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Thread: Fire From Ice

  1. #1

    Lightbulb Fire From Ice

    So, I'm not sure how many people know this, but a fair amount of people on the internet have posted tutorials on how to make an ice lens to start a fire. Obviously, this has several problems, such as the how cloudy the ice is, finding the dimensions of a perfect lens, and needing man-made tools to carve it perfectly. However, I seem to have found an unknown alternative.

    A couple of months ago I was thinking about the shape of a lens, and how it reflects light. It suddenly hit me that you could use a sphere for a lens, instead of the classic hemisphere shape. I went to a nearby stream, picked up a piece of cube shaped ice about the size of a pair of clasped hands, and just worked it down to about the size of a golfball by making a kind of "snowball packing" motion. I tried it out on some birch tinder, and it got a fire started within seconds.

    The obvious advantages of this are that a) you don't really need any tools to make it, and b) you don't have to worry about the dimensions, you just have to make something roughly spherical. The cloudiness of the ice is a problem, but that can't really be helped.

    Just wanted to get some feedback and to share this. Hopefully, it'll help someone out.


  2. #2
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Hunter63 saying Hey and Welcome....
    Thee is a intro section if you would care to say hello at:
    http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...-Introductions

    Interesting you got fire so fast....most all attempts I have seen didn't work that well.

    Wneh you get 10 posts in,.... a vid would be nice.
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  3. #3
    Super Moderator crashdive123's Avatar
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    Fire within seconds?

    Here is a post from one of our members who is currently on the show Alone. http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...highlight=fire
    Can't Means Won't

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  4. #4
    Not a Mod finallyME's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by crashdive123 View Post
    Fire within seconds?

    Here is a post from one of our members who is currently on the show Alone. http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...highlight=fire
    Yeah, I was just thinking.... Didn't David from alone do that a couple years ago?
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  5. #5
    Senior Member kyratshooter's Avatar
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    Can we put this into perspective people?

    It's freekin' JUNE and the temps topped 90 here today!

    My fire-maker super-duper ice lens keeps melting!

    Apparently it is soaking down the tinder and I can't get a coal!
    If you didn't bring jerky what did I just eat?

  6. #6
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    I keep mine in the freezer. Hard to use it in the woods but it doesn't melt.

  7. #7

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    I was kinda curious where one picks up ice from a stream in June. Alaska? New Zealand?
    Last edited by LowKey; 06-02-2016 at 08:44 PM.
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  8. #8
    Senior Member kyratshooter's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LowKey View Post
    I was kinda curious where one picks up ice from a stream in June. Alaska? New Zealand?
    Nope, its in the dreams, because you sure are not outside doing real stuff, sweating, and dodging bugs.
    If you didn't bring jerky what did I just eat?

  9. #9

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    he did say "a couple months ago" but..... ah skip it I am not going to say what everybody is already thinking.

  10. #10
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    No.No. Please. Go ahead. Whatever we were thinking ten minutes ago we've already forgotten so you might jog some memories.

  11. #11
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Seems FireFromIce ....shot the wad on the first post?

    Man this one just Burst into flame....like gunpowder...Wow.
    Last edited by hunter63; 06-08-2016 at 10:23 PM.
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  12. #12
    Senior Member kyratshooter's Avatar
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    It has to be true,

    it was on a You-tube video!

    Those things are getting as bad as photo-shopped still photos.
    If you didn't bring jerky what did I just eat?

  13. #13
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Yeah, man did ya see the way it just EXPLODED!......Wow cool.
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