Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Podunkfla wrote:Funny... I guess I'm just old fashoned? I just use a Bic. 8)

Hey, I admitted to using a Bic, too.

What will YOU do when you lose your Bic and you're 100 miles from anywhere and cold, tired, and hungry?

That's where the "fires without matches" comes in. Emergencies!

Keep the list -- and hope you never have to use it.

Podunkfla wrote:Funny... I guess I'm just old fashoned? I just use a Bic.

That's new-fangled in my book. Granted, I use a Bic to light my stove, but for campfires I use flint & steel. Bob Spencer is a bit long-winded, but his article on the subject is nothing if not thorough.

Joseph

Joseph--

Good for you! I also start fires the old way, usually with flint, steel, and charcloth. Iron pyrite and flint also work great!

As a Scoutmaster, I'm teaching 12-year-olds basic camping skills. My Scouts all can make fires without matches, or with only one match.

Recently I taught fire starting at a church girls camp. There were girls who had never lit a match before! So now I've added "how to light a wooden match" to the course. But can you believe some of our young people don't know how to light a match? Never woulda thot it.

They didn't know how to start a fire with a magnifying glass, either. The trick is to turn the magnifying lens perpendicular to the sun so the hot spot is as round and small as possible. And prop up the arm with the magnifying lens so you don't wiggle the hot spot all over. The girls did okay with this.

After my flying short course, I think the girls improved 200 percent. Now instead of being dead within 24 hoursw of a wilderness emergency, they might last two days. (Sigh!)

Anyone can "start" a fire. The pros only start a fire once.

Most newbies don't know how to "build" their fire, so when they do flick their bics, they get a very brief fire.

Back in my backpacking days, I knew all the tricks -- srtill do, but whe I car-camp, I sometimes just use the easiest method... Build your log-stack on top of a bag of Match-Light charcoal. Light the bag. Done.

Yeah, it's cheating, but darned effective.

CD

I still use "flint & steel" too... It's in the Bic.

I do have an emergency kit for camping & hiking though.

I thought about the cheat'n way to make a fire, but have seen those "survival Man" shows and wanted to see if I could start a fire by rubbing sticks, etc. I'll let you know and have some pictures!

Gents,
there are some wonderful devices out there to start fires with.
my favorite is the one I learnt about in the Air Force almost 30 years ago:
the flint/steel part of a discarded disposable lighter.

cotton balls and vasoline - easy to pack

Use with flint/steel or magnifying glass.

I tend to use the "Firefighters match" if I want a fire fast, you know the ones, about as big around as a thumb, maybe 12 to 15 inches long, and they burn a bright red color


But for starting small, I have used several of the above mentioned technuiqes, using various tinder, including fried tater chips (think about all that oil you have to wipe from your hands), it is good to know more than one way to start fire.




And yes I am a pyro, every good firefighter is a bit of a pyro. We are good at putting theme out, but we have to be good at starting theme for practice burns

Im with CD. Some chunks of charcoal under the firewood. Only thing I do differant is to tuck in a piece of neverdull into the coals. One flick and I'm back in my chair with my beer and cigarettes. I Keep the lighter fluid by my chair to check if everyones awake from time to time.

Incidently, a specific type of neverdull is perfect for the flaming arrow. I have soaked a bunch of wood in gasoline and lit it with the flaming arrow. Its fun but not the brightest/safest idea.

BILLYL wrote:Now the new thing with Boy Scouts is to use Hand Santizer. It will start a fire fast - alcohol based product. Woop - a couple of squirts and away you go!


Bill

As I recall, the Boy Scout way to start a fire is with half-a-bottle of Gulflite -- AKA, Scout Juice.

I've used frito corn chips before in a pinch - they have a lot of oil in em' - One match to get one started, then they burn like a candle

I once did a gasoline fire, and to light it I just happened to have a bottle of black powder that was to damp for good ignition in the muzzleloaders, but worked for a "fuse" to ""SAFELY"" light the fire



needless to say, everyone in camp was watching over their shoulder the rest of camp!!

When I was in the Explorers, we had a bonfire set to go in a natural hollow about 18" deep and six feet across, doused liberally with go-juice. There was some delay before everyone assembled -- long enough for the gasoline to evaporate and fill that hollow with fumes.

We were fortunate that everone was standing back a bit from that hollow, and that the guy starting the fire had prepared a torch, which he threw on the fire. Before the torch reached the wood, there was an enormous fireball which sort of rocked everyone back on their heels. Who knows, had it been daylight, we might have observed a mushroom cloud ascending into the sky.

Needless to say, the bonfire burned very well.