:

I heat with wood in the winter, in the past when power is out in the warmer months I build small fires out side to cook over, make coffee. My skills to make a fire the old ways are fair, but I can after some trying and time.

When I heated with wood the blower on my stove would kick on at a certain temperature.聽 I was always trying to get that blower to cut on faster than before.聽聽

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In SERE school you have x minutes to boil water, rain or shine, wouldn't you know it, it was rain.聽 Same a couple weekends ago, had to go do some chores on my new land, rained the morning of so everything was soaked but got it done, which was great because it went to 29 degrees that night.聽聽

Kx9g5Af.jpg

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3 hours ago, Omega said:

n SERE school you have x minutes to boil water, rain or shine, wouldn't you know it, it was rain.

I did the Jungle Environment Survival Training (JEST) in the Philippines. The aboriginal instructors made fire in minutes using a split length of bamboo. I managed to bloody my hands trying.

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I completed multiple versions of SERE training as early as a teenager in the civil air patrol & blue beret program. 聽I can make a fire from friction even in high humidity with my own inherent anger when in need. 聽That said, I hate the egyptian bow drill style anywhere outside of the desert and I have a passionate love of flint and magnesium where at all possible. 聽Fun fact, I can reclaim quite of bit of drinking water from my pee with a simple plastic wrapper & strong sunlight for pure distillation. 聽It鈥檚 not fast though. 聽That is in my opinion the real challenge of bushcraft/isolated survival. 聽Things are very slow and you have to recalibrate your entire timeframe & expectations accordingly. 聽Life is a mental game.

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My granddad taught me how to respect and build fires since I was big enough to walk. I swear I believe he could have built fire from water. Lol. Seriously though, he taught me so many different ways. He was a very self reliant man. Man I wish cell phones were around back then so I could have taken videos.

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I used to be able to. 聽I used to keep waterproof matches and a spark tool in my go bag. 聽I鈥檝e lapsed with that lately. 聽Also, I鈥檓 a big reader of post apocalyptic fiction and am reminded of how things could be,

Edited by Defender
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10 hours ago, Defender said:

聽Also, I鈥檓 a big reader of post apocalyptic fiction and am reminded of how things could be,

I have given thought to this as well, praying for the best is all we can do.

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Sadly it's almost as if the PAW books and writings were a bit prescient.

"Prepping" and a greater interest in the associated skills seems to have peaked about 10 years ago.聽

This might be a good time for folks to revisit the concepts.

TGO has a good thread on suggested readings FWIW

Edited by Jamie Jackson
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Hard rain a day before had everything soaked and the ground squishy.聽 But got another one lit and kept it going even through a 3-hour rain, falling hard at one point.聽 The briars make a great kindling, I managed to burn a huge pile of willow oak leaves, and 3 piles of the same tree's branches.聽 I brought along some edger bricks so it wouldn't get away, but needed taller ones, think I'll just take a smokeless burn barrel next time, I have loads of willow oak branches I need to get rid of and the barrel burns hotter, so faster.聽 A great time to try different methods to get a fire going, last one was just a bic, this one was an army fire starter kit like the one below.

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image.png.30e2e32f87d11446b698e854acd57a4e.png

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4 hours ago, maroonandwhite said:

I keep a couple of medicine bottles filled with cotton balls rolled in petroleum jelly. They make great fire starters and burn much longer than cotton or dryer lint alone.聽

I keep these in my hiking bag, along with a fire steel, lighter and matches.

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