Also for the sake of argument, I would have to ask, with three broken fingers and hypothermia, how would opening two separate bottles and combining the two chemicals together be easier than just flicking a bic lighter?
Assuming that you had actually packed in dry tinder, it wouldn't be, and thus the mini Bic option is listed first on the list.
The poly containers that I use are less than two inches in length, so with the base resting in the palm of one's hand, the cap is very easily removed with the thumb and index finger.
Not trying to be argumentative, but you can always come up with a hypothetical situation where this specific method might be the best one, but you gotta ask yourself, how realistic is it?
I could have just as easily described a scenario where it was 76 degrees, 20% relative humidity, clear skies with bright sunshine, calm winds, and you had a quart of charcoal fluid and a
Bic multi-position barbecue lighter but that would be called a picnic, not a wilderness survival scenario.
I'm sure that we could come up with thousands of different scenarios, but asking how realistic any of them are seems like a moot point to me. The objective of this forum is to prepare ourselves for
any situation we might find ourselves in, isn't it?
One could just as easily ask how many of the 3,300+ currently registered members on this board have ever been, or will likely ever be, in a legitimate life-or-death survival scenario. Of those rare occurrences, what are the odds of us actually having half the necessary gear that we all choose to spend money on?
If you want to discuss realism, perhaps you could explain to me what realistic scenario is actually going to befall all of us and send us prancing into the woods with our BoB's strapped on our backs for 72 hours, only to return home three days later when everything is back to normal.
I can't speak for you, but I don't spend the thousands of dollars that I do on all the latest gear because I think I will need it to save my life in the near future, but rather I simply think of it as a somewhat practical hobby, and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing that in the 6.022 E-6 chance I'll ever need any of it, I'll have it and know how to use it.
Realistically, the two primary things that will kill most people in the wilderness are hypothermia and dehydration, so these threats obviously place a premium on fire building skills for warmth and sustainable water purification. As such, I place a larger degree of importance on this skill than I do any other. The items I choose to carry, and the level of redundancy, also reflect this fact.
I chose to list some of the other uses of these chemicals to illustrate just how multi-purpose they are. I would venture to guess that very few of us would ever consider going into the wilderness for an extended period of time without a sharp knife, a multi-tool, a hank of paracord, and a bandana (among other items). The fact that these items have multiple uses make them virtually indispensible to us.
I'm confident that I could be thrown into the woods with nothing but a bathing suit on and still fashion a bow drill by weaving grass or vines for the bow and carving the drill, socket, and fireboard from a sharp stone, but that doesn't mean it will be my first choice given other options.
My EDC includes a mini Bic and a firesteel with Tinder-Quik. And understand when I say my EDC, I mean EDC -- if I'm outside the house I have these items with me in my pockets. My vehicle and wilderness kits have numerous other firemaking items, again, because I place a high degree of redundancy on this important skill.
The entire point of my original post is that I can think of very few ways in which one could start a fire successfully given the worst of conditions (i.e. wet tinder, darkness, wind, reduced mobility/dexterity, etc.). Even a child that doesn't yet know how to strike a match or flick a Bic could pour some glycerin on a small mound of potassium permanganate and have a sustained 2000°F flame burning within a few seconds.
Jim
just kidding. FYI, there are other chemicals that you can use in place of glycerin, I don't remember all of them but I think sugar and anti-freeze were a couple. So if by chance you were stuck in the wilderness and happened to have a bottle of PP, you could theoretically use the antifreeze you have stored in your trunk to start a fire. Of course, that's assuming your cigarette lighter doesn't work and you have no matches or lighter.
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