Out in the cold and damp...Fire starting

[lostplanet]

I don't have much experience of starting fires, so I thought I would give it a try whilst Out today in cold misty woods, most of everything on the ground was wet, I found a good amount of birch bark, some old mans beard(damp) and some twigs from pine trees A few birch sticks carved into firestick sort of shapes and shavings (bit damp).

I cleared a small patch 1ft by 1ft to earth and laid down some inch diameter sticks as a platform and laid the birch bark and beard down and had a go at trying to get it lit with a clipper lighter.

I managed to get it lit for a bit but eventually it smoldered out as I think the only thing burning was the birch bark.

I think the platform of birch was sapping the energy from the small flames that did light.

My question is in this type of scenario where everything is cold, damp and or wet what do we do to get a good fire going with limited resources only coming from 'on site'?

 

[Dangerous Dan]

You seem to be along the right lines there, you could try stashing a few components in your pockets half an hour so before you use them - longer if you can. You'll be surprised how quickly they'll dry out.

Once you get it going, place a good couple of handfulls of fine twigs on top - you need to keep that heat in and feed the fire carefully until it gets strong enough to look after itself. Don't be afraid of adding too much, just keep it fine and gradually build up thickness as the fire grows

 

[dogwood]

Look for upright dead trees, in other words trees that aren't on the ground.

Unless you've had many, many days of sustained rainfall, you can almost always split a dead down to find dry wood that can then be made into feather sticks to get things started and fuel to keep things going.

 

[bushyboo]

try splitting some thicker branch's the wood should be dry inside and should catch light easier

Gordon

 

[rik_uk3]

You need to carry a firelighter with extended burn time such as strips of rubber from an old bike tyre and these will light even when wet. Don't be ashamed to carry things like BBQ lighter blocks because at the end of the day if you want a fire you need to be able to light it; trust me I've seen members of this forum use such fire lighting aids.

In most of the UK you can do without a fire on a day trip, (take a thermos) but for an overnighter/weekend its foolish IMHO not to have a backup stove to make a hot brew and food.

Remember, more people go four season hiking/hill walking/climbing in the UK than 'bushcrafters' and survive just fine without a fire.

 

[Firebringer]

One trick I used on a recent survival course was to use a bit of one of my cotton socks as tinder. Basically cut a smallish strip off the top of one sock and used that as tinder for the firesteel. Even uncharred it lights pretty well. Obvious issue is of course it wasn't smart to wear cotton but on this occassion was an advantage.

Admittedly after a few enthusiastic tries on seperate occassions I'd reduced one sock to more like a trainer liner but caught the spark well.

 

[stevesteve]

Try looking for something like a larch tree. The dead lower twigs are usually well protected by the upper live branches. A couple bunches that fill the hand will get a good crackle on.

Firebringer's cotton sock trick reminds me of Wilfred Thesiger's description of travelling with arab companions in the deep desert. They wore cotton shirts and lit it by striking sparks off their carbon steel daggers. They used small frayed pieces of their shirts as tinder and as the trip wore on their shirts became shorter and more threadbare!

Cheers,
Steve

 

[John Fenna]

Conifer resin works a treat as a fire lighter!

 

[Shewie]

Some good suggestions already and it's always handy to carry a dry tinder pouch for such occasions. Splitting down a dead standing branch about wrist thick into pencil like pieces will let you carve some nice tight feathersticks that will take a spark.

Another one to try is to use a small candle and build a fire of small kindling around it in a pyramid shape, cover the whole thing in large pieces of bark like sycamore and light the candle. The cover acts like an oven and the wet kindling soon dries and lights, add a few more fine sticks and then start to increase the thickness.

 

[Porcupine]

standing dead wood combined with birchbark should normaly be enough.

the mistake i made most often is not harvesting enough bark and small wood to get the fire started.

rule of thumb, get what you think you need and then double that.

 

[armie]

Try looking for something like a larch tree.
Cheers,
Steve

Yes, that'll work - I usually recognize them from quite a long way away.

 

[BushcraftBaird112]

One good tip I know to help you is to make a platform of sticks under your tinder. Doing this will help give air to the flame, keep your fire off the wet ground and then later form a good bed of hot embers.

 

[JDO330]

What about if its raining hard, how would you shelter the fire?

Also, (and this might sound stupid) if I use birch bark from a fallen dead tree, which part of the bark should I be looking for (ie, sides, top, bottom)? Again, on the basis its wet out. Hope that makes sense?

ATB, Jon.

 

[Graham_S]

I've pitched a tarp/poncho over a fire before, to get it established.
Isolating it from the ground is important though.
A good supply of tinder/wood is important as you'll need both of each in larger quantities than normal.
I use larger wood than normal and split it down, stripping off bark first.
Also if I can find any pine resin, I load it into the fire to add heat

 

[Shewie]

What about if its raining hard, how would you shelter the fire?

Also, (and this might sound stupid) if I use birch bark from a fallen dead tree, which part of the bark should I be looking for (ie, sides, top, bottom)? Again, on the basis its wet out. Hope that makes sense?

ATB, Jon.

On a really wet trip to the west coast of Scotland a couple of years ago, the only way we could a fire to take was to pitch a tarp over the top. We split down sodden pine logs until we reached the dryer wood inside and then split that down again, a combination of feathersticks, inner tube and a bic lighter did the trick.
Once it was established we stacked the wet wood around the outside in a traditional teepee fashion which uses a lot of fuel but drys it out quickly. Stacking up wood around the firepit aswell to act as small reflectors also helps to dry it out.

 

[dwardo]

I think the main key is lots and lots of kindling!
It seems over kill to have to find two large bundles of kindling but it does pay off. You can either spend the time playing about with the fire to get it going or spend the time getting more kindling. Once the fire is hot enough i find i can just stack up the damp stuff on top of the fire to dry out. Yes its smokey for the first ten minutes but it soon dries out and burns clear.

Splitting wood and taking the worst of the bark off also helps to reduce smoke. Making a rough and ready fire screen also helps to dry wood out and keep you warm.

 

[bushscout1]

What about if its raining hard, how would you shelter the fire?

Also, (and this might sound stupid) if I use birch bark from a fallen dead tree, which part of the bark should I be looking for (ie, sides, top, bottom)? Again, on the basis its wet out. Hope that makes sense?

ATB, Jon.

A few years back I was fortunate enough to spend a day with Ray Mears. However, it turned out to be one of the wettest days I've ever known - not entirely due to rain, but combined with a rapid thawing and resulting melt water from heavy snow.

Anyway, one of the tasks he set us at lunch time was to light fire using a firesteel, which at first seemed like a tame task until we'd spent a good 30 minutes trying to light one with no success.

To answer your query regarding the collection of birch bark, Ray collected some on the walk in the morning which he later (around 30 minutes - 1 hour) used to light his fire. He collected it from the top / side of a fallen log and as previously mentioned put it in his pocket to dry out. (Birch bark is good for lighting fires due to it containing a lot of oil - hence it doesn't absorb water like wood normally does. This also means that it doesn't rot as quickly as wood does, so it is still usable if collected from rotten birch logs.)

As far as cover was concerned, RM advised that we constructed our fires under the natural cover of a convenient tree (as we weren't making massive fires). It was also suggested that once you have established a fire, it is easier to move the fire by carrying a few burning logs.

As previously stated, the use of a platform to raise the fire off the ground serves to address a number of issues, namely lifting the fire off wet ground, insulating the fire from cold ground, and allows better air flow.

As Dwardo stated it is certainly more efficient to collect plenty of fine kindling than it is to keep trying to build a fire with limited resources. Again, our friend the birch tree is a fantastic provider of suitable material for this - the fine twigs are the perfect size at this time of year (having shed their leaves) - this is also a good resource due to the large surface area & therefore oil rich bark.

RM stated at the end of the day that if we could light fire in such difficult circumstances as we had that day, then we should be able to in most conditions. Respect indeed.

 

[lostplanet]

Thanks All for the Tips and advice, I will be looking forward to a wet day to try a few different ways out.

 

[fireman sam]

A good friend of mine has been working on how to make a fire in the field on a rainy day using a hand drill. Not a pre seasoned hand drill but one prepared that instant out in the wet. Here's how he does it, on a wet wintry and blustery day in the Midlands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEOZ5g_vTcw

 

[bandel4]

Not sure if this would help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWKvXkiSsdo

How the Penans in the interior of Borneo keeps their jungle fire going.