new to firelighting

[dinky_doo]

hello
for my sins i've become a leader at my local cub scout pack i've only been doing it for a year there or abouts. now im trying to get thm into lighting fires sowhen we camp they can do some outdoor cooking.
can anybody give me a few tips or tricks to get us started.
i have a little basic knowledge but not much
any help would be great

 

[Mang]

Start with a Ferro rod and cotton wool, cotton wool with vaseline on and then natural tinder like Cat Tail seed, Thistle down and Silver Birch bark. Many will be eager but I've found that some Cubs fear getting sparks on their fingers.

 

[Ogri the trog]

First, arm yourself with the basic scientific knowledge of whats going on, A read through British Reds Science of Fire thread is a good starter.
The rest is just playing to see what works and what doesn't.
For cubs, they'll enjoy making sparks with a ferro rod and these can be used to ignite cotton wool, cotton wool with vaseline to make it burn longer, and then progress onto actually lighting a fire, taking it in turns to light the cooking fire at camps and so on.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[Wallenstein]

Try to find some old pallets to burn - the soft wood catches really easily and gives a nice satisfying blaze, you wouldn't use it in the wild for cooking but it does mean you can get a fire set and lit within the meeting times!

Use a sledge hammer on the pallets and you get a nice range of pieces of wood, so they can gather kindling etc and then chuck bigger bits on once the fire has caught.

Ferro rods and cotton wool with a dab of vaseline are v. easy to light, and matches are also worth using as practice.

 

[screeching owl]

Tinder wise I think Cotton wool is a good starter and its not cheating because should you be lucky enough to find some old mans beard which looks similar to cotton wool this will go just as well (if not better). By the way carbon steel blades cast a better spark in my opinion. Some tree barks will take a spark even when wet (Iv done this with western red ceder often). I like cramp ball (King Alfred's Cake) as its easy to find all year round.

 

[British Red]

, A read through British Reds Science of Fire thread is a good starter.

Thanks mate - happy for it to be reproduced for cubs & scouts if thats any help?

Red

 

[dinky_doo]

just read the "science of fire" thread a very good read will beptting a lot of it into practice at the weekend
thanks for the replys