DIY live fire emergency fire starter

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Hammock_man

Full Member
May 15, 2008
1,450
526
kent
Janne, sir, you raise some good points regarding "What is the emergency".
( From your Tea comment I will assume you are a coffee drinker and know nothing of the soul eating, mind numbing pain of not having had a cuppa for the last hour and being unable to raise the temperature of your water!!!!)

For me, its about how I have ended up in this emergency. I am not going on a 15 mile hike with just a half finished bottle of Iron Bru. I would not go out in mid winter in shorts, no matter how nice it looks first thing in the morning. If there is a chance, then take a cure. I am thinking "For the life of me, none of this wood is making a workable feather stick, my attempts at a bow drill just hurt my hands, some one loaned my lighter and walked off with it, I picked up the wrong billy can this morning and left my Hexi blocks at home, its the first wood I have been in that has no birch bark but I can still get a fire going with this".
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
Of course it is. They appear to be little 60 second flares but the time units are omitted in the spec sheet.
I'm not dumb enough to use one to melt a pot of snow, either. Emergency only.

Another 15cm new in the night and white-out conditions mid-day on the highway. Small consolation to be 100' down in a ditch.
Yes. Then. Day or night, I use my flares. Four left x 10 minutes.
 

Idleknight

Forager
Aug 14, 2013
245
0
United Kingdom, Near Hinckley
@Janne emergency is part of the brand name of the item I am trying to copy, its also debatable how much of an emergency item it is.
@Hammock_man I will experiment with some different mixtures in the tin :) will either forget to do it, or be posting next week :)

Flares sound good, they are always useful in movies :)
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
Here's an international bushcraft question:
In a real emergency in an isolated location, how many signal fires do you light and in what arrangement pattern?
 

KenThis

Full Member
Jun 14, 2016
825
121
Cardiff
If it were me, off the top of my head, on a shoreline for boats I think I would set up 3 dots then 3 dashes and then 3 dots. Or just 3 big pyres.
In a more mountainous area in forest where you're more likely to be seen from above I think I'd try and organise an X arrangement.

I'm off to try to find out the recommended arrangements.
 

kimba

Forager
May 23, 2009
154
1
England
I read the thread went to amazon bought the little tins, arrived today mixed tumble dryer lint with chafing gel and some tea light wax, tested them five times using only a firesteel to light them, first light I did five mins then each other 2 mins each time they lit near on first time and they have lots of life it seems left per unit so yeh works a treat.


One on the left has wax added, other just chafing gel/lint

2cnfi4w.jpg
 

kimba

Forager
May 23, 2009
154
1
England
Notwithstanding all I have said on this thread, that does look a neat set up.

The one with the wax has a very aggressive burn, I think I will try make a cup of tea tomorrow with it, before the weekend's over I will have a burn time see if it can match the livefire of 27 mins, another thing to check will it dry out.

These are maybe 50p max to make not including the tin I paid £6 for five tins but they are reusable so won't cost that.
 

kimba

Forager
May 23, 2009
154
1
England
Are they not designed to get a bigger fire going, rather than be the fire itself?

I think the idea is to view them as a tinder but because the flame was so aggressive in the tin with the added wax I feel it could boil a small kettle or cup, that's why I said I will test see if I can get a cup of tea, because as KenThis said why not.

I have just lit them both today and both did light so the gel has not dried out, which is quite surprising, I used a lighter though not tried firesteel.
 

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