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