Fire Starting

[x SF med]

#1 Pardus
#2 RangerPsych
#3 0699
But let me qualify by saying NEVER take any of the the above in combination and MOS DEF NEVER ALL IN A GROUP.

I've had the displeasure of 2 of the three at one time with beer, and each of the three separately after beer... see above re: Sasquatch... it goes equally well for any of them.... Hell it works for most males of the species, or Trolls.

 

[medicchick]

After he's eaten chili with beans... feed him a little hot sauce and he's a self contained incendiary device... I've seen it, it's not pretty, but it is effective.

I will never feed him beans again when he visits.

*snork* I heard you weren't much better

 

[Ranger Psych]

After he's eaten chili with beans... feed him a little hot sauce and he's a self contained incendiary device... I've seen it, it's not pretty, but it is effective.

I will never feed him beans again when he visits.

Bwhahaha. Gotta admit, those beans were pretty damn good and hit the spot at the time... was even better when we had some help! LOL

 

[Crusader74]

Strips of an inner tube is great during damp conditions..Obviously you need to light the stips with a lighter .

 

[HOLLiS]

Basic issue equipment from boot camp. Far right and center, a tender holder, with steel and flint. along with a magnifying glass. Carrying some pitch also helps.

 

[SpitfireV]

I quite like carrying cotton buds in a resealable bag. You can soak them in various flammable fluids too if you feel like it (I use lighter fluid sometimes). I carry a magnesium fire starter as a backup around my neck or secured to a pocket but otherwise it's Bic lighters.

 

[x SF med]

Call in CAS with Napalm, Danger Close... keeps you as warm as hate.

 

[JBS]

Along the lines of fire starting, I thought I would pass on an interesting little bit of not-so-well-known information.

Of course, it isn't like you're going to willingly, purposely pack this item for the purpose of firestarting (I carry magnesium blocks in my pack for this purpose), but it is still good to know in an improvisation situation, if you've got nothing else:

I can confirm this works very well. And for some of you CrossFitters' diet plans, I'm sure you have plenty of this on hand, too.

 

[pardus]

First of all, bite me.

The lifeboat matches are excellent, they will stay lit even if you bury them and will even burn if you throw them onto water (though not quite as good).
Bic lighter, then lifeboat matches, then magnesium bar (Ive never actually used the magnesium, must do so).
I'm intrigued by the butane lighter Bill, is it self igniting?

A long life candle is a great thing to have as well.

 

[Ranger Psych]

Most of the torches are self igniting w/ a piezoelectric sparker.

Pardus: magnesium is easy. Biggest mistake most "neophytes" to it do is not understanding that magnesium IS FUEL, and burns extremely quickly. You need to put it in the middle of your other tinder right where you'd light it if you were using a match. Typically the way I do it is take my hat off, bop the top so I have a bowl, shave/scrape magnesium into it. Once I have about a thumb sized pile of it, put it onto a leaf, put that leaf w/ mag pile where I want the fire, and leave enough room to be able to spark. Many people like to move the knife ON the magnesium bar's sparker. I find that doing it the other way around gives you a bit more control as to where the sparking occurs, instead of having to try to throw the sparks at the magnesium pile, you can put the blade on the spark bar and yank the magnesium bar back and you'll have more luck getting a first strike hit on the magnesium.

I used to have a video I made up for a "class" on it, but it's AWOL.

 

[HoosierAnnie]

OK guys, in my 18th cent circles we had long heard of diary/journal references to the fungus that burns. Here it is. The lil bit I saw, caught spark from the first stroke of flint n steel and was very simply blown to life in the small mass if towe and bingo a fire was started.
http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/tinder/tinderfungus/true.html

 

[HoosierAnnie]

Basic issue equipment from boot camp. Far right and center, a tender holder, with steel and flint. along with a magnifying glass. Carrying some pitch also helps.

H - where did you find that whisk and pick set?? Our unit commander has one just like it, loves it and can't find it anymore. My soldier kit looks a lot like yours. Though I use a grenadier bag for my cannonier duties with the powder charges.

 

[WBTurner]

Most Civilian camping trips don't last all that long. A few days-usually less than a week. The modern BIC/butane lighters will last much longer than that. Back in the 60's/70's we didn't have BICs. I used one of the "VUE" Lighters that had a small reservoir of lighter fluid in the bottom of it to recharge the lighter over and over. They would last about a week. I carried a small can of lighter fluid in my ruck(about 4-6 ounces) wrapped in newspaper(tinder). Worked well even in rainy conditions. As an 05B I had the one-time pads (Code) and the responsibility of destroying them in case of imminent capture. You can make a hell of a fire with 2-3 onetime pads and 3-4 oz. lighter fluid.

 

[kaja]

Alcohol prep pads also work for catching sparks, and are quite multi-use. I always have few around, plus fire steel, signal mirror, compass and scalpel blade it makes nice flat package.

 

[Ranger Psych]

The other thing is that the striker on a bic will last much longer than the fuel, and being able to reliably create a spark is pretty key for basically any method not friction based.

 

[x SF med]

I still have a military butane survival lighter somewhere... rechargeable and the flint is replaceable, fully sealed and the made of anodized aircraft aluminum.

 

[Marauder06]

That's what she said. (Literally in this case)

Careful, you could get suspended for that! /crossthread

 

[CDG]

Careful, you could get suspended for that! /crossthread

At this point I think I'm more likely to get suspended for being too dumb to understand humor.

 

[macNcheese]

Any experience using a fire piston? I was thinking about making one if they actually work.

 

[Ranger Psych]

They work, but there's much faster and easier methods.