Whats in your fire Kit

[SimonM]

When camping with Scouts, I carry:

• Flint & Striker
• Char cloth
• Hemp
• Baccy pouch for local tinder
• Ferro rod on sheath

On my own:
All of the above (as it's on my belt)
+ a hand full of these...

When teaching Scouts, I have a tool box full of gear inc:

• chemicals
• matches
• bow drill set
• lighters
• candles
• Greenheat
• hemp
• garden jute twine
• etc etc

Simon

 

[bilmo-p5]

When camping with Scouts, I carry:

• Flint & Striker
• Char cloth
• Hemp
• Baccy pouch for local tinder
• Ferro rod on sheath

On my own:
All of the above (as it's on my belt)
+ a hand full of these...

When teaching Scouts, I have a tool box full of gear inc:

• chemicals
• matches
• bow drill set
• lighters
• candles
• Greenheat
• hemp
• garden jute twine
• etc etc

Simon

Be Prepared, eh?

That's the spirit!

 

[Frogo]

All I carry is matches and a lighter.

 

[calibanzwei]

Baccy tin,
Some wooden coffee stirrers (stick 'em in the trangia/meths, light the stick, put that in the trangia - I'm not a great shot with the firesteel )
Cotton wool
Vasiline
Lighter
Matches in waterproof spy capsule
Bit of innertube
Trusty Zippo is always in my back pocket.

 

[Graham_S]

My fire kit is spread out through the rest of my equipment.
In my main bush bag I have;
a ferro rod,
a bag of maya sticks,
cotton wool/vasaline in a 35mm tub,
A matchcase with friction matches and cotton wool with rubber on the outside,
A tinder pouch to collect tinder as and when I find it.

 

[3bears]

very lazy here.....


greenheat gel, and a turboflame!

 

[John Fenna]

At the moment I carry - hand forged steel (all my own work) flint, charcloth, various fungi backed up with a sparkstick on my knife sheath.
I dont know why I bother though as my current user knife will spark off the locally pleantyful quartzite!

 

[Bluemerle]

Ferro rod, cotton wool/vasaline,Bic lighters,Zippos. Also have some cramp balls but haven't used them beyond the garden yet.

 

[Wayland]

This is my traditional kit at the moment.

But an interesting thread on WinterTrekking started me thinking about times when a rapid fire could be really critical no matter what. For some of us that might just the result of taking an unplanned dive from a canoe, but the example given was falling through lake ice into freezing water. Getting a fire going very quickly could be a matter of life or death in such deep winter conditions.

Now I always have a waterproof matchcase as EDC on my body so that is one thing and usually if I'm outdoors I have a few other primary methods about my person too. It's the next stage that is often problematic, we can't always rely on dry natural kindling being available.

Taking a 2L. waterproof box as my starting point, I have now collected all my spare primary lighting methods such as Ferro rod, matches, lifeboat matches, gas lighter, flint and steel and packed them separately in ziplock bags. Next there are tinders such as charcloth, linen tow, Vaselined cotton balls, rubber strips, Tindercard and Wetfire.

The next stage is addressed with waxed brown firelighters in the box and a couple of waxed firelogs packed and wrapped separately.

With this set up I can produce a warming fire in about a minute or two under critical conditions that is hot enough to dry and ignite damp fuel in a relatively short time even after total immersion of all my equipment.

I had most of this stuff lying around anyway so I was fortunate to have no outlay involved. It's not body carry of course but it takes no great space on a canoe or a sled.

In normal camp use the box lives in the top of one of my fuel / canoe barrels and it is just useful to have a single package for all this stuff which is normally rattling about loose in my kit somewhere.

 

[Rumi]

..started me thinking about times when a rapid fire could be really critical no matter what..

I like your style with the whole kit carried, and for good reason. I do a little fun competition thing with a few of the ex students of mine which have become friends over the years. We usually meet at short notice in really bad weather and then the challenge is to strip fire kit down to nearly nothing.

I appreciate that in sub zero conditions survival may be critical on getting a good fire going, but so is mindset and not panicking. By practicing with smaller and smaller quantities of tinder and really pushing ourselves in practice sessions it is possible to build our skill levels to very high standards.

My favorite fire making method is flint and steel. But because I live in the S Midlands Formes Formentera (Amadou) is scarce and so I have to eek it out.. (Im not really into char cloth).. It is possible to get a spark into a piece of Amadou the size of a thumbnail and then extend it into some phellinus igniarius befor adding it to your brush.

 

[Rumi]

Otzi the man found in the glacier in the Italian Alps was carrying Formes Formentera and phellinus igniarius both of which the archaeologists think were part of his fire kit!

 

[The Big Lebowski]

Gentlemen, may I introduce you to.....


Thermite!

[video=youtube;b-QhHy2iDj4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-QhHy2iDj4[/video]

...bout as "bushcraft" as a ferro rod, but my goodness, does it get the job done. Ice cold, to mature fire in 30 seconds.

Hahaha! Gimme 0.5 seconds and I'll get the fire going

Awsome!

Regards, TBL.

 

[Martyn]

Hahaha! Gimme 0.5 seconds and I'll get the fire going

Awsome!

Regards, TBL.

A bit OTT perhaps, but it got the job done ...and it was fun.

We were late back to the campsite, it was cold, we were hungry and supper was venison stew we had cooked the night before in a dutch oven. We needed a good coal bed and this seemed the fastest way to get one. It consumed a lot of wood very quickly though, so not really an option unless you have plenty - and some thermite obviously.

Oh and before anyone shouts at me, it was a stone based firepit. No soil, grass or roots were harmed in the making of this video.

 

[Fin]

Looks like you've got most of the bases covered - as for my kit, here goes,

Principle firelighter is a blueflame torch lighter - a PB-10 or "littlebuddy" - carried in a pocket close to the body to keep it warm. A recent acquisition and rapidly becoming a favourite - it lights upside down without burning your fingers and lasts over two weeks on one fill - and unlike my previous favourite zippo, it won't empty itself through evaporation.

A lovely "dragon" steel and flint with jute cord in a leather pouch - which lives in a pouch in my pack. My last resort and needs a lot of patience to work but I get the same pleasure of owning it as Wayland does with his beautiful, traditional set. I've got a thing for traditional handmade craftsmanship - probably because I've got two left hands when it comes to that sort of thing.

A great little buffalo horn fire piston which I've had for years and works very well with tinder fungus and charcloth - this lives in the top pocket of my jacket. Another traditional item - 100% buffalo horn including the shaft and cord instead of rubber for the sealing ring.

Tinder box containing an assortment of vaseline soaked cotton wool (excellent), charcloth (messy but good), a few bits of old tinder fungus (used with the fire piston), bits of inner tube, tampons and I always take a small jar of vaseline with me - good for chapped lips as well as making new tinder.

Nine times out of ten I'm lazy and use the torch lighter - but once the fire is established and the billy's on, I do like to practice with the traditional stuff - there's something very satisfying in (eventually!) producing a flame from flint and steel.

The original post asked for advice so I'll pass on the advice I've always received from the various military survival courses I have attended over the last 25 years or so, and that is "Always carry more than one way of starting a fire (and a multipack of bic lighters qualifies) and don't keep them all in the same place - or in one container." Like Graham_S does - spread them about your person and your kit - that way you won't be stumped if you lose your pack/ jacket whatever. Finally, learn and practice the bow drill - when all else fails you can make fire with nowt but your knife and some cordage (bootlace?). I'm a recent learner of this method and it's not easy - but when you do produce fire, you'll feel like a kid at Christmas!

Fin

PS - forgot to add, I've also got a brass K&M match case - still full from the last time I filled it which means it's never been used for firelighting in 18 months - although the wee sunto compass in the lid did get used for a night navex in Arizona.

 

[Melonfish]

missed this first time round.
i've got the ubiquitous baccy tin loaded with a base of coffee stirrers, tealight candle, several strips of innertube, quite a few cotton wool face pads, LMF fire steel and a backup lighter.
looking at getting some fatwood in there soon, just need to find some.
oh and a packet of greenheat fuel gel. its organic and if its really cold and you're just in need of a good flame it does the trick takes a spark fine and packs very flat.
pete

 

[Oarsnpaddle]

A Sarome lighter in my pocket (I roll my own cigarettes, so a lighter on my person is crucial).

A small bag of cotton balls soaked in vaseline

A home made knife with a firesteel "attached" in the sheath.

several cheap lighters spread around, all of them packaged since i react to the plastic they're made from.

"extra" firesteel with striker, just because I have boat to carry it all, so an extra firesteel in case I loose my knife overboard.

In fact, I also have some dry thin split sticks to use, but I haven't actually been carrying them around yet. But when my sleeping bag arrives, they will be carried in my "frame" camp kitchen, along with the most of the other firestarting kit. This way I can simply pull out the "fire starter box-cum-utensil-drawer", and get started.

If I were to carry it all on my back, I'd forego most of the cotton balls, most of the lighters and most of the split twigs, as well as my camp kitchen, lol.




Oh, yeah, I forgot, I always carry lamp oil. I guess that could do very well on it's own with whatever cloth or wood I could find.

 

[Knightfisher8]

as A newbie im finding this thread really informative !! I cant work out what the inner tube is used for though ?

 

[Sabot]

as A newbie im finding this thread really informative !! I cant work out what the inner tube is used for though ?

The rubber inner tube will light and burn well even when wet so it makes a reliable fire lighter in the wettest conditions using matches or a lighter when all else fails. It goes a long way too.

On another note, for a complete breakdown on my fire kit that I described earlier, check my blog (link in sig).

 

[Wayland]

as A newbie im finding this thread really informative !! I cant work out what the inner tube is used for though ?

Yep.. It's a bit smelly but it's a good reliable fire lighter and it also makes really good rubber bands too.

My 2L box is wrapped with a couple which make an extra guard against it coming open by accident but can also be used as secondary kindling in a pinch.

The only danger is not being able to remove them with frozen fingers but I hope I would still have access to at least one cutting tool if it really hits the fan

 

[forrestdweller]

This is my traditional kit at the moment.

But an interesting thread on WinterTrekking started me thinking about times when a rapid fire could be really critical no matter what. For some of us that might just the result of taking an unplanned dive from a canoe, but the example given was falling through lake ice into freezing water. Getting a fire going very quickly could be a matter of life or death in such deep winter conditions.

Now I always have a waterproof matchcase as EDC on my body so that is one thing and usually if I'm outdoors I have a few other primary methods about my person too. It's the next stage that is often problematic, we can't always rely on dry natural kindling being available.

Taking a 2L. waterproof box as my starting point, I have now collected all my spare primary lighting methods such as Ferro rod, matches, lifeboat matches, gas lighter, flint and steel and packed them separately in ziplock bags. Next there are tinders such as charcloth, linen tow, Vaselined cotton balls, rubber strips, Tindercard and Wetfire.

The next stage is addressed with waxed brown firelighters in the box and a couple of waxed firelogs packed and wrapped separately.

With this set up I can produce a warming fire in about a minute or two under critical conditions that is hot enough to dry and ignite damp fuel in a relatively short time even after total immersion of all my equipment.

I had most of this stuff lying around anyway so I was fortunate to have no outlay involved. It's not body carry of course but it takes no great space on a canoe or a sled.

In normal camp use the box lives in the top of one of my fuel / canoe barrels and it is just useful to have a single package for all this stuff which is normally rattling about loose in my kit somewhere.

stupid question(s): what's that little container left side bottom made from and what are the contents?
and what's that object right side bottom - some sort of fire steel?