Out in the cold and damp...Fire starting

[fergus77]

We learned a great trick at a course a few months back.

Get 2 wrist thick logs and set them as a point facing into any wind or breeze. have the ground cleared in the centre of this and then start collecting twigs. Anything which is on the ground is fair game but try and get the small dead beach twigs laying around the bottom of the trees. Build up a platform, a good platform of small twigs and then using a candle, we used a tea light, stick this in underneath the platform and start heating and base of the twigs. As the twigs heat they'll dry out and eventually catch light.

We used this method and lite some fires with the wettest of material in the rain, i couldn't believe it worked so well.

Failing that as somebody has mentioned, split down a knot free log and shave feather sticks. Works a treat and you can light really thin shavings with your fire steel. Tried and tested both methods and they do work.

Hope this helps

 

[Ekdog]

Great thread! Hope I can remember some of these tips the next time I'm out in the woods on a rainy day. I'm a touring cyclist, and I'm always looking for ways to use old inner tubes. I cut them up into rubber bands, which are stronger and longer lasting than the commercially available ones. Using them as fire starters is a hell of a good idea.

By the way, what do you think of the self-feeding fire?

 

[Melonfish]

Lots of very good tips there, i don't half fancy testing my firelighting skills out in the snow i'll tell you now

 

[Omegarod]

Yesterday I had the chance to put all these suggestions to the test. My son and I stopped for a while in a deep tree shaded valley near a stream. Just below us downstream was a small frozen lake. Temperature was just about freezing point. The air was still, extremely damp and DEAD. I have rarely experienced such dead air.

The ground was damp, everything in sight was damp. Along the walk I had gathered a pocketful of birch bark. Now, everyone knows that lighting a fire under a Kelly Kettle is dead easy.... right? After all, you only need a few little twigs to bring it to the boil.....

I found that there was absolutely no problem in getting the birch bark to light. But getting even the finest twigs to take hold was ..... impossible. I first tried those tiny snappy twigs from the lower part of pine trees. No go! I tried splitting a 5" log and then making twiglets from the centre.... no go. I even tried making feather sticks from the centre of that log. I resorted to my little film can of cotton wool balls soaked in vaseline when the birch bark ran out. Even those burned with a tiny dull flame, and certainly not well enough to get twigs burning. Putting the chimney on the Kelly Kettle hardly made a difference to the draw.

Everything, including the air, was damp, dank and dead. I just put the failure down to the extremely high humidity of the cold air down in that valley. Wet air doesn't aid burning. I failed.

We drank a little cold water, and then headed out of the valley, uphill to one of the ridges in the forest, collecting a little more birch bark along the way.... brewed up and had a very welcome mug of tea each.

Rod

 

[Hugo]

Loads of good advice here.
I use Jute garden string soaked in candle wax for tinder, it keeps well and is very easy to light with a firesteel if you pull the string apart to make the end frayed looking.
Then plenty of dry tinder that you have in your pockets.
I placed some of this jute string soaked in wax then dried and then left it in my pond.
Now the ice has gone, I'm going to try and light some of it with my firesteel tomorrow.
Hope it works.

 

[Grayfox]

I'm new to bushcraft, although I did a lot of backpacking and climbing in my younger days. I'm just very attracted to minimalism.

I bought a honey stove a couple of weeks ago and went out today on the fells above Bowland to try and use it using only:
honey stove
maya dust
knife
firesteel
twigs

I learned two things:
1 it's a lot harder than I thought,
2 it's very easy to skin your knuckles using a firesteel

I ate my bread, humus olives and cheese washed down with COLD water not hot tea, and admired the the view of Ingleborough, Penyghent Whernside and the Howgills.

This thread has been very reassuring as I was beginning to think I was just an idiot. I will persevere.

 

[Adze]

I'm new to bushcraft, although I did a lot of backpacking and climbing in my younger days. I'm just very attracted to minimalism.

Do you carry a basic first aid kit? Cotton wool and vaseline isn't exactly 'natural tinder' but it'll light from a firesteel struck in the neighbouring county if the wind is right and it's a nice way to have something with you which serves two purposes.

 

[jackcbr]

Conifer resin works a treat as a fire lighter!

Hey John, I'm not that experienced at firelighting (please don't judge me, we've all got to start somewhere), can you elaborate on using Conifer resin. The wood I use doesn't have birch and I am often left struggling to get a fire going.

 

[Kim Bull]

As well as damp, perhaps something else to remember is that in the temperatures we've had in recent weeks our materials are starting so much colder, so more heat is required to raise the temperature enough to cause combustion.

In warmer conditions a few wisps of birch bark can generate enough heat to ignite match stick thickness twigs which in turn light little finger thick twigs etc. In cold weather we will almost certainly need more material and perhaps intermediate grades to allow enough heat to build to ignite the next grade up of kindling.

I know people have said they have tried pine/spruce twigs, and this choice can be important. Wetness and temperature aside, I have found that some woods light better and burn 'warmer' than others. We canoed down the Spey last winter, and night temperatures were -15C. We cooked on wood fires and often only have alder to burn which can be difficult to get to generate enough heat to cook over - it often just smouldered. Add some spruce or pine and the temperature goes up.
Best regards,
Kim

 

[pete79]

Never gather stuff that has been on the ground. Use standing dead to get it moving along. The dead lower limbs of conifers are ace for fire starting. Old mans beard which is dry is ace too, as are conifer needles from recent dead trees (the ones which have turned orange and yellow), they really take a flame nicely. I have found that the trick is to not scrimp on the small tinder. I gather masses of small dead twigs from the trees, and not on the ground. I start it with my birch bark, and then build up a heap of dead twigs on top. Pack the dead twigs tight, as the flame will not be strong if the weather is really cold (but leave space at the base for air to get in). Get your ember base going out of small stuff, and then feed the bigger stuff (again standing dead) on top of that (but do it gradually, don't move straight from tinder to huge logs). Works for me, in cold weather. Snow under the fire will hamper your efforts, but it isn't impossible to get a good fire going straight on top of snow (when I ice fish, I build a fire on top of the river ice, and it'll still burn).

 

[sprucegoose01]

This is a good vid for starting fires in damp/wet conditions in pine forests.

Bushcraft and Survival

 

[creepers]

hi...
my name is Markus...and i'm new on this forum....
i'm 42 years old and living in Belgium...
fire in a wet forrest...well this is how i do it...

http://www.peekaboo.be/fire_II.wmv

kind regards
Markus

 

[Miyagi]

hi...
my name is Markus...and i'm new on this forum....
i'm 42 years old and living in Belgium...
fire in a wet forrest...well this is how i do it...

http://www.peekaboo.be/fire_II.wmv

kind regards
Markus

Welcome to the site Markus.

That short film showed genius in it's simplicity. Very inspirational.

Thank you and all the best,

Liam

 

[TeeDee]

Hello Markus , Excellent P.O.V Video work there , I hope you'll do many more.

Welcome to the Forum.

 

[creepers]

thanks guys...

 

[jonajuna]

can i add the learning of the creation feather sticks/fuzz sticks

you need wood that isnt green but isnt "dry" dead, if when you break a stick it cracks and splinters but doesn't "easily" break all the way through, it should be good... see any green under the top bark, its no good

collect up some sticks, it soon becomes apparent what "grade" work well, too dry and you'll struggle to make the "fuzz" stay on as it will splinter off, green and it wont burn well

you dont cut the wood, more shave thin hairs off it, as you go rotate the stick from side to side, you soon get a rhythm, this way you get lots of fine fuzz rather than thicker, wider slivers of wood

then practice and practice. its not a high level skill for sure, but when all is wet, fuzz stick will be dry. it takes a few hours before you start to get the knack (unless you are a natural) but once you get them going well, you can knock loads out

good fuzz sticks will take a spark, and they will burn as well as the best kindling, albeit much more of a flash in the pan, but then you'll have bigger (and split for the dry innards) kindling at the ready any ways


e2a, birch bark is best from living trees as it will contain more turpentine oil then that gathered from dead. but from living trees only use your finger nails to peel the upper most flakey layers and dont "ring" the tree (ie take a ring from around the tree in the bark) as that is a sure fire way to kill a tree

 

[jocc]

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).?

This should help
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egG-4J1tTk8

 

[jimbob]

That's a fine bunch of really excellent ideas. The necessity of getting a fire going is often inversely proportional to the ease.

I'm a very new bushcrafter, but I've done a fair bit of walking and camping. I've found that tips of dead branches of conifers, with loads of dried out needles, work pretty well to produce fast intense heat. I make a small (3") cone from the matted branch tips around a tea light with a small hole on the opposite side to wind direction. Lay twigs in a shell around that, and then another cone of matted needles around that to take the rain. I can keep alternating the layers, increasing the size of the hole at the back. The more layers the more rain proof. Air gets through the pine needles fairly easily. Ash twigs for the alternating layers are the best, increasing in width with each layer.

I've found that a wet pine log (quite large and sodden) can act like a lid over a dying fire to keep the embers going until morning, which is darned useful for that really essential first cup of tea without tears.

Really want to learn how to make fire without using a tealight & lighter/matches. It has always felt a little bit like, er, cheating.

 

[Zingmo]

Excellent thread. I recently bought one of these ferro-rod gizmos and was amazed at how tricky it was to get a flame. I had feather sticks, dried Birch polypore and birch bark. The spark eventually caught on a bit of charcoal from a previous fire. My trouble was mostly in aiming the sparks where I want them and not knocking the pile of tinder flying as I struck.

I did discover one trick that may be useful: When striking the sparks; close one eye so you will still be able to see when the flash has gone.

Z

 

[jimbob]

When striking the sparks; close one eye so you will still be able to see when the flash has gone.

the simplest ideas are often the most effective!