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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 69,284 Likes: 14
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 69,284 Likes: 14 |
"Allways speak the truth and you will never have to remember what you said before..." Sam Houston Texans, "We say Grace, We Say Mam, If You Don't Like it, We Don't Give a Damn!"
~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 7,041
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 7,041 |
Hexamine fuel tabs (by Esbit or Coglan's available from Amazon. You can get the small ones (.02) oz. Squeeze a little Purell hand sanitizer on them and hit them with a striker on a magnesium rod and they light first time, every time and burn hot. The larger tabs will burn for 9 minutes (as another poster above noted). Hexamine has a shelf life of about forever. Put the Purell in a 1 oz. squeeze bottle and it will have a shelf life of damn near forever too and the 1 oz bottle will accelerate the lighting of dozens of Hexamine tabs.
Communists: I still hate them even after they changed their name to "liberals". ____________________
My boss asked why I wasn't working. I told him I was being a democrat for Halloween.
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 57,494
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 57,494 |
I don't want this to sound like I'm the only dude who's ever almost died but having sorta recently broken through lake ice while backcountry skiing I learned that the cutesy fire starting methods won't work when you actually need a fire right now, and space blankets take forever to unroll when your flesh is freezing and are useless in the wind. I've switched to road flares and the SOL bivy sacks. Road flares are by far the best fail proof that I"ve seen. If they made em in 5-10 minute models, or what I'm thinking of as about half the normal size, and you could carry 2-3.. you should easily start a fire no matter how tough life got. The foil blankets....nope... we do carry the tarp types though... but we always carry a 30 degree bag and bivy just in case anyway. And have been moving away from the tarp type blankets to a silnylon 8x8 tarp for rain showers and glassing cover etc.. double duty as a wind block and so on. But then I'm anal, and we have a pocket rocket and some instant tea/oatmeal most of the time too....
We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 13,387 Likes: 4
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 13,387 Likes: 4 |
I also carry a ZIPPO. By putting a "ranger" band around the body opening, it makes it water tight and the fuel will last a long, long time. Here is a post I made in another thread aboout the same subject with a picture of my ZIPPO with the rubber band around the opening.
I've found over the years the ZIPPO is very easy to fire up when my hands are so cold I can barely move my fingers. Beats hell out of any Bic I ever saw.
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/8780980/Searchpage/1/Main/616131/Words/Zippo/Search/true/Re:_Zippo_lighters#Post8780980
Works for me.
L.W.
"Always go straight forward, and if you meet the devil, cut him in two and go between the pieces." (William Sturgis, clipper ship captain, 1830s.)
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,409 Likes: 5
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,409 Likes: 5 |
I don't want this to sound like I'm the only dude who's ever almost died but having sorta recently broken through lake ice while backcountry skiing I learned that the cutesy fire starting methods won't work when you actually need a fire right now, and space blankets take forever to unroll when your flesh is freezing and are useless in the wind. I've switched to road flares and the SOL bivy sacks. Road flares are by far the best fail proof that I"ve seen. If they made em in 5-10 minute models, or what I'm thinking of as about half the normal size, and you could carry 2-3.. you should easily start a fire no matter how tough life got. The foil blankets....nope... we do carry the tarp types though... but we always carry a 30 degree bag and bivy just in case anyway. And have been moving away from the tarp type blankets to a silnylon 8x8 tarp for rain showers and glassing cover etc.. double duty as a wind block and so on. But then I'm anal, and we have a pocket rocket and some instant tea/oatmeal most of the time too.... Orion makes both 5 and 10 minute flares. I don't know where to buy them in packS of less than 144, though. ORION 5 MIN FLARES
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,409 Likes: 5
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,409 Likes: 5 |
While searching for them, I found out that flares in large quantities are getting harder to find because they use them to make meth. Walmart carries 3 min signal flares. I don't know how they compare to road flares for fire starting. They're pricey, though, at $28 per 4-pack http://www.walmart.com/ip/Orion-Locate-4-Handheld/16326929Gander Mtn has a 2-pack for $10. http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?i=851243
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 57,494
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 57,494 |
are signal flares aerial?
We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
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Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,480 Likes: 2
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,480 Likes: 2 |
Be carefull of Bic lighters in the cold at high elevation. My experience is that they fail every time.
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,409 Likes: 5
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,409 Likes: 5 |
Bics are filled with butane, aren't they? Butane doesn't do well at high altitudes or in the cold. It needs to change to a gas to burn in a lighter or stove and it's boiling point is slightly below the freezing point of water, about 30F. In the cold it's hard to get it to change to a gas.
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,101
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,101 |
I wish I knew that about Bic lighters when I lived in Colorado and climbed fourteeners regularly, some in the winter in well below the freezing point of water (and skin, and lots of other things). All kidding aside, they work fine at high altitude in the cold, you just have to keep them in an inside pocket. We used to put half a bottle of warm water in one boot, and the stove fuel and lighters in the other boot, then put the boots in a sleeping bag stuff sack, then put the works in the bottom of the sleeping bag for the night. I still buy long sleeping bags to this day.
Oh, and back to the original topic - we used to walk the train tracks near crossings and pick up the dud and half burnt railroad flares. Cut them off in 2" pieces and dunk in hot paraffin a couple times. Had to take a knife and use the point to loosen up the wax and powder on one end before lighting, but worked well and gave about 5 minutes burn time. Could probably do the same with store bought road flares.
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,409 Likes: 5
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,409 Likes: 5 |
they work fine at high altitude in the cold, you just have to keep them in an inside pocket. In that case, they're not in the cold. Leave them in a cold pack, though, and it's another story. Then you need a Zippo. As far as altitude goes, those butane bbq strikers usually fail somewhere around 5 to 6000'. The ones in our camper never work in the mtns and I've tried about every brand.
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,101
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,101 |
I know you know the first rule of fire starters - have two and keep them on you at all times, so pulling one out of a pocket is more realistic than fishing around in a backpack for a cold one isn't it?
Your luck with butane lighters sucks. I've used the same butane bbq striker in our popup for years, usually in 7000 to 8000 feet range, down to 15 degrees at night, and never not had hot coffee first thing in the morning. I had to get a new one this year, and was feeling adventurous, so I bought a different brand. Damn if it didn't work too. You know there's a little sparky thingy on butane lighters that you have to work with your thumb or finger, right?
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 86,261 Likes: 25
Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 86,261 Likes: 25 |
Like you, I start a fire the quickest way unless practicing with more minimal gear-- or unless my hands are so cold they are losing dexterity.
More than once my hands have been too cold to flick a Bic type lighter using the normal motion. Don't know if that has happened to anyone else. This is why I use piezoelectric lighters whenever I can get them.
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time. --Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice. --ironbender
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Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 8,748
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 8,748 |
Trioxane bars.
I carry 2 or 3, and that would enable me to start fires for a couple weeks. All for the grand total of less than one dollar. And they weigh next to nothing.
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 1,445 Likes: 1
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 1,445 Likes: 1 |
Bic and cotton balls with Vaseline or wax in a pill bottle.
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