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Thread: What fire making techniques work best for you?

  1. #21
    Large bipedal Primate Billofthenorth's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Batch View Post
    It seems sometimes that there is a bit of animosity towards people asking questions about skills that can be difficult to acquire.

    Billofthenorth simply asked what technique worked best to start a fire with nothing and acknowledged that this would be a "worst case scenario".

    That being said if you can build a friction fire, even if everything you carried failed or was taken from you, you can still achieve your goal of fire.

    So, having this skill will have you making careful preps so that the hard one coal is not squandered. That is another big advantage to practicing these skills at there most basic levels.

    I practice primitive fire and carry many fire starting aids. I started the campfire Saturday night using dead grass and live oak twigs with some cabbage palm fronds and jack boots. Then we used live oak. We cooked all of our food on that one fire this weekend without needing a lighter of matches at all. Chicken, steak, sausage, hotdogs and hamburgers, bacon, eggs, corn, beans, poke salet, mixed vegetables, grilled peppers. All with a single flick of my bic.

    Nothing unusual there. Knowing how to build a fire, restart a fire, what wood is good to cook over are all simple skills. I have seen a bunch of people that don't properly prepare for fire or have any idea what kind of wood they have and if it is good for cooking with. That fire was permanently extinguished today after lunch.

    Do we tell people studying wild edibles that they need to keep a pack of granola in their pack and forget learning wild edibles?

    To the OP, I have had good success with willow spindle and willow hearth board. I also used willow for the bow. I used a shot glass for a bearing block. I tried using shells and the shot glass was just that much more comfortable. I am going to carve a bearing block out of Live Oak or West Indian Mahogany, both of which a locally very abundant and I think might work good. I have tried Cabbage Palm on Cabbage Palm with lots of smoke. But, I burn through the frond before I get a coal. I will keep trying. LOL

    Thanks for your answer, you get what I meant.


  2. #22
    Senior Member Old GI's Avatar
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    My personal favorite is "Honey, get the fire started". Hey, I'm the man of my hou....... ouch, oh no!
    When Wealth is Lost, Nothing is Lost;
    When Health is Lost, Something is Lost;
    When Character is Lost, ALL IS LOST!!!!!!!

    Colonel Charles Hyatt circa 1880

  3. #23
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    Hello Bill,
    Simply put...I NEVER - EVER go into the hills without at least my EDC. This always includes my BK-2, BK-11, Firesteel, and Cottonball Tinder (which there are multitudes of "natural" options in Western NY), ZIPPO, Leatherman, and canteen / water. I've tried the Bow Drill route and it simply does not make sense to use all that energy when a simple EDC works. TV has everyone hiped up on surviving without anything to work with. I'm old...If I had my way I'd carry an RV on my back Ha Ha! In all seriousness Bill...set yourself up with a nice little EDC and carry it with you...E very D ay C arry. Probably isn't what you want to hear but it would be my advice to you. Take care, Mike

  4. #24
    Large bipedal Primate Billofthenorth's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike D'Antonio View Post
    Hello Bill,
    Simply put...I NEVER - EVER go into the hills without at least my EDC. This always includes my BK-2, BK-11, Firesteel, and Cottonball Tinder (which there are multitudes of "natural" options in Western NY), ZIPPO, Leatherman, and canteen / water. I've tried the Bow Drill route and it simply does not make sense to use all that energy when a simple EDC works. TV has everyone hiped up on surviving without anything to work with. I'm old...If I had my way I'd carry an RV on my back Ha Ha! In all seriousness Bill...set yourself up with a nice little EDC and carry it with you...E very D ay C arry. Probably isn't what you want to hear but it would be my advice to you. Take care, Mike
    I have several similar set ups for my vehicles or when I'm hiking but things happen to seperate one from their stuff, whats in the brain can't be taken.

  5. #25
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    I've made a quite a few friction fires and more than a few spark fires... Honestly I don't think I could trust my life to anything less than a sparking device, and natural fatwood to get fire started.

  6. #26
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    Hello Bill,
    Other than someone killing me and taking my EDC, I can't see how I would ever "accidently lose it". My basic EDC consists of a double Mag Pouch on my right side pants belt with a Leatherman Supertool, Zippo, Mag Bar, 1/2"X3 1/2" Firesteel w/ hacksaw blade striker, fishing gear wrapped in a small seine net. On my left pants belt is an LED Minimag light. Around my neck is my KaBar BK-11, small Sunto Compass, small Firesteel w/ hacksaw blade striker, and 25 foot of 550 cord. I'm 60 years old and have carried this (or very similar EDC's) for well over 35 years. I'm not paranoid but I do spend huge amounts of time in the hills and my gear is simply a part of my lifestyle. You mention that you have several of these in your vehicle. As a Search and Rescue Crew Boss, I teach newbies that an EDC is always carried on ones body and anything carried in a vehicle or cached anywhere else is considered a "Go Kit". The only time I temporarily leave mine in my Jeep is when I need to enter a Government Facility that prohibits me from carry. (Stupid laws enacted due to terrible actions of stupid people) Bill, I certainly do not want you to feel I'm being argumentative with you in my posts! I simply want to stress the absolute importance of pro-active planning whenever we are in the Wilderness (or during any weather / manmade situation that might require "alternative preparedness" actions. I am very glad to see your interest in "Survival" and applaud you for it. More people should think like that. Once you reach a certain level of preparedness and experience you will forget the word survival and simply consider it another way of life. Keep up the great work and I hope to chat with you often! Mike

  7. #27
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Just a little pouch I carry every day......
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    It's good to know as many ways to make fire, practice when you can....but I generally don't go out expecting to survive....I'm doing something else, but want to cover my bases when I can.
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  8. #28

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    the methode that works for me is coating a cotton ball in patrolium jelly

  9. #29
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    I used to carry my Firesteel on my keychain. After watching an episode of survival Alaska where the guy's kayak overturns on the river and he loses all his gear, my thoughts changed. I wear my firesteel around my neck. whatever may happen to me, I believe the firesteel will stay around my neck(as opposed to falling out of a pants or jacket pocket).

  10. #30

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    Quote Originally Posted by cpttuna View Post
    I used to carry my Firesteel on my keychain. After watching an episode of survival Alaska where the guy's kayak overturns on the river and he loses all his gear, my thoughts changed. I wear my firesteel around my neck. whatever may happen to me, I believe the firesteel will stay around my neck(as opposed to falling out of a pants or jacket pocket).
    Hi, cpttuna. how about heading here... http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...-Introductions.. and say howdy
    I Wonder Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here, and drink what ever comes out?"

  11. #31
    One step at a time intothenew's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cpttuna View Post
    ....................(as opposed to falling out of a pants or jacket pocket).
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    "They call us civilized because we are easy to sneak up on."- Lone Waite

  12. #32
    Super Moderator crashdive123's Avatar
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    or.............

    Can't Means Won't

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  13. #33

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    Battery and steel wool..

  14. #34

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    Fire.

    I have seen many proclaimed outdoorsmen fail to keep a fire lit with store bought wood and lighter fluid.

    The disposable lighter is a 1970's product.

    The lighter is a 20th century invention.

    The mish metal, ferrocium rod it was patented in 1903.

    Matches of one sort or another have been around for centuries. But, they were unreliable and dangerous. They either wouldn't light or they would light in your pocket.

    A person who learns to make a friction fire can start a fire with any of the other methods and I don't know any who don't carry multiple fire making methods with them. They just completely own the fire building skill.

    Kinda like when we learn to make an atlatl, we don't stop carrying a gun. We just have a clearer understanding of the process of flying projectiles... LOL

  15. #35

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    which techniques do you suggest at different climates. Please suggest what tools.

  16. #36

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hamish View Post
    which techniques do you suggest at different climates. Please suggest what tools.
    I suggest this.....http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...-Introductions
    I Wonder Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here, and drink what ever comes out?"

  17. #37
    reclinite automaton canid's Avatar
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    I have by far the best results with a fire-bow, if we're to exclude gasoline, a bic and [insert any tinder in any moisture-condition here].

    I still habitually leave most of my knives full hard at the spine for a steel though.
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  18. #38

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    Quote Originally Posted by canid View Post
    I have by far the best results with a fire-bow, if we're to exclude gasoline, a bic and [insert any tinder in any moisture-condition here].

    I still habitually leave most of my knives full hard at the spine for a steel though.
    Somehow, we get a bunch of folks from everywhere else that proclaim themselves country boys and proclaim us city folks because we are from South Florida.

    A lot of these self described country boys use an accelerant and junk wood to try and start a fire and fail. LOL

  19. #39
    Super Moderator crashdive123's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Batch View Post
    Somehow, we get a bunch of folks from everywhere else that proclaim themselves country boys and proclaim us city folks because we are from South Florida.

    A lot of these self described country boys use an accelerant and junk wood to try and start a fire and fail. LOL
    Everybody knows that South Florida is all like South Beach in Miami......well......and about a million and a half acres of Everglades. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everglades
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  20. #40

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    I need more dirt time with the bow drill I think I would have a cold night trying to light a fire like that.

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