# Building Fires



## Rizzoni

I saw this kid down at this fishing cove I go to and he was trying to build a fire, yet he was utterly clueless. He was older kid, around 17. So this lead me to wonder, how old were most of y'all when you learned how to build a fire on your own? I was probably 9, maybe 10.


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## Neuromancer

I learned from riding my bicycle and finding lighters people had thrown out of their cars...
then I moved on to magnifying glasses... which you can easily light a cigarette with


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## carnut1100

Not sure when I learned. Been able to do it for ages though. 
Often if I am at a friend's place and they want to start a fire I will do it as they will take ages to get something going but I will get it blazing in a few minutes. 
I think it is an essential skill for EVERYBODY to have.


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## Bigdog57

I got an early start indeed - I burned the back yard when I was about seven years old. 

I have refined my protective techniques.....


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## ldmaster

About 11 years old. Since I LIKE to be warm, when I'd go on hikes I'd pick up stuff like dry moss, and other stuff that makes starting any fire easier. When I discovered magnesium, I just about went crazy testing it with other tinders. I also learned that a 5min road flare will start a fire pretty easy too. But I prefer to watch the various layers of tinder catch one another on fire from my flint. Tried a bow and drill (indian) method once, fun, but you need a LOT of prep and the right drill and plank. If I'm going to carry something for fire, a little flint stores better than a bow/drill/plank.


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## Jack

+1 on the flint and stone ( magnesium rod and knife blade in my case)

but stacking fires i am surprised how many folks just dont know!

i grew up in the bush in Australia and the local indigenous folks had many different ways of lighting fires including chemical ( sap and limestone, man that gets hot!!)

crushed sea shells burned in a fire, then scraped and crushed again and burned and added some rock or mineral salt again makes pure sodium lime sprinkle this on dry moss or pounded bark and a few ( very few) drops of water and it will self ingnite in a few minutes 

DO NOT GET ON YOUR SKIN!!!! the burns from this are shocking as it gets absorbed fast and can burn for days UNDER YOUR SKIN..

cheers

jack


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## socofn

I was about 8. The road flare is the best in the world if you can carry one around. JP


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## live2offroad

Rizzoni said:


> I saw this kid down at this fishing cove I go to and he was trying to build a fire, yet he was utterly clueless. He was older kid, around 17. So this lead me to wonder, how old were most of y'all when you learned how to build a fire on your own? I was probably 9, maybe 10.


I honestly can not remember a time when I did not know how, so I must have been young. Thats how my dad was, I was taught "outdoors stuff" from as early as possible. Thanks Dad!

-Peter


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## bittersweetsymphony

I know you can make a fire with two pieces of flint but what exactly do you have to do to get it going? 

Jack, broken sea shell burn in a fire? That's handy to know!


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## JeepHammer

When we are trying to educate new hunters or hikers, we always recommend you have at least three ways to make 'Fire'...

1. The most obvious. A disposable butane lighter in waterproof package, zip lock bag or old pill bottle.

2. Water 'Resistant' matches.
There is no such thing as 'Water Proof', and most of the 'Survival' matches require a special striker to get them lit...
Which peels off the box when it gets damp!

I prefer the actual, military version of 'Life Boat Matches' when I can find them,
When I can't, I use 'Strike Anywhere' matches dipped in Paraffin.
Use your fingernail and pop the paraffin off the head and strike about anywhere!

3. 'Super Match', 'Super Striker', or other spark throwing device. They work SO MUCH BETTER than a flint and steel!

I used to recommend the old magnesium block with the striker built into the back side,
But with most knives and camping gear being stainless steel or aluminum, it's hard to get a good spark from them now.

4. In really cold areas, where you are likely to get wet and your hands are all but useless, FLAIRS.
I use signaling flairs, not highway flairs most of the time simply because they are more water resistant and easier to light.

These are good for lighting fires NO MATTER WHAT,
They will get the attention of anyone except for Stevie Wonder in a several mile radius,

And they burn HOT, you can warm yourself up quite a bit with just the flair while the 'Fire' is just staring and isn't putting any heat out yet...
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DON'T FORGET TENDER!
No fire is going to take off without tender to get a coal bed started!

The best tender I've found for light weight emergency conditions is COTTON BALLS AND PETROLEUM JELLY.
Cheap, light weight, non toxic in case it leaks in your pack or pocket and won't freeze...
Will ignite with nothing but sparks and burns like crazy for a while considering it's mass!

I used to dry tender from one fire and keep it in a water proof match case for the next fire, but now I just use petroleum jelly and cotton balls.
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Another quick fire starter is steel wool and a battery.
Even a half dead 9 volt battery will start steel wool blazing, and you had better not have fingers in the way once it starts!

Steel wool also ignites quite readily with a match.
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The most missed understood part of starting a fire is the Tender you use.

Most people try and start with small twigs (or not so small sticks!) and that rarely works.

Finding a piece of dry wood, like a tree limb that is still hinging out of the tree or standing up off the ground is your best bet.
Most people try and shave slivers off the dry wood, but you will be better off SCRAPING the wood and collecting the 'Fluff' that comes off.
That fluff burns MUCH better than any slivers do!

Use the 'Fluff', or some of the recommended tender from above, as the 'Starter'...
'TeePee' some small, dry twigs or wood shavings over that starter, and gradually get bigger with the stuff you feed the fire.

Wet or really cold climates, it will be exceptionally hard to get the tender burning well, so go slow, and when you think you have enough 'Starter' and enough 'Tender' and enough 'Fuel' then go out and get 4 times as much, because what you think you have is only about 1/4 of what you will actually need!
--------------------

This sounds silly, but you should probably get an old BBQ grill bottom and practice starting fires until you can get them going every time with one match so you know EXACTLY how much work is involved in getting a fire started without the benefit of a flame thrower!


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## Jerseyzuks

One of my chores when I was little was to clean out the wood burning stove and build a fire for the next day, so I was probably about 6 or 7 when I could build a good fire


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## JeepHammer

Can you still do it under stress?


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## guyfour

Has anyone heard of using a ninevolt battery and steel wool? What if there was a crank operated device that generated a small spark to start fires with between two pieces of metal (based on magnets spinning to generate the electricity), this would be useful and frictionless so hard to wear out.


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## ldmaster

Yes, seen the 9 volt and steel wool trick in hunter education, as I imagine a lot of us have - they are SO fond of their little tricks...

When I referred to flint and steel, what I was actually referring to was ferrocerium. In case anybody remembers.


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## darkling

What "little tricks" are you referring to?


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## ldmaster

the little tricks they share with you when you take hunter education. All hunter education instructors have them, from how to start a fire, to waterproofing things.


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## Narsil

The best, most reliable, long lasting method of fire-starting is the magnesium block fire-starter, available at Wal-Marts and most any outdoors/sporting goods store for less than $5 usually. 

If used judiciously, one fire-starter will last you years and start hundreds, if not over a thousand fires. It consists of nothing more than a small 0.5" X 1.5" X 4" block of magnesium with an embedded sparker rail and scraper on a ball-chain. You get your fire materials ready: tinder, kindling, and fuel. Then you use the scraper to scrape off a quarter-sized pile of magnesium flakes which you place on your tinder. Reverse the block and use the scraper on the sparker rail to create sparks which will ignite the magnesium. With a little practice, you can easily and fairly quickly start fires with even damp (not wet) materials and the magnesium fire-starter takes up very little room and is light-weight.


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## Washkeeton

I keep handy 2-one gal bags of fire starter materials for every day Im out... Basically I have the tried and true birch bark with all the wood chips I can muster into a bag (dried of course)... Starting a fire in the cold and damp up here is a bugger some times... dried birch bark and the wood chips that I get from chopping the wood is a great starter... I collect bags of it over a period of time and keep it for my outings. I dont think I have started a fire with paper since I have been in AK. I do have 3 of the 18 gal rubber maid containers full of dried bark and wood chips in my house right now... I collect enough of it to build my fires for my home when I chop wood any way so anything over and above goes to the collection pile. When I chop wood I peel off the bark dry it and save it.


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## Fetthunter

For $9.99, I'll take the Swedish Firesteel:
http://www.amazon.com/Swedish-Fires...e=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1224305044&sr=8-2

Lasts for 3000 sparks, and generates a 5,500 degree F spark, which is enough to ignite even damp materials. Also, there are no shavings to worry about, so it's faster (you don't have to spend time scraping to make shavings), and if it's windy, you don't have to worry about the shavings blowing away (which they will). 

Also, it's pretty darn "idiot proof". Even kids can use it.


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## Homer_Simpson

I started my boy out when he was 10 years old with a Swedish Firesteel. I have him use only tinder char-cloth and some rope made into a nest works every time even when wet. I was a master at campfires by 9 or 10 as we had them every night and I got to start them, I went through all the trials and errors one can go through. 

One thing to remember with teaching kids, they have the attention span of about 3 minutes, that being said, the first thing you have to teach them is to gather enough tinder, larger sticks and wood for burning. When you send them out they will grab a handful of each and run back saying they are ready to go, I let my son go and when he couldn't keep a fire going it was one lesson learned that when he thinks he has enough wood to go out and get 5 times that amount. Starting a fire is all in the preps, he learned that day that spending 20 minutes gathering all the material he needs will make the actual starting the fire that much easier.

In his kit he has a Swedish fire steel, a magnesium block, char-cloth, rope, cotton soaked in vasoline, a bic lighter, matches (both waterproof & strike anywhere) an actual flint rock and steel striker, I also picked up a pack of fire starter sticks from Walmart and a candle. My kit contains the same. These kits go with us anytime we are in the woods, and really don't take up that much room.


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## Jerseyzuks

JeepHammer said:


> Can you still do it under stress?


Sure can... I had a wood burning stove in my old house, and heated primarily with wood. Eventually the new place will have one.

I also go camping 6-10 times per year, sometimes for a week at a time. Been plenty of times where it was cold and rainy, and I had to get a fire started quickly with whatever damp materials I could scrounge up.



ldmaster said:


> Yes, seen the 9 volt and steel wool trick in hunter education, as I imagine a lot of us have - they are SO fond of their little tricks...


I used to use that all the time at Radio Shack when I was working alone, ran out of matches, and couldn't leave the store. I would grab a 9v out of something in the store, grab a little piece of steel wool from the bathroom, and light my smoke


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## guyfour

When my lighter runs out I just use my back-up magnifying glass.


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## JW Parker

Before I started to school, I would build campfires down behind the chicken house. I think I was Daniel Boone or someone like that making camp. One day the wind was up a little too much and my fire got away from me. I burned off 40 acres of sage brush that afternoon and the took my matches away. I think it was a couple months before I got more matches.


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## Firefyter-Emt

I can't remember how young either, but I will add one of my "tricks". I take wood saw dust from my table saw and pack it into an egg carton. Now melt old candles or other wax and pour it over the sawdust. These will light and burn for 15 minutes by them self. The sawdust works as a wick while burning the wax much like a candle. Rip off one "egg hole" and put that under your PROPERLY BUILT STACK and it will be a great starter. (break them into 12 parts and place in a old coffee can too)


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## ke4sky

*Cotton Balls, Petroleum Jelly and Flint Striker*

*SAR groups teach the use of cotton balls infused with petroleum jelly* as a cheap, easy to use and foolproof wet-fire tinder. Go to the drug store and buy a jar of the cheapest store brand of petroleum jelly and a bag of cotton balls - be sure they are REAL 100% cotton and not some synthetic fiber.

*Melt the petroleum jelly in a double boiler, taking precautions against fire. *
Gather up all the empty Altoids tins, plastic 35mm film cans and similar pocket containers that you have in the house. With forceps or tweezers start dipping and saturating cotton balls in the melted petroleum jelly, and stacking them in your containers, one wet ball, one dry ball and keep mashing them into your small pocket containers until they are full. Once you get the jar which the petroleum jelly came in down to about half full, start stuffing cotton balls into that, mashing and mixing them up until all are saturated and you have either filled the can or used your whole bag of cotton balls.

*If you have not done this prep beforehand and find yourself in need of a fire*, you should have plain cotton balls and Vaseline in your first aid kit! Grab a cotton ball and apply a dab of Vaseline about the size of a Jellybean, and work it well into the cotton ball.

*Get your match-stick, pencil size, finger size and broomstick kindling ready.* Scrape a forearm-sized trench in the dirt with your digging stick or entrenching tool. I like to do this about 5 ft. in front of a log-wall reflector, leanto or V2 shelter. Build a small tipi of matchstick and pencil kindling in the trench, protected from the wind. Lay two pieces of brookstick kindling across the trench in front and in behind, but not quite touching your kindling tipi.

*Take one infused cotton ball, and fluff it up by pulling it apart.* Stick the fluffed cotton ball on the end of a long stick, the point of your K-Bar or entrenching tool. Lay the stick and ball on the ground close to, but not IN the trench. Hold your Sparklite tool, empty BIC lighter or Zippo about 1/4 inch from the cotton ball, strike a spark and the ball will light. Shield the burning cotton ball from the wind with your hand as you move it under your match-stick tipi with the point of your K-Bar or stick. Start laying more pencil and finger sized kindling in a loose lattice across the broomstick kindling, but not touching your tipi, which should be burning nicely now.

*Blow gently down the trench to help the fire along.* Add more small sticks as the ones you have start burning well, but keep the lattice loose so that the flames reach as much surface area as possible, and the fire can draw air. Don't pile on too much wood, too fast. Sit back and enjoy the warmth.


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## NaeKid

I build fire-starters at home. I use brown paper bags, twine, wooden matches, wood sticks, and paraffin wax. They are nicknamed "bon-bons" - french word for candies.

What I do is take old candles and fresh parafin wax (purchase in the canning department in the grocery store) and drop them into a double-boiler. I warm up the wax till it is soft enough to coat the bon-bons.

While that is warming, I will pick-out the left over wicks from the old candles and place them on a piece of wax-paper (just because its easy to work with).

I will take twine (hemp-rope, cotton rope, natural fiber rope thin strand rope works best) and small pieces of shaved parafin wax, the matches, torn pieces of paper and tie it all together. I will also take the pieces of the wicks and tie that in as well.

Holding onto a length of the twine, I will dip the whole bon-bon into the pot of wax and then place it onto the wax-paper to cool.

The bon-bons can be lit via the matches on a striker or via a lighter to the wick or twine. It will stay lit long enough to dry out wet tinder (I like to use pine-cones, old-man's beard, pine-needles, etc) and allow the thicker pieces of wood to get going.

Depending on the kind of fire that I need, I may build a top-down fire (light it on top and it burns down to bigger pieces of wood stacked at the bottom) for a long-lasting fire - or - I will build a small cooking fire to work with my dutch-ovens (fire on the lid and fire under the base), or, I will build a bon-fire so that many friends can be warm while having a drink or two sharing stories till late in the night.

One of my favorite tricks to starting a fire is to use a cardboard box, pile kindling inside and on top - pile small and medium sized chunks on that - then light the box with a lighter. Perfect for starting a camp-fire - use the box that the beer cans came in.


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## JeepHammer

I used cotton/petroleum grease when I was young, probably picked it up from grandpa...

I use the cotton/petroleum jelly now.
Just pop a 'Gob' (the technical measuring term!  ) of petroleum Jelly in a zip lock baggie, 
Stuff in a hand full of cotton balls, and kneed it until the cotton balls are 'Goopy' and you are done.
The zip lock bag makes a good dispenser for them.

I've been swimming with the bag in my pocket and it's not a problem since the petroleum jelly makes them 'Water Proof'.

Use a small 'Tin' like breath mints come in, and you can make yourself a personal 'Warmer' stove that is just as water proof. 
Lasts about 15 minutes with pretty good flames.

I switched to petroleum jelly from petroleum grease when I,
1. Started using synthetic grease for about everything,
2. Started cooking over the fire. 
Petroleum grease makes a lot of foul tasting smoke!



















Personal stove burner.










*THIS WORKS WELL EVEN WHEN YOUR HANDS ARE VERY COLD OR YOU CAN DO THIS ONE HANDED!*

*'FIRE' Only Turns Into A Survival Situation When You Are VERY COLD, or INJURED.*
Meaning you need to be able to get a fire started with frozen hands or one handed as if you were injured.

If you are just 'Chilly' or just trying to get a camp fire started, then not having a fire is an 'Inconvenience', not a 'Survival' situation.

If you are hurt or frozen, you rip open the cotton/petroleum jelly bag, and strike a spark...
Or if the situation is really desperate, LIGHT A FLAIR!
That much petroleum Jelly soaked cotton will get about anything started burning and will burn on it's own for more than 30 minutes.


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## CherokeeCat

NaeKid said:


> I build fire-starters at home. I use brown paper bags, twine, wooden matches, wood sticks, and paraffin wax. They are nicknamed "bon-bons" - french word for candies.
> 
> I will build a bon-fire so that many friends can be warm while having a drink or two sharing stories till late in the night.


So, technically, wouldn't that be a _bon-bon_ fire??? 

A picture of the bon-bons would be cool... Thanks!


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## NaeKid

CherokeeCat said:


> So, technically, wouldn't that be a _bon-bon_ fire???
> 
> A picture of the bon-bons would be cool... Thanks!


Ok .. just as requested.

I picked 4 different styles. Simple waxed matches tied with natural fiber rope on the far left, match-bundle waxed with natural fiber rope, bon-bon with matches and wax-chunks wrapped in brown-paper and natural fiber rope tied into a traditional bon-bon shape and finally a biggie with the whole inside filled with match-heads, wood slivers, wax-chunks and yarn dipped in liquid wax and then rolled with brown-paper and re-dipped in wax.

If you have access to a hobby-shop that has candle making supplies, you can use candle-wick as well as the natural fiber rope. I pick up twine from the looney-bins (Canadian dollar stores).

I get the wax from the grocery store in the home canning section or from melted down old candles or both.

The wood and wax is the key to the bon-bon. Anything burnable is a welcome addition to it.


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## CherokeeCat

Hey NaeKid-

Thanks for taking the time and trouble to post pics! Very cool.

This may be a dumb question but here goes...
how long does it take for the candle wick to burn down to the goodies inside? It almost looks like a fuse but I wouldn't think they burn that quickly.

Thanks again for the pics!


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## rainbowgardens

I"ll tell you about my first attempt at starting a fire.
My husband and I took the kids camping. When we arrived at the camp site we found that it had rained and was still drizzling. Being the clueless people we were back then, we had planned on cooking all of our meals in the fire using tin foil packets. Well, we had no dry wood and no other way to cook.
My husband said we would just have to go home. Well I wasn't ready to give up yet, (I am the stubborn one!) While my husband and the kids sat in the car, I went around gathering what I could find to start a fire. Since I didn't know what to do I failed at each attempt. My husband took pity on me, (I was crying,) and said we could drive somewhere and buy some dry firewood. Yea!! The clouds rolled away and we had a great camping trip.
We have both come a long way since then!


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## Homer_Simpson

One picture shows the set up that is carried in our packs, thanks to a friend at another site that put the kits together. They contain small sections of rope, flint and a steel striker, and char-cloth. 

The idea is to make the rope into a nest and then wrap the char-cloth in the bundle, the char-cloth will hold a spark after a few hits of the flint. A little blowing on it and it bursts into flames so have your tinder ready to go.

This entire package was dunked in a tank of water for 20 minutes, taken out shaken off and worked like a charm. Even the youngest of kids find it easy to use. Along with carrying the above we also carry the Swedish Fire Steel in our pockets.


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## NaeKid

CherokeeCat said:


> Hey NaeKid-
> 
> Thanks for taking the time and trouble to post pics! Very cool.
> 
> This may be a dumb question but here goes...
> how long does it take for the candle wick to burn down to the goodies inside? It almost looks like a fuse but I wouldn't think they burn that quickly.
> 
> Thanks again for the pics!


The length of the string on one of them was so that the kiddie wouldn't get too close to the hot-wax. You can make the string as long or as short as you would like to make it. The goodies are really on the inside of the package. It is the wax that burns not the wick.

In the simplest terms, a candle uses the wick to pull the molten wax up for burning, the wick itself only chars down slowly. What you are building with the bon-bons is a "high-powered" candle with lots of extra burning goodies in it so that when a fire needs to be started, you can keep the flame going till wet wood is dry. Depending on the size and style of bon-bon, you can have a minute or two of fire from it (like the one in the picture on the far left) to 20 - 30 minutes of burning with the bon-bon on the far right.

The more wax-chunks and wood slivers and match-sticks that you can put into it, the longer it will go. Another good thing to put into the bon-bon is saw-dust - it burns slightly faster than a match-stick - and - I believe it can be hotter.

Play with the ingredients till you are happy with several styles - always remembering that you want to balance hot burning elements with long burning elements in each one.


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## dixie6

*Fire starting*

I`m new here,but if nobody has mentioned it yet,save your drier lint.Great tinder,a bagfull doesn`t weigh much.I watched the boy scouts start a fire with a 9 volt battery and steel wool.


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## JeepHammer

9 volt battery and steel wool you aren't likely to have unless you 'Plan' for making fire this way, and there are MUCH easier ways to get things going than steelwool...
........................

Dryer lint works GREAT for starting tinder.
I've seen guys rub a knife sideways on their pants to scratch up lint to make fires with, but dryer lint is free and works great.

The only draw back to dryer lint is it gets wet EASILY!
But if you can keep it dry, it takes off in a flash.
Burns pretty quickly, but good and hot.
------------------

While in the military, I use a flint and steel, and the vasoline/cotton as tender.

When I got smarter, I stopped using the flint and steel and started using a lighter to get it going!
No sense in doing it with the flint & steel if you don't have to!

Besides, as a military instructor pointed out,
You may have frozen hands, you may be injured and not have the use of both hands...

Something to consider!


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## NaeKid

Updated thread with a fresh-upload of the bon-bon picture. The server lost the pictures .. would be nice if all the other people would be able to relocate their pictures and re-upload again ..


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## mosquitomountainman

Started around ten. Still learning!


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## Expeditioner

Here is a nice little video on building a buddy burner. I learned to make these from my dad.






I alwasy try to carry at least three sources (usually four) of fire with me at all times. I have several firestarter kits that consist of matches, lighter, flint and steel, fresnal lens, petroleum balls (cotton smeared in vaseline) , and one buddy burner. Wet wood - make a fuzz stick....the little curls of wood increase surface area and will catch fire even when wet.

In a pinch I could use the old bow drill method but that does take some time especially in wet or windy conditions.

In addition to starting and building fires you need to know how to conceal them. Examples - Dakota fire pit, trench fire, etc.


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## pdx210

i carry a couple road flairs they work very well


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## buddyburnerbuilder

Buddy Burners work great for heat and light. They burn for two hours, can boil water and cook food. If you do not know how to make a buddy burner, but would like one, now you can buy them @ - B-Burner Basics


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