Huh. no harm done at all, I can see your point in a light dunking. In my experience though I've had a lot less luck. It seems a lot of my gear is always wet, and now one test I have in mind is- what if this piece of gear is underwater for a day? A month? Will it still work? I've noticed that the flints used in Bic and other wheel sparkers (including the Spark-lite) turn to mush after a while being wet. Happened in my PSK (constantly, always damp with condensation), happened to a couple of zippos I've had laying around, and to a bic that was left in a pack. After some time (months or about a year, not sure in all cases) the flint there just won't work. The Spark-Lite flint was nearly disintegrated, as was the zippo flints. The bic just jammed and the wheel wouldn't turn.

I don't think I'm all that rough on gear. I guess now I'm curious thinking about it- is the flint on a hand striker the same exact flint on a wheeled striker (bic/zippo/spark-lite)? Anyone know more?
Jason

Bravo *claps*

Well, you've learned two things- you CAN do it, and the only real problem with the sparklite is it is so small. Look at any of these , or go to Campmor, BQ (actiongear.com) or Adventure Medical. Don't pay over $9.50 for it, before shipping. Most places that have the sparklite also have spare tabs.

Rather than buying the big logs, you can get compressed saw dust and wax sticks just about anywhere you can buy matches. Same thing, just smaller so it is more portable. If you need to carry kindling, then you have to, there is no shame in admitting that you can do something even with a few aids becuase you are still mastering it, and you might have a leg up on us hairy types who are planning on carrying tinder but finding small kindling.

Or you can make your own with some clean sawdust (preferably softwood, ask any wood working shop and they'll give you all you can take) mixed 50/50 by volume with melted wax. Mold it into the shape you want, let it cool for a few hours, and cut it with a sharp knife or wire cheese cutter you don't care about. If you want to get real fancy, the tubs from votive candles would work.

Oh, a day is a different story, I was thinking no more than an hour. That is why my firemaking gear is in metal or plastic hard containers, and that are then waterproofed with tape or a bag. Or with a little bit of grease if a matchcase. If I'm in a canoe or a boat, they go into match cases, which go into a zipper bag, which goes into a second one, which gets wrapped in duct tape. Dry is good.

And after a month underwater, I don't expect anything but sea life and submarines to work right.

AFAIK, lighter and sparklite flints are ferrocerium, which has known issues with oxidation. As small as they are, adding water is accelerating the process. That's why you inspect your gear regularly, and carry backups in a weatherproof container if it is critical. My first sparklite is... I don't remember how old, and that is the one I keep in my PSK as I lost the case for it. That gets tested every few months, and if it gets immersed, as soon as possible. I dry the entire kit out under a light bulb and replace the matches and lighter at that point if it gets water in the case, and I sit down and think about what went wrong with my seal.

Now, real flint shouldn't have issues with being soaked for a few weeks, but the carbon steel scraper would have issues. You'd have to knock the rust off, and retouch the edge so it had a nice sharp angle again. Same problem, just with a different component. Unless you are using a fist sized lump of flint or jasper and fist sized lump of pyrite, and just banging the rocks together. :P

That's why the ONLY time I practice making fires is on damp, rainy, miserable days. Yes, it's hard, no it's not impossible. Tinder - dry dry dry tinder can be found even in the wettest of woods, but you're best bet is to have something with you like oily cotton or dryer lint.

One thing I can suggest from having sold the Magfire fire steels - slow down - a hard, steady stoke on a fire steel makes a better, hotter spark. Also, with a firesteel like a hotspark, make a supreme effort to create a good-sized pile of metal shavings that are contained. The heat from these shavings will be of great use to dry out "almost ready" tinder material.

Finally, remember that tinder is often found INSIDE trees and UNDER stuff, and even on a rainy day, plastic makes a pretty good tinder.

I use the Trioxane tablets to start a fire under wet conditions. It drys the wood and then ignites it, then just add bigger sticks as you make heat/coals. The wood on top is drying while the wood on the bottom is burning.

I have found that starting a fire in the damp in not too hard, but the fire needs to be tended to otherwise it will go out and you will need to start it up again. When it is damp, the bigger the dry tinder bundle and the more kindling, the better. Then split and feather up tons of wood before you start the tinder going. I would even go as far as saying to have your wood pile set up to dry next to the fire before lighting up to.

Even if it is not raining, raise the wood pile off the ground (on a couple of pieces of wood will do) and cover the top of the wood pile to keep condensation off. I raised the wood off the ground, but I didn't cover it last time because it was nice and clear and sunny out, but because the area was sooooo green, the dry wood turned to soggy sticks even in the afternoon sun.

I find that fire starting is all about preparation. I've started plenty of fires on wet days with real flint and steel and even a few with a bow drill. I've had very few problems, as long as I used the right materials and prepared them properly. The only time I've had trouble is when I was wet and cold and tried to get a fire going. I was trying to get it started as fast as possible and had problems with it going out because I took shortcuts and settled for wetter wood than I should have.

I totally agree!!!! I have found that most shortcuts aren't!!!!!!!

"My "first fire" required "BoyScoutWater"!!! "

Ronson Lighter Fluid? That's what we use to take on our scout hikes.

(The scoutmaster even borrowed it one trip! <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

"My "first fire" required "BoyScoutWater"!!! "

In addition to lighter fluid, this is also a synonym for Coleman Fuel. Equally dangerous in the wrong young hands, but, what doesn't kill them makes them stronger, right? In our politically correct world, the boys have to use propane stoves, rather than the white gas stoves, so no more readily available Boy Scout Water in our troop. (Too bad, because the white gas works better than propane when it's really cold. Ok, a few eyebrows have been sacrificed occasionally when priming/lighting those stoves, but...)