I am going to go on a Just for Fun trip into a small patch of woods, 2 miles from my friends house, and I am packing extra fire-starting methods. I don't know what else to include, I have some stuff but I want to know your regular, extravagant, and your last chance. I want any method which I can carry, no Bow and Drill, but there is plenty of dry wood around, i could make one. I will be prepared, so worry, but I should be alright. I am definately bringing Jello now!

I usually bring a standard bic lighter.

To supplement it, I use dryer lint and hand sanitizer as starter materials.

As I backup I have a Swedish Fire Steel.

Depending on how big I want the fire I'll select from the following tools to gather wood: Pocket Knife, Sabercut Saw, Hatchet, Boy's Axe.

Is seems like we here on ETS are obsseded with fire. A quick look through some past threads came up with some you might find useful.

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=162467#Post162467

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=209081#Post209081

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=209760#Post209760

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=211673#Post211673

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=211557#Post211557

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=194718#Post194718

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=210401#Post210401

I don't get the obsession with having 10 or 20 different ways to start a fire.

A butane lighter, some lint or cotton, a fire steel, and some PJ is plenty. The lighter gets the nod unless for some reason it don't work. Just the easiest.

It's not like you are going to go "live off the land" for the rest of your life. At worst you will need to start fires for a survival situation for a few days.

My Fire Kit:

REI Storm Matches
Weather/Water Proof Matches
Match Striker (ie emery paper strip)
Coughlans Tinder Cubes
Magnesium Flint Striker
Sparklite
Tinder Stick(s)

Covers emergencies. If you need supplies to start camp and cook fires on a regular basis, add additional quantities.

The magnesium and sparklite are more for emergency use than just firestarting materials.

Note, I also carry a lighter as EDC.

This a great opportunity for you to try as many of the various methods of fire starting that are mentioned in the cited threads. Nothing is as useful as experience! Just remember that when you absolutely, positively must have a fire, conditions will be such that it most likely will be somewhat difficult. All the more reason to get some experience

Fire building is a very useful skill, but I suspect you may conclude, as many of us have, that carrying a lightweight gas canister or alcohol stove is well worth the effort. You might include something like the Cat stove to compare with the traditional campfire in terms of meal preparation times, ease of ignition etc....

For Fire itself: I normally just use a Bic lighter. There's always one in my backpack, and I EDC one, so there's always one in my pocket as well. I've got a Spark-Lite as a back up as well as NATO life boat matches. Sacrilege, I know, but I don't always carry a fire steel.

For tinder: I always carry a few Tinder Qwik pieces as well as some of the Coghlan's tinder. I don't like the Coghlan's all that well and will not replace it when it's gone. I also carry toilet paper which makes good tinder in a pinch. In addition, I normally carry two or three cotton bandanas. I wouldn't do it unless I really had to, but a bandana can be used for tinder, particularly an old one that's kind of frayed.

Keepin' it simple,

HJ

I like the rule of three for firestarting, especially because it's so easy to cover those bases: lighter, REI waterproof matches, firesteel

Tender: vaselined cotton balls, fine steel wool, magnesium, fatwood.

I'll never be without a firesteel again, unless I lose my keys. Just added this firesteel tube to my key ring. It's very light.

http://firesteel.com/products/FireSteel-Tube-Pup.html


While it's good to search the website for previous discussions, ETS is not a terribly busy forum so redundant threads doesn't strike me as a problem. Especially not on a subject that is so fundamental to being equipped to survive.

I am obsessed with not freezing.

BTW, thanks for posting those links of previous threads, I'm going to check them out!

I carry mini Bics and ferro rods of various sizes. For tinder, I carry cotton balls, petroleum jelly, Burt's Bees lip balm, bike inner tube, and magnesium rods. I always have at least one candle in my car, and I carry a candle on me sometimes. If you pause to think about the benefits candle, carrying a candle is well worth the trouble.

I plan for my fire starter kit to start a fire in a freezing, wet environment. I need the tool itself to be able to get wet and still work. The ferro rods have passed this test. The mini Bics work again after they dry off. I don't carry matches of any kind because I don't trust them for my needs.

Regarding the rule of three, I don't view that rule as meaning three different types of methods. I view the rule as meaning 3 independent fire starters. I'd prefer 2 Bics and 1 ferro rod, rather than 1 Bic, 1 ferro rod, and 1 match set. I don't want matches at all. I know there are some famous outdoors men who carry matches, and that's good for them.

ireckon, we knew you were matchless!

Matches work fine, as long as you have a good, bombproof container. In that mode, they have come through for me for years. Something as simple as a 35mm film container can serve, although the K&M match container is far better. Exotac also makes a fairly expensive container that looks pretty good - I have no personal experience with it. For emergency situations, matches on steroids (REI Stormproofs or Lifeboat matches) are the way to go, because the standard kitchen matches are not made to the standard common some years ago.

Actually, I have been using a butane lighter as my first line gadget for lighting fires and stoves and I really can't recall when I had to go to another source of ignition. It has been at least a decade ago.

I would say from my experience and experience of others that carrying a lot of fuel for the fire (more than you think you need) is more important than carrying a lot of firestarters.

Carrying different firestarters and backups is smart, no doubt about that. But if I were to choose (for example because of the weight/space limit) between these two options:
3 firestarters plus small amount of fuel vs. 1 reliable firestarter plus lots of fuel I would pick the second one.
In reality this won't probably happen since I carry backups but I try to keep the firestarters somewhat small and make room for more fuel (tinder, kindling) instead.

When I got StrikeForce I thought how great it was - massive rod, big sparks, good for working with gloves on etc. but soon I realized that a middle sized version of "Swedish firesteel" type firestarter would still get the job done, would save a lot of weight and room that could be used for more fuel.

Of course I might change my opinion on this in the future and change my firestarters size/weight:fuel size/weight ratio based on another experience but now I think that more fuel is the better option.
It also depends on the weather, season of the year etc.

I am assuming your EDC, PSK, and camping gear all include fire starting stuff, which means on a camping trip you are always carrying a "kit" with multiple options if you are ETS.

I would have, for example: an EDC lighter and key-chain striker-ferro rod; a PSK spark-and-tinder quick plus a few REI matches and strike strip; and in the camping gear more REI matches and strike strips in a match safe, another lighter, a knife-ferro-rod-magnesium bar, and a piezeo-electric propane stove.

Of course we all know when you assume, you can make an "ass" of "u" and "me."

I agree with having sufficient fire tinder. I live in the PNW with an abundance of wood and rain. During the wet and cold season I always carry wet fire, cotton balls with vaseline and some fat wood. And I do carry at least 3 different ways to ignite a fire which includes a one handed method if injured. All that plus Doug's kit as another option.

One other thing to consider is always having a sturdy knife with you to shave some wood up to get the fire going. I also have some aluminum foil in my fire kit to make a little holder for the tender to shove up under the dry wood.

Probably the most important thing in getting a fire going in wet conditions is gathering and preparing the wood beforehand. Igniting the tinder is the easy part--getting a hot fire going can take some nursing it along.

I generally use a lighter 95% of the time (unless I'm deliberately practicing with a fire steel). Just so convenient.

I've got a Spark-lite in my PSK as a back up.

But I still carry matches. There are times when a lighter has a hard time, for example when lighting a lantern. Sometimes it's nice to be able to have a long thing match that can go through holes and such. Also, when building a wood fire, sometimes it's nice to be able to angle that match up under things in a way that I couldn't with a butane lighter. YMMV.

HJ

I ran across a dandy refillable butane lighter with a retractable tube that nicely solves this problem. It is about the size of a standard Bic lighter when retracted. I believe, though, that if I had to light a traditional Coleman mantle lantern, I would still need a match or a long splinter. I still have a Coleman lantern, but it is semi-retired (like me); mostly I will be using LED lanterns in the next power failure.

Actually I am still nostalgic about carbide lanterns. They provided heat and light and were an absolutely guaranteed fire starter.

One thing I do is hand out fire kits to those I'm hiking with: Ziploc with lighter, matches in case, tinder. They carry my spares. Also a tiny bic in the ol' first aid kit..

I noticed someone mentioning TP as tinder... I recently heard a trick about using the little TP packet from MREs as tinder. I haven't tried yet, but it sounds like a decent idea.