i ran this photo a few years ago,a one match fire made after a downpour.i found enough small dry sticks and some birch bark to get a fire going and added more until it was going and drying the wood above it.i did not split open any sticks to get to the dry wood inside.



if i had wanted a fire in the rain i would have found the most sheltered spot i could find,even if it was not where i wanted the fire in the end.any dry overhang anyplace would work and once going moved to where ever.if nothing close then a hasty shelter of leafy branches with something like a undershirt over it to keep out the worse of the rain.i have done a lot of camping and it takes a huge bonfire,well fed,to keep something going in the rain.without a tarp or shelter a fire will be over powered sooner or later.look what your wearing,that tee shirt will dry if you get a fire going,same with a jacket,even a hat over the first sticks will keep off enough rain to get something going.a square foot of foil from a kit would work great.this would be the time to really think.down on your belly and striking a match to kindling inside the hollow part of a log and then moving that fire to a bigger pile of sticks would be better than running down a Bic huddled over a wet firewood pile out in the open.so on-----

Thanks, I have seen these before, they are rather good but still, they do not show fire making in pouring rain.

Be very careful about how you store the potassium permanganate. It reacts with a lot of different chemicals & its environmentally hazardous. One or two of them are somewhat more vigorous than glycol.

http://www.reagent.co.uk/uploads/msds/POTASSIUM%20PERMANGANATE%205%20percent%20W%20V.pdf

You bring up a very important point. My experience with any liquids stored over a relatively long period of time is that they will leak. The worst case was a bottle of betadine inside a FAK that leaked, fouling the zipper so that I had to cut the case open to access the contents.

Leakage of potassium permanganate could be exciting, to say the least...

Potassium permanganate is generally stored as powder, or rather crystals, and not as a liquid. Like that it's relatively easy to store, but you need to be sure nothing else will leak into it.

Storing glycerine without leakage is harder. Therefore it needs to be kept well separate to the potassium permanganate. You don't want them both in the same pocket in containers that might be compromised if you somehow fall on them, for example. Not that matches are entirely safe, either, or a BIC, but these chemicals scare me more.

They aren't not a great way to start a fire anyway, especially if it is cold.

Aren't not? My brain hurts...

Sears sold small bottles of potassium permanganate for cleaning water softener resins. I can't recall where I picked up the glycerin. I think the drug store.

RE: This reply to the thread ...

"I prefer a small tube of Halfords bicycle Tyre Rubber Solution to start a fire (a reliable way to get butyl rubber tubing to catch from a single spark)"

OK ... I'll bite.
Can you elaborate on the fire starting with the tire (tyre) rubber kit. That's a new one to me.

cheers,
other Pete

I would venture to say that Am_Fear is referring to the glue that typically comes with bicyle tire patch kits. It is extremely flammable and many people will set a match to the glue then quickly blow out the flame before applying the patch. The reason for the flame was to get the glue hotter as it supposedly causes the patch to stick better and dry faster to the tube.

My experience after patching too many flat tubes (until I discovered Tuffy tire liners) is that I never resorted to the match and flame, rather I just applied the glue and waited a few minutes for it to dry enough and stuff the tube back into the tire and pump it up with air.

Now days some people carry small strips of used bicycle inner tube in their survival kits as it does burn very well on it's own. If you happen to be carrying patch glue, you have the perfect combo for a surefire, fire starter.

These type of rubber solution are simply a very flammable rubber based glue. Most types of rubber, car tyres, cycle inner tubes, ranger bands (same thing) take a flame from a lighter (preferred) and burn hot and long. They have the great advantage that they are cheap, easy to obtain and storable.