I like the way you think.. I carry a ferro rod and cotton balls, but to Heck with that when hypothermia is setting in!!

I have done some car camping in the past. It inevitably rains while I am camping. I never had much trouble getting a fire started or keeping it going in the rain. I usually put up a tarp over a picnic table so there was a dry place to sit and eat, and it was not real hard to start a fire under one edge of it - usually the end away from where the wind is coming from. You might think it would damage the tarp but if it is 8 feet or so above the ground and the fire is not real large it works pretty well. Especially with a light breeze. Not that the wind cooperates all the time. It seems like sometimes the wind shifts almost continuously in both direction and intensity. I do not know how to keep a fire going in a serious downpour though without some kind of overhead cover.

A guy camped next to us one time had a piece of angled sheet metal that he set up over top of the fire pit when it rained. Looked kind of like a pitched roof over the fire. He was more or less a resident of the place though, and could afford to be a little more elaborate than us more casual campers.

Another guy that came thru one time in a bus (a very pricey bus) had some kind of flat topped "u" shaped piece of sheet metal he used for the same purpose, but I think he used it to cook on as well. Kind of like a wood cook stove.

I have stacked up large pieces of wood, especially flattish bit with bark in teepee style over a going fire. The large pieces shield the fire and burn away gradually as they dry out. The fire needs a lot of tending in heavy rain, but it can be done. It is much easier to carry a lightweight stove.

I've used similar stuff (an alcohol gel) for getting smooth ignition in normal temps and for preheating my Coleman Peak1 stove when in really cold temps.

I've always considered the paste to be a supplement to my emergency fire starting tools. (though I admit it's not in my daypack)

Besides carrying a Bic lighter and a fire steel on my key fob, I also have devised a little "fire tube" to keep some of the essentials in.

I have taken 2 Papermate Flexgrip pens (cap style) and removed the writing end and replaced it with the the other top end from the second pen. It no longer serves as a pen but I have found that I can put cotton balls, a ferro rod pried from a magnesium bar and some pre-shaved magnesium flakes all inside.

Open the cotton ball end, remove cotton ball (you might have to pick at it a bit to get it out), pour some magnesium from the other end onto the cotton ball, strike with ferro rod, (you are carrying a knife aren't you? ) and hopefully POOF!

You can even use the pen cap to help carry it in your pocket.


No affiliation with PaperMate. blah blah blah.

I have been carrying a County Comm "Split Pea" lighter on my key ring for the last three or four months. I haven't had to use it for real, but it is light, compact, and durable so far.

No connection with County Comm, just a satisfied customer.

I have magnesium in lots of different flavors and sizes. I hate to sound like a noob, but I just don't quite understand why it's relatively popular. For awhile, I was acting as if I liked magnesium because many others were so enthusiastic about it, the military carries it, etc. Unfortunately, Mg burns so fast that it's really hard to get a flame started from it. There is probably some specialized situation in which magnesium shines (?). Anyway, I still can be found carrying a small stick of magnesium, just in case I learn of its value during a real emergency.

EDIT: Come to think about it, would magnesium help to ignite a damp cotton ball? Hmmm, it's time to experiment.

It's definitely time to experiment before the emergency.

I tried my magnesium block while on a family campout in a campground. I basically couldn't effectively use the mag shavings as they were so light as to blow away in the slightest air movement. Or I didn't figure out how to shave them right.
I still carry a mag block with ferro rod but at my skill level, the block is just a rod holder.

My butane lighter is my primary starter, strike anywhere matches with tinder cubes are my secondary and the mag block and ferro rod are a distant 3rd.

A 2x2" piece of duct tape will capture the Mag shavings(duct tape burns Good) or you can tear off a longer piece & roll it upon itself,making a tube, having adhesion all around,& stuff the tube with dry tinder,ie.:feathered fatwood works Real Well,but any thin tinder will do in a pinch.If it doesen't flame up,upon lighting it,look for a coal,& blow it into a flame.It took me 3 times to get it down pat,Now I get a flame or coal 1st try,Always! Have fun!

The magnesium is supposed to be used in conjunction with normal tinder (like a birds nest). You scrape a little off into the tinder, you hit it with the spark, and it helps the tinder catch.

If you use it that way, it works great. If you try to use just the magnesium as tinder....you'll be there all day.