Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Fire starters

Biggest thing is practise with what you have, before you need it.
I think when out camping at least start one fire using your emergency kit.
Will help be proficient and see if maybe you will find a better set up.

Tabasco minis?

Overfill it and stick it in your pocket. The escaping fuel will leave a red, sore, dry spot on your leg that takes some time to heal.

A piece of bike innertube will seal the gap, reduce evaporation, and keep the fluid from eating you.

Yes sir. I can't imagine how many fires one would have to start before a ZIPPO needed refueling, especially sealing the "gap" between lid and body with a piece of bicycle tube ... but I've always carried a couple spare mini-Tabasco bottles in my day pack. Never needed them, but they're there.

Regarding that picture I posted showing my ZIPPO setup, on another outdoor blog, a couple of "Doubting Thomas" outdoorsmen scoffed and wrote, "Well, if your hands are frozen, how you gonna get that big rubber band off your ZIPPO?"

I replied, "If you can hold the Zippo in the heels of your hands, pull the rubber band off with your teeth. If your hands are so frozen you can't even hold the lighter in your hands to do that task ... well, you'd best have your affairs in order."

If there is a will, there is a way ... in a very dangerous survival situation. Mindset counts.

L.W.

If your hands are THAT cold, you should have built your fire an hour ago.

Anti bacterial hand cleanser work great as a fire starter. Get one of the small bottles and carry it in your pack. Lights right up and keeps burning.

I use these:




With a match or lighter, these will start a fire easily..

Here are a few things I've tried while working with the scouts. All of these will work very well with a match or lighter. If you need to use a flint/steel, you'll also need cotton balls or other tinder to get them lit.

STRIKEAMATCH These are 7x10 sheets of match striker paper, adhesive backed. You can cut it and stick it to a worn out match box or anything else to light stubborn matches. Since the demise of the good strike anywhere matches, it's hard to find anything that will light reliably. I took a bunch of tongue depressors and stuck this strikeamatch stuff to both sides and gave one to each of our scouts to put in his emergency kit. This stuff will light your match.

Diamond Strike A Fire sticks: They burn a long time. They have a red spot on the end to strike on any match box. Don't rely on that to light one. Most of time it won't light or just flares out. Break one in half to get a fuzzy end then use a match or lighter.



Coghlands Waterproof Fire Starting Sticks. Like the Diamond sticks, these will burn a long time once lit. It takes a lighter or match to get one lit, though. A flint & steel won't do it. Using these along with a cotton ball or other tinder will work very well. The waterproof claim is very questionable. I poured water on one, broke it to get a fuzzy end, and couldn't light it. It might work ok in rain or snow but not if it gets real wet.



Duraflame Firestart Cubes These are probably the easiest to use that I've tried and they really will burn for 10 min. The wrapper is waterproof. Just light the wrapper with a lighter or match. These would be very easy to light with a striker if you use a cotton ball. You only need to get the cellophane wrapper lit to light it. Walmart has them in sporting goods but if you look in their fireplace/heater section, they'll have a box twice as big for the same price.

I'll have to try some of these things.

My best experience has been with the Wetfire Tinder blobs.

I'm probably like most guys and really only tried to make a fire maybe a couple of times a year.

For me that changed last winter when I bought a Firebox Nano stove. I get a kick out of making coffee and cocoa anywhere and anytime with the firebox. But now I gotta carry water, coffee, and a french press/mug...

The Firebox stove:



Made something like that out of scrap sheet metal for trioxane bars. I like pop can alcohol stoves better.



See Zen Stoves

When hunting, I drink Tasters Choice freeze dried coffee. It's not like real coffee but it's drinkable and is far better than most instants. A small zip lock bag can carry quite a few cups full and weighs nothing. With a folding stove and a metal cup, it'll make it easy to have a hot cup on the trail.

For me part of the fun of winter hunting is a mid day fire and making coffee and a freeze dried meal. The fire is for comfort but I use a canister stove for hot water and use Via instant coffee, french roast. I can hardly wait for cool weather, 108* here today.



mike r