Originally Posted By: bacpacjac
AT hikers, in particular, seem to embrace the camp stove, and hate the campfire, making it impossible for many of them to start a signal fire,

I would light the camp stove, and that becomes my tinder (and kindling to some extent). You could ignite some pretty heavy and damp stuff by using a camp stove as your "match". Lighting tinder in a damp environment with a ferro rod is a skill that has to be learned and practiced. Lighting it with a roaring camp stove, not so much.

Reminds me of a show a few years back - I forgot the name, it was about some special forces guys - and in one episode they crashed their helicopter and were stranded in a survival situation. In the foreground of the scene, they were busily at work with a fire bow trying to make a friction fire. In the background of the scene was the flaming helicopter. I think I would have lit my stuff using the readily available fire coming from the burning helicopter instead of messing around with a fire bow.