What fire starter

[Ascobis]

Bic when I'm hungry and want to cook dinner.

I make flint and steel kits to give away. It is so satisfying to whack once and have a glowing charcloth. Bowdrill is fun and easy once you get all the skills together. There are dozens of bowdrill how-to vids out there. This one,

, got me over the hump to consistent success. I made a couple of beef bone bearing blocks that work superbly well. "Keep your tinder dry."

Try soaking terrycloth char cloth in Potassium Nitrate for a very easy fire. Also try making home-made sulfur matches.

Galena is horribly difficult. If I take off my socks I can count the number of sparklets I've ever made. You go, Ötzi.

Mischmetal is too easy.

But if you want to beat the cold...

 

[Tony]

I like the idea of the bone bearing block, might try that

I love playing with fire, I love flint and steel, the satisfaction of bow drill, the ease of prepared cotton wool and all those things, but I think my favourite is my blowtorch, it just gets the job done, petzo ignition, pull trigger and it's like a dragon spewing fire on hobbits and fire is born. I've had numerous people tell me i'm wrong to use it, that it's not the 'bushcrafty' way of things etc but the fact is, my fires burning, my family is warm and we're cooking food very very quickly.

As I said, I love other methods as well and i'd not be so easy on myself if I couldn't use them, but I can and I do and I would teach them first, but hey, I can't resist a dragon spewing fire

 

[Yeoman13]

I normally use a spark stick and some sort of natural tinder (birch bark, finely scrapped spruce, old man's beard, tinder fungus etc).
For emergency use I carry petroleum jelly cotton wool (either balls or makeup pads) stored in small zip bags.
I'm a smoker so I use a bic when I don't feel the need to be fancy.
I used to carry and use a striker and flint but I gave it to a guy as a departure gift. Sigh.
I still occasionally use flint with the back of a knife blade but I don't have many knives with that sort of steel.
I've yet to try friction fire. It's on my to do list for the upcoming year.

 

[Zingmo]

My all-time favourite fire starter was once demonstrated perfectly in front of a group of mocking French boy scouts.
They had paused to make fun of our shambolic campsite and particularly our pile of soggy firewood.
We had with us some calcium carbide for caving lamps, which gives off acetylene gas when wet. One of the guys discretely dumped some in the middle of the firewood then started cavorting around it chanting nonsense. He then relieved himself into the fire and with a final lap of weirdness, threw his cigarette into the middle - Whoomph!





Z

 

[Robson Valley]

Dad's trick was a discrete squeeze bottle of 'Varsol.' Trade name for a petroleum-based
industrial solvent. Little spray and Coghlans waterproof match.

My magnesium block has a ferro rod down one edge. That's fun to use if there's time.

 

[snappingturtle]

Ferro rod and dry St Alfred cakes, cotton wool an moss

 

[Wayne]

I’m normally time restricted and needs must so I often will use some wood shavings and a lighter.

If I’m being primitive then I’m rather fond of clematis bark and flint.

My favourite wood for bow drill is ivy.

 

[oldtimer]

Anyone tried battery and steel wool? Fun, but fire steel and Vaseline soaked cotton wool tried and true.

 

[Bishop]

Ferro rod with a disposable lighter as backup most of the time. Still have not mastered flint and steel but the char tin comes in handy.
Tinder varies depending on how gagging I am for a brew and like to experiment with shavings & scrapings of whatever is about. Old plastic shopping bags for instance take a spark surprisingly well.

FYI the worlds best firestarter is the chemical CFL3 (Chlorine trifluoride)
History/explanation video here
Video of it in action here

 

[srod]

Anyone tried battery and steel wool? .

Yes!! This method once saved my bacon when all else had failed, was so proud of my ignenuity.

 

[Nice65]

My all-time favourite fire starter was once demonstrated perfectly in front of a group of mocking French boy scouts.
They had paused to make fun of our shambolic campsite and particularly our pile of soggy firewood.
We had with us some calcium carbide for caving lamps, which gives off acetylene gas when wet. One of the guys discretely dumped some in the middle of the firewood then started cavorting around it chanting nonsense. He then relieved himself into the fire and with a final lap of weirdness, threw his cigarette into the middle - Whoomph!





Z

One of the most spectacular methods I've witnessed was when camping in The Lakes. One of the guys was a railway worker and had brought along a good sized tub of thermite. An empty dog food can of it was placed in the middle of the fire and a sparkler stuffed into it. Instant fire!

A little disconcerting was sitting around the fire later and the unburnt stuff finally getting to flashpoint and shooting everywhere

 

[Hammock_man]

One just clicks ones fingers....

and ones Batman lights the fire. I always travel Light, that is to say I bring Sgt Light, my Batman with me.

 

[Barney Rubble]

I use either the ferro rod or flint and steel as my ignition. For tinder, I usually have some char cloth, fatwood or birch bark in my fire kit but generally use whatever I can gather on the day - dead/dry bracken or grass, clematis bark, sweet chestnut bark, birch bark.

Most recently I've been trying to master the feather sticks but they're harder than they look - more practice needed!

 

[KenThis]

If I'm camping and just need fire then it's cotton wool coated/soaked in melted candle wax and a lighter/matches.
For fun it's usually a ferro rod and whatever I can find/improvise, lately I also have a new flint and steel to play with.
I much prefer throwing sparks to friction fires as I don't have the patience. Apart from my fire piston, that's fun to play with.
On warm sunny days I've started playing with a little magnifying glass which takes me back to childhood.

 

[srod]

Yesterday - My first flint and steel fire... got an ember to flaming tinder off about my 10th strike but didn't have my kindling ready for it to take. A picture of attempt number two - very pleased!

Today - I got the log burner going with flint and steel! Love It!

Sent from my SM-A320FL using Tapatalk

 

[Area FiftyOne]

Here in the USA I can get Potassium Peregrinate and Glycerin at a home improvement store. Just make a little mound about 2" in diameter. Depress the center of the mound. Place some glycerin in the depression (about 1/2 the volume of glycerin). Make sure you have some tinder ready. In less than a minute you will have a fire. I keep the Potassium and Glycerin in two small containers in my bushcraft kit. I also use a bowdrill using a bearing block I got off a bushcraft forum in the USA. Both methods work well for me.

 

[srod]

Magnifying glass!

My boy was playing with the idea this morning after taking apart an old toy telescope. I thought there was no way it was going to work with the sun so low in the sky at this time of year in Scotland.

In just a few minutes we managed to get a good ember going in a tight bundle of tissue paper. After a bit of blowing we got a flame! Scabbled around the garden for some tinder. Ran and got my Kelly kettle and soon we were drinking tea.

Kept an ember going all day and we've now coaxed the fire in our den alight...

 

[Robson Valley]

I'm convinced that it's worthwhile making fire under more or less ideal circumstances. Even if just to see what it takes and be consistent.
Then outdoors. I used to practice on the fireplace hearth (knife, ferro & magnesium shavings and birch bark.)

I considered pecking holes in the bearing stones for my bow drill sets (no luck so far).
Lazy sod that I am, a 1/2 inch tungsten carbide masonry drill bit was a reasonable choice.

 

[srod]

I'm convinced that it's worthwhile making fire under more or less ideal circumstances. Even if just to see what it takes and be consistent.
Then outdoors. I used to practice on the fireplace hearth (knife, ferro & magnesium shavings and birch bark.)

I agree. Teaches you a few things - especially the importance of being prepared - having your tinder and kindling organised and ready to go, and enough of it. It's amazing what you can do with even the tiniest of embers, so I am discovering. It make matches and lighters (and cans of petrol) seem like such a faff by comparison outdoors.

 

[Insel Affen]

Birch bark and Ferro rod usually, but have been using fat wood shavings more recently as Yorkshire appears to be quite damp. (I am miserable at fire sticks!)

I've also been experimenting with cotton pads in Meths or Vaseline (in a nail varnish remover screw top pot)

Always carry a lighter with some inner tube on it, for difficult days.