We were having a party out in the woods (I know, I know). Anyway, we wanted a fire so one of the other guys went to get wood and set it up. He actually tried getting it started by holding his lighter on a roughly thumb thickness stick and throwing it in the pile. It really shocks you sometimes when you realize how little of a clue some people have. If only everyone could go through a basic survival course. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

It doesn't shock me at all, sad really. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I see it all the time on camping trips. My Father-in-law has his secert weapon a 50/50 mix of gas and diesel works every time. But makes me wonder if he can make a fire with out the excellerant.

Also my eagle scout friend to this day can not build a fire. He trys to light a 4" dia. log with a lighter and it never works. Wonder why.

Lasty the really sad part is I always show people the way to do it. Start by making piles of wood from big to small, make a tinder ball, arrange the wood in the fire ring etc. etc.......

Adam

Fire lay or dump and light?

Should we practice building a teepee fire lay, a lean-to fire lay like in the Ritter PSK drawing, or just dump some tinder in a pile light it and then add wood as needed until we get a good fire going? I have read that you should get 10 armfuls of wood for a fire to last all night. Then what are you going to do?

I don't know how many of you have ever watched the TV show survivor. True it is not true survival but has a few elements in it one of which is fire building and primitive methods of starting one. I could see the people in the first couple not knowing how. Even Rudy who was an Ex-seal never got one going. And in one one of the women was suppose to be a survival instructor. In every show even the all star one no one could start a fire. Until the PTB''s gave them a means to start one.

Since in all cases they needed to boil water to make it safe. Many times the groups were approching dehydration because of it. You would think that anyone that was selected and had seen previous shows would know the importance and learn how to do it. That goes double for those that were selected for the all stars campout. Yet no one has yet been able to start a fire withput matches, a "modern flint bar or their torches.

Just shows how stupid the average person really is.

Practise with every known method and varient you can think of. Nobody will ever fully appreciate what truly works until you personally dig your own solar still or try to light a green, 6' log with paper matches. I have done both. There are masters who somehow take inferior materials, throw them together in form that defies every tidy illustration and have a fire going. It's called experience, and like a musical improvisation the structure is in there, just bent and stretched into something new and wonderfull. I always liked the story of how BURNING MAN got started, and I was there <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />!

Yes you should practice and practice them all. Sorry it seems you found some thing I wrote offensive or inflammatory that was not my intention. It might be fun to do a how-to on fire building but it would be faster to do a couple of searches as this is always a “hot topic” on survival forums. I kind of thought I was "preaching to the choir" I really wasn't trying to give a how-to on fire building it was more of tongue & check tutorial. If we're ever on a camping trip together I would be glad to show you what I do to make a fire. I too use all different methods. I think the basic principles are the same for every fire.

So grab your fire steel and Nato life boat matches and go burn some wood.

Adam

The sorry fact is, I have never yet seen a survival manual that adequately describes how to get a campfire going, for anyone who has never done it before. It took years before I actually realized that you needed more than two logs, for example. I could get a small fire going using kindling, but could never get a fire to stay lit. I finally learned how to get a good campfire going in an emergency when I took a week-long course from the legendary Mors Kochanski last year; in under a minute, he described how to do it in a way that I could understand and have never forgotten

Most people don't know how to start a fire, it's true. But very few of those who do know seem able to explain how to do it .

Fwiw: Kochanski advised me to get 4 wrist-sized long pieces of wood. Put two of them down side by side. Lay the other two on top at a slight angle. Put a twig bundle on top of that. Set fire to the twig bundle. Enjoy the result.

The sad fact, I think, is that quite a few people wander into the outdoors with very, very little experience. You'd think about anyone would know you start a fire small (with wee kindling such as leafs and twigs, even if you don't know the concept of tinder) but it's just not the case.

The masses are, well, goofy. That's why I prefer to hunt with only people I know very well or who are at least smart enough to know what they don't know and to listen.

I used to joke: "Q: How does a real Alaskan make a fire? A: With a gallon of gas!".

I guess you have to be from there to really appreciate it. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

-john