Originally Posted by Rock Chuck
Originally Posted by alpinecrick
Originally Posted by T_O_M
I'll sometimes carry .. I forget what they're called, but basically they look like 1/2 x 1/2 x 4 inch pressboard sticks soaked in paraffin.

Coghlans Fire Sticks.
That’s what I carry. I’ve tested them several times, even letting them get a bit wet, and they start pretty easily with a butane lighter or a match, then burn hot for a time, plenty long enough to get damp tinder going.

I carry two butane lighters, matches, and a Ferro rod.

If I’m at the point where I’m building a fire in the middle of nowhere things have probably gone wrong. I want to be able to build a fire as easily as possible under the conditions, with cold stiff fingers, in the dark, snowing, etc.
There are lots of similar products on the market. Before lighting one, break it in half. The fuzzy broken end will light much faster than a smooth solid end.

In nearly 60 years of hunting, I've never needed to start a fire but it only takes once to be glad you have a couple good methods of getting it done. One twisted ankle or 1 fall through ice on a frozen creek can change your whole day really fast.

I've only needed a fire 2x times in 40 years of being old enough to notice. Both were falls into water in cold temps where you needed to get warm asap. Once through the ice on a creek and once, as mentioned, my dad fell out of a boat in a remote lake, miles from the nearest person (portage a canoe in) and it was starting to snow.

Me