Equipped To Survive Equipped To Survive® Presents
The Survival Forum
Where do you want to go on ETS?

Page 8 of 9 < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >
Topic Options
#211374 - 11/15/10 11:59 PM Re: Fire Starters in FREEZING CONDITIONS [Re: sotto]
ireckon Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 04/01/10
Posts: 1629
Loc: Northern California
Originally Posted By: sotto
Sorry, I admit to not reading this whole post. I may even be posting the same thing myself twice. At any rate, I saw a vid (maybe youtube) once where an experienced backcountry snowmobiler in some serious wilderness area was demonstrating his "last ditch" a_s-saving emergency fire-starting protocol. He was on a "frozen-over" river, and intentionally drove his snowmobile into one of those areas covered by snow where the river ice had cracked and liquid water had come through forming a large puddle just under the snow. His snowmobile got caught in the slush and he found himself seriously wet and cold from the dunking.

His a_s saving firekit was:

a roll of toilet paper in a plastic bag, a can of lighter fluid, a pile of sticks, and a sparking tool.

He squirted the lighter fluid on some of the toilet paper, and had it blazing away in seconds. He piled some sticks on top of this and stripped down in front of the fire and had his wet clothes drying out in just a couple minutes. I found this to be a very impressive demo.


Awesome, that gives me more confidence with starting a fire by using my current kit (updated from my pics above).
_________________________
If you're reading this, it's too late.

Top
#211376 - 11/16/10 12:38 AM Re: Fire Starters in FREEZING CONDITIONS [Re: ireckon]
rebwa Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 01/25/09
Posts: 295
No matter what method used to start the fire, the trick is to have plenty of wood already gathered to get it going and often times nurse it along until it's burning hot. Getting a fire going in wet conditions takes some doing at the best. Finding dry wood to get it going is the ticket.

Top
#211387 - 11/16/10 02:50 AM Re: Fire Starters in FREEZING CONDITIONS [Re: ireckon]
Richlacal Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 02/11/10
Posts: 778
Loc: Los Angeles, CA
No Matter even if a Forest Fire,Short of a Firestorm,Wet Clothes take a BIT more than a Couple a'Minutes to dry,Unless...You happen to be Ken,Of Ken/Barbie Fame!

Top
#211391 - 11/16/10 03:49 AM Re: Fire Starters in FREEZING CONDITIONS [Re: kevingg]
aloha Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 11/16/05
Posts: 1059
Loc: Hawaii, USA
Originally Posted By: kevingg
carry a road flare. you will be able to get a fire going, thats for certain.



+1 on the road flare over and above your usual fire starting equipment.
_________________________
---------
http://hanzosoutdoors.blogspot.com/

Top
#211395 - 11/16/10 04:44 AM Re: Fire Starters in FREEZING CONDITIONS [Re: rebwa]
Phaedrus Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 04/28/10
Posts: 3148
Loc: Big Sky Country
Originally Posted By: rebwa
No matter what method used to start the fire, the trick is to have plenty of wood already gathered to get it going and often times nurse it along until it's burning hot. Getting a fire going in wet conditions takes some doing at the best. Finding dry wood to get it going is the ticket.


Very true. I had a helluva time getting that thru my brother's thick head, though. We went camping last weekend, and due to p!ss poor planning (mostly on his part) we didn't get to camp until a half hour before sundown. That annoyed me since I like to take my time with fire prep, batonning wood down til I have a pretty big pile of kindling. Normally I sort the wood into three piles- kindling, small fuel and large fuel. To me kindling is wood between the size of a pencil and the size of your thumb. Small fuel is wood split down to the dry center and no larger than your wrist. Large fuel is anything that will burn but larger than that, maybe split once. At any rate, I didn't have time to split a ton of wood, but I had enough to get the fire going. I built an platform for an upside down fire and placed a cotton ball under the kindling. The wood was simply not as dry as I'd have liked so things were taking a while to get really going. But my brother sees flame and starts heaping wood on it. mad I try to explain that fire needs air as well as fuel but he's convinced it will be fine. Long story short, I ended up having to "rescue" the fire with a little bundle of fatwood I'd brought along to try out but forgotten to use (until that point). I think he learned a lot about fire that evening. Next time he'll know enough to let the fire reach that critical mass before adding large fuel.
_________________________
“I'd rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” —Richard Feynman

Top
#211396 - 11/16/10 04:47 AM Re: Fire Starters in FREEZING CONDITIONS [Re: ireckon]
Phaedrus Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 04/28/10
Posts: 3148
Loc: Big Sky Country
BTW, if any of you live in areas of prolonged drought, for a nominal fee I will come to your area and set up my camp- I guarantee the rains will began to fall within two hours. wink grin Every time I've gone out this year it's rained on me. Luckily it didn't rain hard, and even luckier for my brother I made sure to have two rain ponchos. He only had a sub sandwich, a box of wine and his laptop. Yeah, his laptop. confused
_________________________
“I'd rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” —Richard Feynman

Top
#211780 - 11/22/10 06:37 PM Re: Fire Starters in FREEZING CONDITIONS [Re: ireckon]
ireckon Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 04/01/10
Posts: 1629
Loc: Northern California
The system below will be going in my jacket pocket when I go playing in the snow. It may seem bulky at first, but it's relatively small given its advantages. I'll be downsizing my neck kit that I posted earlier.







_________________________
If you're reading this, it's too late.

Top
#211809 - 11/23/10 02:47 AM Re: Fire Starters in FREEZING CONDITIONS [Re: ireckon]
Gnarly Offline
Stranger

Registered: 08/12/10
Posts: 1
Loc: Resume Speed,KY,USA
Everything written here about lighterd (fatwood) is true!

And the 'trick' birthday candles are a nice addition to that last kit.

I use (old-fashioned) paper egg cartons to make 'firestarter cupcakes',as my GrandKids call 'em.
To an empty egg carton,cut lid off & discard.To each of the 12 'egg spaces',add one PJ'd cotton ball,dryer lint if you saved some,some splinters & chips of lighterd,and a couple short pieces of jute hanging over the edge.Stick one longer splinter of lighterd up over the edge also.
Then melt paraffin in a double boiler-carefully! as paraffin is flammable!- until liquid; pour into each of the 12 spaces until the space is mostly full.
After these cool,cut out the 12 firestarters.
Before use,wrap the jute around the longest piece of lighterd (left sticking out) and light this as a wick.
The paraffin will saturate the egg carton paper (cardboard?!?) and these will be basically waterproof.
One of these,and 6 pieces of lighterd the size of pencils,will coax even damp kindling into a fire.
And most any method will light these...matches,ferro rod,lighter.

~Gnarly
_________________________
~*~ Pray for Peace,but reload more ammo ~*~

Top
#212841 - 12/11/10 02:26 AM Re: Fire Starters in FREEZING CONDITIONS [Re: ireckon]
raptor Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 04/05/08
Posts: 288
Loc: Europe
I am browsing zippo.com website right now and see they have some interesting looking natural tinder - cedar pucks. http://www.zippo.com/Products/zippo-fire-starters.aspx (at the bottom of the page)
(I don't work for them, just wanted to share the find.)

Top
#213331 - 12/19/10 09:09 PM Re: Fire Starters in FREEZING CONDITIONS [Re: ireckon]
bacpacjac Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 05/05/07
Posts: 3601
Loc: Ontario, Canada
I like it irecokn! I was adding a few thing for a trip today when the blower motor for our interior fan blew. We skipped the trip to make the repair and I've added belts and systems checks to our winter prep list for next year. If that fan had blow midway, I would have been happy to have your kit on-board. It's more compact than mine and looks just as efficient!
_________________________
Mom & Adventurer

You can find me on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT9fpZEy5XSWkYy7sgz-mSA

Top
Page 8 of 9 < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >



Moderator:  Alan_Romania, Blast, cliff, Hikin_Jim 
March
Su M Tu W Th F Sa
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
Who's Online
1 registered (chaosmagnet), 341 Guests and 64 Spiders online.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Newest Members
GallenR, Jeebo, NicholasMarshall, Yadav, BenFoakes
5367 Registered Users
Newest Posts
What did you do today to prepare?
by dougwalkabout
Yesterday at 11:21 PM
Zippo Butane Inserts
by dougwalkabout
Yesterday at 11:11 PM
Question about a "Backyard Mutitool"
by Ren
03/17/24 01:00 AM
Problem in my WhatsApp configuration
by Chisel
03/09/24 01:55 PM
New Madrid Seismic Zone
by Jeanette_Isabelle
03/04/24 02:44 PM
EDC Reduction
by EchoingLaugh
03/02/24 04:12 PM
Using a Compass Without a Map
by KenK
02/28/24 12:22 AM
Newest Images
Tiny knife / wrench
Handmade knives
2"x2" Glass Signal Mirror, Retroreflective Mesh
Trade School Tool Kit
My Pocket Kit
Glossary
Test

WARNING & DISCLAIMER: SELECT AND USE OUTDOORS AND SURVIVAL EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES AND TECHNIQUES AT YOUR OWN RISK. Information posted on this forum is not reviewed for accuracy and may not be reliable, use at your own risk. Please review the full WARNING & DISCLAIMER about information on this site.