For me its always a lighter or matches.... but my preferred method would be the hand drill or bow drill. That way all you need are a couple of sticks. I must try and learn!
Prefered fire lighting method
- Thread starter Nightwalker
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I must say it's a hard choice because all of the primitive firestarting methods I've managed so far (flint & steel, fire drill, handdrill & fire piston) give me a very deep satisfied feeling of achievement. The fire piston however is special to me because I made one myself and still think it's kind of magical to produce an ember in an instant with what used to be just pieces of copper, wood and a rubber o-ring.
PS I hope to add the fire saw & fire thong soon to my primitive firelightning list as Rob Hofman and myself are going to set up an experimental workshop on those two firestarting methods at the next Dutch bushcraft meeting in november
Tom
PS I hope to add the fire saw & fire thong soon to my primitive firelightning list as Rob Hofman and myself are going to set up an experimental workshop on those two firestarting methods at the next Dutch bushcraft meeting in november
Tom
Nightwalker said:
Bow Drill is interesting as a one off, but as far as fire lighting is concerned I think it has more to do with keeping 20 boy scouts busy all night.
Give me a bit of steel and a hard rock any day....
Flame throwerNightwalker said:
.But seriously I carry my fire steel in my pocket almost everywhere i go with a small bone container of cotton-wool for a easy fire. I have made a fire with a flake of flint and a old steel file with some char cloth that was fun, I would like to get a proper flint and steel set though. Never managed to make fire any other way, apart from matches and lighter obviously, but im still trying. So it has to be fire steel for me.
If we're talking about fun & satifaction I just love using a flint & steel & blowing up a flame, If I'm hungry however i use the trusty zippo. Either way i do confess to squirting a sachet of greenheat on the bottom sticks to ensure that I get a fire going at the end, yeah I know that its not right etc - but it does get you fed !!
I've said lighter in the poll as it is the method I use the most. But when I have the time or when I light a wood fire I use my flintsteel. I use tumbledryer fluff and silverbirch bark, and I normally get a flame/fire with in five or six strikes. (or not at all for some strange reason 
) come this winter I will be collecting all the dried dead and dry honeysuckle bark/stems I can find and store that to use as tinder, along wirth anything else that looks useful. 
) come this winter I will be collecting all the dried dead and dry honeysuckle bark/stems I can find and store that to use as tinder, along wirth anything else that looks useful. 
Looking back on the poll, I think what I had in mind (and what I should have put, is..)
"which method of fire-lighting do you find most satisfying and enjoyable."
Thats what I really wanted to know, which method people found most pleasing.
I think the Firesteel will be the most popular choice because it is somewhat of a compromise which offers use of modern durable man-made material but to produce only a spark, which leaves the user to still blow a ember to life, prepare the tinder and build the fire in the correct layers. Reliable aswell.
"which method of fire-lighting do you find most satisfying and enjoyable."
Thats what I really wanted to know, which method people found most pleasing.
I think the Firesteel will be the most popular choice because it is somewhat of a compromise which offers use of modern durable man-made material but to produce only a spark, which leaves the user to still blow a ember to life, prepare the tinder and build the fire in the correct layers. Reliable aswell.
Ah well, most enjoyable, that's different thing 
I voted firesteel because it's so reliable a method of getting a hot spark. I'd have voted flint and steel but flint is kind of rare up here and it gets frustrating to use.
I do like using a firebow; it just *works* y'know? Tremendous sense of satisfaction guaranteed Firedrills just gives me sore hands 
and even managing a coal from them loses it's appeal pretty quickly. I never seem to be able to rely on a lighter working, damned things are more a hindrance than a help, I find. Matches are olay, so long as there are masses of them available
Most fun; firebow.
Most reliable; firesteel.
Cheers,
Toddy
I voted firesteel because it's so reliable a method of getting a hot spark. I'd have voted flint and steel but flint is kind of rare up here and it gets frustrating to use.
I do like using a firebow; it just *works* y'know? Tremendous sense of satisfaction guaranteed
Firedrills just gives me sore hands and even managing a coal from them loses it's appeal pretty quickly. I never seem to be able to rely on a lighter working, damned things are more a hindrance than a help, I find. Matches are olay, so long as there are masses of them available Most fun; firebow.
Most reliable; firesteel.
Cheers,
Toddy
Toddy, if you've had problems with lighters, I would recommend:
PB-207 - The Pocket Micro Torch - Google Search Link
I've had mine for 5 or 6 years now, have given it a battering and it still works superbly, the best lighter I have ever used. Can burn through beer cans Its the same one as the lighter featured in Ray Mear's Bushcraft book, however I had the lighter long before his book 
with a very intense and directional flame the heat will not come back on your fingers, burn you or go out easily.
PB-207 - The Pocket Micro Torch - Google Search Link
Supposedly; "its what the SAS use"
I've had mine for 5 or 6 years now, have given it a battering and it still works superbly, the best lighter I have ever used. Can burn through beer cans Its the same one as the lighter featured in Ray Mear's Bushcraft book, however I had the lighter long before his book with a very intense and directional flame the heat will not come back on your fingers, burn you or go out easily.
I pefer the firesteel, I have even lit the BBQ with one, but I always carry backup methods like a waterproof container with matches in it and a turbo type lighter, (the one that has a powerful blue flame.
#1 Flint and steel is my prefered method of creating fire with amadou/char cloth, jute and a birds nest of rosebay willowherb.
#2 Firesteel and birch bark. I use this most often as it's easy and fast to do.
I do have a small pack of wind/waterproof matches in my tinder box and PSK as an emergency back up and have never used them.
As for a lighter it's a bit too 20th century for me - kinda reminds me of an old startrek episode where they used there phazers to heat some rocks up
Never used chemicals to light a fire as I can never find a responsible adult to look after things like that for me
Phil.
#2 Firesteel and birch bark. I use this most often as it's easy and fast to do.
I do have a small pack of wind/waterproof matches in my tinder box and PSK as an emergency back up and have never used them.
As for a lighter it's a bit too 20th century for me - kinda reminds me of an old startrek episode where they used there phazers to heat some rocks up
Never used chemicals to light a fire as I can never find a responsible adult to look after things like that for me
Phil.
Hey, that was a great episode! I love the part when Sulu calls the Enterprise and and asks Kirk "Do you think you could transport down some hot coffee?"
Oh, and my preferred method is to use my Zippo. I've never got on well with butane torch lighters as I've always found the fuel to disappear far too quickly. At least if my Zippo runs dry I can refill it with my stove fuel. Matches are great, I carry at least three different kinds in my pocket kit but they are reserved for dire emergencies. And of course, one cannot forget the ubitous firesteel. Did I spell that right?
Cheers,
Adam
Oh, and my preferred method is to use my Zippo. I've never got on well with butane torch lighters as I've always found the fuel to disappear far too quickly. At least if my Zippo runs dry I can refill it with my stove fuel. Matches are great, I carry at least three different kinds in my pocket kit but they are reserved for dire emergencies. And of course, one cannot forget the ubitous firesteel. Did I spell that right?
Cheers,
Adam
Well - excluding a lighter which I use most often because of the convenience!
- Preferred: firepiston just for the cleverness of the mechanism
- Most reliable for me: ferro rod'n tinder
- Most personally challenging: firebow! - have only had success on a few occassions and have completely failed to replicate that since doing a bloody course on it!
- Would like to try: handdrill
My fire lighting kit contains a flint and steel, lighter, matches and a chopped down candle (if thing's are a little damp).
Prefer matches still, it's how i learned at scout's. But the most satisfying method i've used is the classic magnifying glass, just something magical about lighting a fire with absolutly no effort at all
Prefer matches still, it's how i learned at scout's. But the most satisfying method i've used is the classic magnifying glass, just something magical about lighting a fire with absolutly no effort at all
