What happens if you can't find dry wood?

If you guys are out camping and there is a rain storm and you can not find any dry wood. What do you do? If the wood is damp, do you need to use a hotter flame source then a regular match? How do you start a fire after a rain storm? Thanks guys.

Split larger branches to get at the drier wood inside.

-Blast

Look in protected areas, such as at the bottom of a brush pile or the lee of some rocks. Also, stack the damp wood around the fire once it's started. Sometimes you don't need a huge fire to dry out more wood.

I recently got a firebowl for backyard s'mores making and fire building practice. I too am concerned with things like this because thus far I have not been able to start a fire using dry leaves and dry grass with a Magfire. I'm thinking that if I had to start a fire using only natural materials when the materials are the slightest bit damp, I'd be in big trouble!

In the "Prepared to Survive" DVD they suggest the splitting larger branches method to obtaining dry material. The dry stuff can be shaved and powdered to make nice tinder and kindling from what I understand.

A couple of things:

Preparation of fire making materials is essential. Make sure you have plenty of tinder (wood shavings, dry leaves/pine needles, cattail fluff, etc.), kindling (small-medium twigs, split branches, etc.) and fuel supply (larger branches, limbs, split logs, etc.). Have everything ready ahead of your fire making attempts.

Wood will absorb more water/moisture from end grain then side grain. Breaking off and discarding the ends of small twigs and branches should, combined with removing the outer bark and outer layers of wood give you the best opportunity to obtain dry(er) wood. Look for dead twigs and braches still in the tree, these should provided better fuel then wood laying on the ground.

Pete

If there are any evergreens, break off some of the lower, inner, DEAD branches, they'll be dry (unless it's flooded) and will burn like they've been soaked in gasoline, I did this one time years ago while in the field with a former SF Ranger... apparently he was asleep when they covered this in his training, because he was amazed that I, a mere mortal, could get a fire going in the rain <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />.

Troy

On canoe trips, my brother-in-law usually brings along a plumber's blowtorch. I've seen him start a health blaze in the middle of a serious downpour, under the edge of a tarp shelter. Feeding the fire with lots of wet branches kept it going.

Ors,

We have a Dutch Oven table in our back yard that we practice fire making on. With the leaves or dry grass try holding some in your hand with some sticking out the end. Then smash them against a rock or something hard. The grass will crumple into little pieces and some will be powdery. It will then be easy to light with your ferro rod. Remember only the fine, frayed, stuff catches a spark and starts to burn. The Magfire is great! Take a piece of scrap pine wood and whittle some thin curls. Once you have a little pile try sparking it with the Magfire. Try putting the end of the Magfire in the pile and scrapping down into the pile. It should light right up. Everyone in my family has been able to do it.

For wet wood, here is where a fixed blade knife and a folding saw come in handy. Cut a likely piece of wood to a usable length with the saw and then use the fixed blade to split the wood into kindling. Get some inner pieces and make thin shavings from it. Use your ferro rod to light the shavings.

With some treated cotton balls you can skip the thin shavings. With a few sticks of fatwood you can add them to your kindling to keep the fire going long enough to dry and burn the kindling. You have to get embers to have a sustainable fire. The embers heat the wood that vaporizes the oil in the wood and the vapors burn in the air as a flame.

I have read (not tried) that a candle lighted and surrounded with damp kindling will gradually dry tinder. Once a bit of tinder is burning use it to dry more and so on. Extreme patience would be required as well as some kind of shelter under which to work.
I like the idea of inner dead twigs on the lower parts of evergreens being dry and flamable. I need to try some of these techniques during next rain. Also, wet fire tinder or esbit fuel can substitute for candle.

Looking under the thickest of vegetation, trees, brush and such, sometimes I find good kindling. Pitch from pine might help get it going. I second what was said before here using evergreens.

I hike along rivers alot and this is a problem after rains. It is a pain, but I shave out sticks constantly to get them to burn and keep a fire going until embers form and then it gets easier. I do look for higher dry branches to break off, I'm a taller person at 6'5".. When hiking along rivers, I make it a habit now to carry along tightly rolled pieces of newspaper tied with twine and then dipped in parrafin. This has alleviated alot of the problem.

This post will be rather arcane unless you live in certain regions. I was on an archaeological excavation on a rather windy and barren Wyoming plain.We were cold and seriously windchilled. The various little campstoves made lots of coffee and hot chocolate as people scurried into sleeping bags. There was little vegetation, BUT what was there had been converted by these large herbivores into another product. Dry, it made a rather pungeant but warming fire. I further worried my colleages by supplementing my thin ensolite pad with a substantial layer of the also insulating material. Come morning said herbivores had grazed near us. I was performing my morning ablutions downwind from one magnificent Ta Tonka. Near sighted but with a good nose, he never gave me a second wiff. <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

You need a good accellerant. Couglan's Emegency Tinder is probly the best choice. It's cheap, light and burns for a long time. Also look for Silver birch. That will burn even when wet.

Hexamine tabs would work well in this situation also right? Just set a few of them under a good size piece of wood and they should burn hot enough to set it on fire, right?

Good tips for a novice like me. Although, I've discovered that I'm light years ahead of a friend mine. Totally clueless in the fire making department. He mentioned lighter fluid as his preferred method... <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

I did crush up the leaves, but didn't think to do that with the grass. And I'll try a bit of whittling as well.

I like to use the serrated type blade on my Charge with the Magfire...lots and lots of sparks! Now if Magfire would only make a BSA Hotspark size... <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

I am still developing my fire making skills and I just got a hexamine stove and haven't yet played with hexamine, but I think basic fire building techniques would still apply, meaning that the hex tab should be under kindling (pencil sized) wood with progressively bigger pieces going up from there until the fire is hot enough to catch the bigger fuel.

My guess is that if the hexamine was under a good sized piece of wood only it would be like trying to ignite a big log by lighting a mini Bic under it...a waste of time and effort (and probably a scorched thumb!)

I don't know how the hexamine fares in damp conditions. Wetfire tinder might work in a wider variety of weather. Unless of course you regularly pack hexamine, then it makes sense to use what's available. Although Wetfire doesn't take up much room. But as I understand sometimes Wetfire can "wear out" if it's old, so you would want to replace it on a schedule with other "perishable" kit.

My two cents <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I've tried this, hexamine only works well on damp wood if the wood is shaved out and used with dry tinder in my experience at least. I have burned out numerous hexy tabs with no result in getting a fire going on damp riversides unless preparing properly. They make great fire starters, especially on driftwood, but sometimes are a pain to light up.

Some homemade things I use: (remember, I'm not an ultralighter and I enjoy being somewhat of a pyro-maniac making homemade tinder)

*plastic bottle caps filled with parrifin with something to act as a wick inside
*tightly rolled newspaper (1" X 2" or smaller) tied with twine and dipped into parrafin
*old-school tuna can-trick: card board strips curled inside can, add a string, then fill with parrafin. I found these also work good if I run out of fuel tabs: I turn the esbit-type stove upside down and put it underneath. Boils water in a stainless mug right away, but with nice and messy residue
*buffed-up cedar bark I always carry. Eastern Red Cedar grows everywhere where I live.
*Char cloth

I've had my fill of magnesium fire starters, like DR says, its hard to keep the shavings together, so I roll pj-soaked cotton balls in the magnesium shavings. Took this tip from this forum. These take a spark on the first try every time for me with ferro rod or Spark-Lite (at least in dry conditions) AND burn for at least 9 minutes

Again, I advocate Coleman fire starter sticks, cut twice the size of a bullion cube, burning about 5 minutes.

Simon---how damp is damp with the wood you are using? My thoughts were to use one hex tab and put some kindling around it, thus making a sustainable small fire that I can continue to feed. Once this is done I can place a larger wet log above this small fire with supports on the side. Sort of like roasting a pig. With this method I think you would be able to dry out a large wet log...given that you keep feeding the hexamine fire.

Building a fire is very much just that - "building". You start with "tinder" which will light with, say, a match but burn long enough to ignite the first stage of kindling. The first kindling should be matchstick diameter or smaller. As someone else mentioned, the dead twigs near the bottom of evergreens are usually fairly dry and burn well. After this point it really doesn't matter how wet the rest of the wood is, as long as its not "punky" (rotten).

From there, you just work your way up gradually to larger and larger diameter sticks. One trick is to select a large dead branch and start at the small end with the twigs and work your way towards the larger end as the fire gets bigger.

Don't think "log" when you think about a survival or camp fire. And certainly don't think you're going to go straight from tinder to a single flaming log, even with a gallon of gasoline to help. In fact, a single log alone will soon end up just smouldering. You need the combined heat of several pieces of wood to keep a fire going.

Most likely, you'll never get over 1" diameter or so. Why? I don't know about you, but how big a stick can you easily break over your knee? Over and over?

Now, if you do need to keep a large fire going, there is a trick for burning larger wood without having to saw it into smaller lengths. Just lay the end of the large branch or dead tree across your fire and let it burn off a 1 foot piece or so. Move the branch in another foot and lay the seperated piece across it. Repeat. It helps to have three or four pieces feeding in at the same time from different angles. Remember, you need more than one piece of wood burning to keep it going.

- Tom S.

Very damp wood. I am going along banks after heavy rains where just a day or two before flooding had occurred. Put it this way: the sun has to be shining for me to venture into these places AND I have to watch weather forecasts beforehand and be real safe. 8 feet or more up in trees debris is caught in branches from the previous water level. So I would say pretty darn damp.

What you describe is feasible, also following the advice of thseng's reply is good. It just isn't easy with the wood I am stuck with in river bottoms after downpours unless I want to climb trees or come across suitable driftwood.

sorry to drag this back to the top, but I'm surprised no one mentioned a road flare. I carry road flares. I don't want to be dealing with frustrations of lighting wet wood. Also, it is very likely that most of your rain encounters will also be accompanied by low temperatures. the colder it gets the more your motor skills are affected, first the fine ones followed by the gross ones. the last thing you want to do is fumble around, trying to start a fire, while you're freezing. needless to say, you will have difficulty in handling smaller items, let alone trying to start a fire by some spark based method. Now, I'm an advocate of spark based methods, but a flare is much much much better, if your trying to survive a hypothermic situation.

Alan

Road flares are not something I ever want to pack on me trapsing around through the forest, but cool if it works for you. If its as cold of a scenario as you portray, you have a good point. Maybe I need to pack handwarmers when its cold.

Why wouldn't you want to carry a flare? (Just curious)

That depends on how shock sensitive the flares are. And don't you want to reserve them for signaling?

Road flares would be good for both making a fire and signalling. If you're freezing NOW though, it might be best to use it to make a fire and save yourself. Otherwise some hunter might find your cold lifeless body with a couple perfectly good raod flares still in your pack.

the problem is, no ne ever knows when they will need to expediantly start a fire. many people go solo, bad idea in my opinion, none the less they do. for whatever reason, it seems many accidents happen when your solo. perhaps, their isn't that buddy telling you "hay! don't cross the river there". what ever the case, it would be prudent on the soloist part to have an easy, effective way to start a fire on their own. you never know when you'll fall through ice or in a cold river, when out and about.

make no mistake, just because it is the middle of summer, doesn't mean you won't suffer from hypothermia. a quick dip in the river, produced from snow melt, will surly change your mind. add to that your doing a solo adventure, hmmmm! sounds like recipe for disaster.

personally, I don't care how well I can start a fire with two sticks of wood or a lighter, I'm going for the guaranteed fire starting method. for me, that's a flare.

Alan Halcon

Well put Halcon...I agree totaly. I think that if you are in the woods with or without someone why risk it. Bring something that will save your life. So what if your pride is damaged because you cant start a fire with two thumbtacks and a ball of yarn.

I carry a road flare (also called a railroad fusee) as my last-ditch, must make fire now device. It works well, is extremely durable, not the least bit shock sensitive, and nearly waterproof. But they make a poor signaling device. When I lay down a flare pattern on a roadway (perhaps 10 or so), it usually only takes a minute or two for someone to drive right over them.

I carry enough homemade pyro hardware and tinder that is safer to carry and use that will flame up in a hurry. Its just more weight to lug. Disagree with me if you want, its just my preference.

Good points, Alan. It rarely snows where I live, though. Terrain, climate, personal preferences, abililties, skills, and needs all have alot to do with.decisions of this type. Road flares are just overkill for me. Remember though, that's only for ME. We tailor what we tote to ourselves, just because something works for me, doesn't mean it works for everyone

Going solo is risky, but good planning and precautions can be taken. You can't always have somebody to hark at your beckon call to go on a trip for whatever reason in the wilderness for a couple of hours. So prior notifying of people is essential.

As for myself, I take the risk to enjoy wildlife, but I do let people know where I am going, when I will be back, stay in cell phone range. etc., etc, etc.

Life is full of risks. But I don't go out overnight alone, that is too risky for me. Remember this line?: "A man has got to know his limitations."

Simon good post. I am curious, however. why the disdain for flares? I'm not trying to be confrontational, I am just wondering if perhaps there's issues with them, that I'm not aware of?

Alan

Some people choose not to carry them, that's all. Some people love matches (raises hand), others hate them and only use lighters and spark-based ignition systems. I swear by nalgene bottles, others at them. There is no one right answer to gear selection. You take what you know how to use, like, and can afford. Every kit is a balancing act.

Flares would be great to have, but first I consider the extra weight, like anything else I tote. More importantly, flares should be stored correctly. They have to be to be in good shape when I would need them. That's something of a hassle for me toting my most commonly used daypack. Roadflares and such should be kept dry, because if the paper gets wet and the seal opens, the sulfur will leak out. The corrosives are hazardous to skin and eyes, I would have to go thru the trouble of having their own "special container," because they would contaminate many "more important" things in my little daypack if they leaked.. Precautions to keep them away from fuel and from anything else that I pack that’s ignitable in any way have to be taken also . I trek through heavy brush alot. Going thru that heavy brush knocks my gear around alot. I hope this makes it clear why they don't work for me.

Simon, good enough! I was just curious.

Alan