Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I carry a little magnesium fire starting block and a pocket knife. At 5,400 degrees, a few shavings on just about anything that looks like kindling will burn. Easy to carry when hiking just in case you need it.

Cheers,

Dave

I've done a lot of bowyering (bow-building) in the last 20 years. One of the by products of that is tons of little osage orange shavings all over the house. Ten years ago or so, I found out those shavings burn like kerosene.

I buy those 100 pack paper lunch sacks at the grocery store. A handful of osage shavings in one of those bags, rool the top down and set it aside. Starts anything this side of saturated newspaper.

short strips of low density MDF or fibre board soaked in oil lamp and kept in a sealed jar. It will work any time.

I like the little paper cups, stuffed with a paper towel and when I cook my bacon the grease is poured into the cup, depending on how much bacon it might be cups. I like to leave a bit of the paper towel sticking out and that is what I light. I have never not have a fire start using bacon grease.

I suppose if you had Crisco in a can that would work as well.

this is where i use up all the grease i have saved at home
it also works good for charcoal and you do not get the lighter fluid taste

a propane torch and a bar of magnesium works great

When I was a scout we used to make little heaters in shoe polish tins.

Tear strips of corrugated card and wind them into a coil anf ill up the tin but keep them short so you can still get the lid on. Then melt candle (parafin) wax over the card until well covered. Wait for it to cool then put the lid on.

In a pinch it make a little hand warming campfire in its own right and the small tins burn for 15 - 20 mins the bigger tin for more than 1/2 hour pout they make great fire lighters gets things going right along. When the fire is cold recover the tin from the ashes and you can do it all again.

Used to carry 3 or 4 of these in my rucksack and have used them as hand warmers when stopping for a break

Here in michigan we are big on our bonfires. My buddy is big into backpacking and he carries these cubes called "Wetfire". Light them with a lighter and they burn forever, they are also reusable. Just set one in the pit, grab your small stuff and light... wait for the small stuff to burn move the cube out of the way and grab it. Its back to cold and it works even when wet. He swears by them and said he would never go backpacking without one or two of them. I was really impressed with them. I was thinking of getting a couple to play with when the tear is ready.

Wolffarmer wrote:I was browsing the web today and found this.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/National_Geographic_Magazine/Volume_31/Number_6/The_Conversion_of_Old_Newspapers_and_Candle_Ends_Into_Fuel

A bit of history

My dad uses this. He makes his own hand dipped candles and has an endless supply of old wax.

We also have used Pitch Wood when we can find it. Find an old rotten pine or fir tree stump and start busting it apart. You will find some very dense hard wood that is saturated with pitch and doesn't rot. Burns hot and long.

I take corrugated cardboard squares, stick a "wick" (string) into the side, then dip them in melted old half candle wax. They make a good healthy flame for around 5 minutes. In the boy scouts, 50+ years ago, we used to roll up news paper into tubes the size of your finger then dip them in melted wax...same burn time, big flame.

I saw these on facebook and had to make a few will test them out later. But did do a burn test and yep they burn for a little over 5 minutes. I also made some with a whole cotton ball and they have a bigger flame but only burn for 8 minutes.

They worked great, except they were hard to light on their own. Needed a match or lighter to get them going.

DMcCam wrote:I carry a little magnesium fire starting block and a pocket knife. At 5,400 degrees, a few shavings on just about anything that looks like kindling will burn. Easy to carry when hiking just in case you need it.

Cheers,

Dave

X2! I carry a magnesium brick and pocket knife with me in the car always. All you need to start a fire.

Ranger Bic Sheath.

The name comes for "Ranger bands", which are made from cut up inner tubes and used like bungee cords for packing/clamping things together.

Using the skinniest bicycle inner tube, install a grommet into one end, stick a mini-Bic lighter into other, and attach to your keychain. Get damaged inner tube from your local bike shop. Get grommet kit from Home Depot (in the Tools section).





Source: http://www.good-kit.com/ranger-bic-sheaths/



I went looking for personal fire starter ideas and often read that a Bic lighter is almost foolproof and a mini-Bic will burn for ~30 minutes. That then left the problem of how to attach it to a keychain. After more searching, found above idea and it to me seems to be simpler and superior to all others. Kudos to inventor!

The grommet size shown above is 1/4", but 3/8" more completely spans inner tube width and may increase water resistance. Bottom line: either size will work okay.

As I don't smoke and seldom need a lighter, I've inserted my Bic with striker mechanism nearest the grommet end. I've also folded inner tube double before installing grommet. Intent was to make grommet end more water resistant and protect Bic striker and gas valve from accidental activation. Bic's exposed bottom lets me check fuel level. (Inner tube can be stretched sideways when installing Bic to prevent it activating gas valve.)

Made one as a gift and recipient wanted inner tube sheath slightly longer than Bic. Why? Sheath then wraps around Bic for better grip. Person only planned to remove/use lighter during an emergency, otherwise would never use it. (I have not had any trouble with my Bic slipping out of shorter sheath.)

Construction suggestion. First, insert grommet into long inner tube section. Second, cut inner tube to fit length of your Bic lighter. Third, insert your Bic lighter into finished sheath. Why? In this order, there is nothing really to measure, so less likely to mess up and finished sheath will exactly fit your Bic.



(Added) Full disclosure. It was this topic that make me start thinking seriously about fire starters and the rule of 3s. The rule of 3s, death comes after: 3 minutes without oxygenated blood, 3 hours from hypothermia, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food. So fire/heat is high on the list and I want to keep it's makings light and close.

I bought the magnesium/flint block. It works, but too bulky/heavy for my keychain.
Haven't bought a firesteel, but know I'd also need to add tinder.

During my fire-making search, I kept running across references to Bic lighters as the as the one-stop, light-weight, foolproof keychain solution. Hence my keychain focus here.


My belt pack for hiking carries my other stuff: magnesium/flint block, Fox 40 whistle (large even cut down), signal mirror (re-purposed AOL CD), space blanket, chemical hand warmers, compass, small sheath knife, large SAK multitool clone, food, water, small medical kit, LED headlamp, spare sunglasses, and other stuff I can't remember at the moment. Everything that I've tried and wanted to keep as backup, but decided was too big to carry every day.

Normally when I leave the house I only carry my wallet and keychain. My wallet contains: small signal mirror (cut down AOL CD), and some aluminum foil. My keychain carries: mini-Bic lighter, small HF emergency whistle, small SAK Ranger, P-38, AAA multi-mode LED flashlight, spare AAA battery, large safety pin, ... and my keys. So figure I have covered my day-to-day need for day/night signaling, heat, and water collection.

If I'm going further afield, I add my belt pack, down vest (gloves, REI Buff, knit cap in pockets), and wide-brimmed oil-skin hat. Just buy a few more snacks and refill my water containers and I'm good to go.

I've got enough "junk" in that area competing for space that I don't need to add a Bic lighter in the off case I might need it.

"Ranger Bic Sheath"

Thanks for posting this easy solution. Great idea.