Come on Baby Light My Fire!

[memaquay]

I've been greatly entertained by all the knife talk going on, so I thought I would try to come up with a topic that might be just as contentious. That knife thread also got me to part with some cash, and I'm thinking this one might as well.

So how does everyone deal with lighting fires on canoe trips? I'm thinking camp fire lighting and stove/cooking utensil lighting.

Here's what I use. I take a small can of fluid for fill ups and some spare flints. It never lets me down, even after soaking it when trudging through swamps. I like it because I don't have to hold anything down to keep the flame going, which means I can put the flame where I want it. The pink one is my wife's.



I also have one of those magnesium scraper thingy's, but that's for an emergency, or if i take a white gas stove, I use that to light it.

As far as lighting fires, i don't take any aids. There is lots of birchbark in our area, as soon as I see some, I stash it. There is also the dry moss that hangs off trees that lights up real good. Usually I will make a tinder pack of birchbark, moss and small twigs, then crisscross my kindling over top. I don't think I have ever been stumped getting a fire going.

So what does everyone else use/do?

 

[red langford]

I have a tried and true non match method and which is tree moss, balsam gum and magnesium scraper, but failing that I just use a single match. Birch bark is awesome tinder and works best for me. Dried spruces branches, the really really fine ones also work well.

I tend to make a teepee formation with the kindling and then continue to add larger pieces as the fire progresses.

As proud as I am at my fire-making ability in the summer, I do struggle in the winter to get a good fire going. I'm working on it.

 

[Iskweo]

Me three on the birch bark and moss. I usually have a pack of matches in a plastic match bottle to keep them dry. I also take a BBQ lighter for the stove and that is handy if its not raining.
I had been thinking of a zippo too just cuz they are so old school and neat.I actually have one of the old hand warmers.

I am wanting to use a flint and stiker more. I take one and use it to get the Hoopamatic lit...the waxed jute rope in the piece of brake tube. That is a killer good no match solution.

Christy

 

[Iskweo]

No Title

These are the two items that I was talking about. I have not tried the hand warmer yet but back in the day everyone had them. Just like they all had zippos.

 

[Momentum]

Yes to the Zippo on both counts. I have the same silver lighter as Mem, and one of the new Zippo hand warmers. Both work really well

As far as fire's go, I use the standard small twigs, pine needles, birch bark, etc and then build from there. I also use those little pellets that are for wood burning stoves. They don't light immediately, but boy do they ramp up once they get going. I keep some in a water proof container for those times when things are a little damp.

I remember when I was a kid scouter, one of our badges had to do with making fires and of course the safety aspect of it. To prove that we passed it, our leader had us make a fire in the snow, and then cook a grilled cheese sandwich on an overturned extra large coffee can. I think that may have been the best sandwich I have ever eaten.

 

[Alan Gage]

I stop at a convenience store somewhere along the way and pick up two or three cheap bic lighters. One usually lives in my pocket and the others get stashed somewhere in my gear. I don't think I've ever needed more than the one in my pocket.

I carry a few of those Swedish fire steels as well and, like you, it really only gets used to light the white gas stove.

Every pack I own has a small zippered bag with some matches in a water proof tube, a fire steel, small folding knife, band aids, tweezers and nail clippers so since I usually have at least two packs along there's always extra matches should something happen to the lighters.

I saw part of a Kevin Callan video once where he was talking about wilderness survival and how he didn't like the term or that method of tripping. He said people ask him how he starts a fire without matches/lighters in a survival situation and his response was something along the lines of, "I've got a dozen lighters stashed in all my gear, it's not a problem!" His thought was you should be out there trying to live with the wilderness, not survive it. Made me feel better about not knowing how to light a fire by rubbing two sticks together.

Alan

 

[Alan Gage]

As far as fire starting aids I usually bring along a few egg carton cups filled with sawdust and wax. I rarely ever use them but figure that if for some reason I needed to make a fire in a hurry and everything was wet they might come in handy.

Alan

 

[Philtrum]

Stormproof matches: don't leave home without 'em.
http://www.amazon.com/UCO-Stormproof-Matches-Waterproof-Windproof/dp/B00345OMR0

 

[oldie moldy]

Fire starting? Nothing very fancy for me, I cut plenty of kindling and also some slightly larger pieces just so I don't run out while getting the fire going. I'll carve some curled bits up from a stick to trap and hold the vaseline/cotton ball. Then build a kinda of tepee around that. If I'm using my spark making rod thing, I've found it useful to hold the striker still and snatch the rod out from under it. When I move the striker it's all too easy to "bonk" the tepee and knock everything over.

I do like that sparking rod thing but find that the sparks are so hot that they will etch into the metal of my stoves, I know it's cheating but for the stoves I use one of those long nose Bic lighters.

Best Wishes, Rob

 

[sweeper]

The majority of the time we use Chaga with steel and Ferro Rod. Since finding Chaga the younger members on the trip usually make fire starting into a contest.

 

[Robin]

Bic Lighters here, stash one in my pack, one in my zip lock bag of birch bark in my cargo pocket of my pants. If I bring some Swisher Sweets Perfectos, then one stays in my pocket for those moments on the trail when a few puffs are called for.

 

[snapper]

Sounds like I'm going to fit in with most of the group. I'm a firm believer in birch bark and making fuzz sticks as needed when I can't find a lot of small thin starter material. It's funny, I teach about the dryer lint w/ petroleum jelly trick but have never used it myself. I prefer to have lots of BIC lighters stashed throughout my gear and in my pocket so I don't have to worry about finding a sparking method to get things started.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...Be well.

snapper

 

[scoutergriz]

I don't really carry a lot of fire starting material with me. I'll have a Bic or two in my pockets for stove and smoke lighting. and some Ucco matches scattered through my gear for emergencies. Other than that, I just use what I find as I go, birch or cedar flutters, milkweed, old man's beard, crushed grasses, leaves or needles, or even lint scraped from the seams in my pockets. I've always found dry tinder. Even after an all week rain I just look at the base of big evergreens.

 

[DuctTape]

I carry matches and a bic lighter. I also have a small bag of birch bark which I use/refill on trips. Like others, birch bark, fuzz sticks, hairthin twigs from spruce or hemlock then build from there. Lighting fires with a single match has always been fun for me starting as a kid. It cintinues to this day.

 

[ppine]

The new PFDs often have zippered pockets. I carry a magnesium starter with a short piece of hacksaw blade and a bic lighter. Usually in the West starting fires is pretty easy. During spring trips it can be rainy and then tinder becomes important. I like cottonballs in Vaseline. Usually there is some paper in the trash. An axe can be helpful in finding dry wood.

 

[Guest]

As a primitive living history guy, flint and steel, charcloth, tow is uncontested. Modern?-bik lighters-lots of them-in every pack and pocket-no contest there either. Other methods(fire piston,bow drill, mag shavings ect are fun to play with. As for after fire is struck, modern I use the egg carton, sawdist, wax method, or primitive-birchbark and birdsnest fuzz stick. I once walked beside a man at rendezvous that lit his pipe with a flint and steel while walking and keeping up a conversation. I was impressed!
turtle

 

[Iskweo]

Well that looks like a deserving moment Robin.

 

[APPaul]

Stormproof matches: don't leave home without 'em.
http://www.amazon.com/UCO-Stormproof-Matches-Waterproof-Windproof/dp/B00345OMR0

Same. UCO matches are the best thing I have found to spark the fire. They burn like a flare for about 5 seconds. I also carry a hunter orange zippo (easy to see), and there are always Bic lighters stashed in various pockets and pouches.

To get the fire going though, I usually just use small twigs and birch bark. Sometimes my wife carries a cheap book and everyday she just rips off what she's read, or I rip out what I have read in the magazines I bring, if not much of our food is wrapped in wax paper and painters tape. During shoulder seasons I make the egg carton/wax/lint starters.

 

[Odyssey]

Gathering scraps of birch bark along the trail is easy where I travel. I rely on it, and usually start a trip with a pocketful from home. I have a birch in the yard that keeps me supplied. It's a tremendous fire starter but I was shown a superb starter this past summer when Memequay demonstrated the amazing flammable properties of scruffy little branches of Black Spruce (?).
I suppose it is laziness that I packed a couple butane BBQ lighters. Just like BIC lighters but with long nozzles for reaching into the twig stove, camp stove or wood pile. Halfway into the trip I discovered the nozzles had snapped rendering them useless. Being a group trip there were plenty of people with plenty of fire starters around. Early one morning I felt desperate for a hot cup of coffee, and with no-one yet stirring I decided to dig out my ferro rod. Then I remembered the small pump spray bottle of bug spray in my jacket pocket. Boy that stuff is easily lit! Just a couple squirts on some tinder and a few hot sparks and you've got a nice flame. Squirt-scratch-spark may become my go to method from now on.

 

[Mihun09]

On our last trip we set upon some downed birch trees and with knives in hand, stripped them puppies bare. Came home with a garbage bag full for our new business, bark in a bag! We cut up little squares of birch bark, put em in little paper bags and sell them as fire starters to yuppie campers.

Should start up a crowdfunding site to git'er going.