Can't say that I've ever needed the use of a squirrals anal fluids to make fire by the fire plough method before. Probably a good thing too since we don't actually have squirrels here.
Mick
Mick
How do I build a fire for survival?
- Thread starter BubblesAssassin
- Start date
Got a back yard with a charcoal bbq or fire pit? Practice the basics. Make kindling with what you normally carry - pinky size splits, twigs, fuzz sticks, etc. Light up thumb size then larger. Practice making a "cave" of materials that are sorted in size to make for easy lighting, even in a drizzle. You have to light fires in a drizzle at some point as practice too.
While you need to practice fire making with your survival tools, it is OK, and good to start learning fire making with one match and no accelerants under safe conditions. It takes very little space to practice these techniques safely at home without disturbing the neighbors.
Phil
While you need to practice fire making with your survival tools, it is OK, and good to start learning fire making with one match and no accelerants under safe conditions. It takes very little space to practice these techniques safely at home without disturbing the neighbors.
Phil
Plenty of good advice here. I'll just add a few things:
Think of fires in terms of small to large. You first need a way of generating a spark or a flame. So have a fire steel, lighter, waterproof matches, etc. handy. If you're out camping or putting together a survival kit have two or more. Next you're going to need a blade. A good fixed blade knife works well. A hatchet works even better, but is heavier to carry. You use the blade to gather and prepare your wood as well as dozens of other tasks. Seriously, if I was dumped into the woods with only one item it would be a good blade. It is the single most important tool you can have.
You'll need very flammable tinder and then a variety of twigs, sticks and branches. As for tinder birch bark is outstanding stuff and in my opinion is the best stuff available in nature. Seriously, you can dunk a chunk of it in water, shake it off, and light the sucker. So learn what a paper birch looks like and how to take the bark off without hurting the tree. But birches aren't common everywhere. There are a variety of homemade options that are easy to carry with you and don't require you to find tinder. Petroleum jelly coated cotton balls, wax and cardboard or dryer lint, or various commercial fire starters all work well. Check out youtube for plenty of videos on making firestarters.
Then you'll go to your twigs and sticks. Avoid poison ivy and poison oak! Generally you'll want dry, dead wood. If it's been raining lately try to avoid wood laying on the ground. Look for dead branches or trees up off the ground. Break down your twigs to matchstick size. Then get everything else to 6-12" depending on what's available and how big your fire ring is. Gathering wood after you've lit the fire sucks -- it's warm there and cold elsewhere, it'll probably be dark and your night vision will be shot, and if the fire needs fuel fast you may not have time to get what you need and get back. So get everything you think you'll need for the night BEFORE you light the tinder. Stack up your wood small to large outside your fire ring.
There are hundreds of different ways to build the fire itself. Learn a couple different ones and decide what you like best. Teepee, log cabin, upside down, etc. Boy scout manuals, military survival guides, and commercial camping and survival books are all good places to learn. Going out hiking/camping with a buddy who knows what they are doing is great too. The important thing is to learn how to do it in good conditions so that if you find yourself in a bind you know what to do.
Be safe and have fun!
Think of fires in terms of small to large. You first need a way of generating a spark or a flame. So have a fire steel, lighter, waterproof matches, etc. handy. If you're out camping or putting together a survival kit have two or more. Next you're going to need a blade. A good fixed blade knife works well. A hatchet works even better, but is heavier to carry. You use the blade to gather and prepare your wood as well as dozens of other tasks. Seriously, if I was dumped into the woods with only one item it would be a good blade. It is the single most important tool you can have.
You'll need very flammable tinder and then a variety of twigs, sticks and branches. As for tinder birch bark is outstanding stuff and in my opinion is the best stuff available in nature. Seriously, you can dunk a chunk of it in water, shake it off, and light the sucker. So learn what a paper birch looks like and how to take the bark off without hurting the tree. But birches aren't common everywhere. There are a variety of homemade options that are easy to carry with you and don't require you to find tinder. Petroleum jelly coated cotton balls, wax and cardboard or dryer lint, or various commercial fire starters all work well. Check out youtube for plenty of videos on making firestarters.
Then you'll go to your twigs and sticks. Avoid poison ivy and poison oak! Generally you'll want dry, dead wood. If it's been raining lately try to avoid wood laying on the ground. Look for dead branches or trees up off the ground. Break down your twigs to matchstick size. Then get everything else to 6-12" depending on what's available and how big your fire ring is. Gathering wood after you've lit the fire sucks -- it's warm there and cold elsewhere, it'll probably be dark and your night vision will be shot, and if the fire needs fuel fast you may not have time to get what you need and get back. So get everything you think you'll need for the night BEFORE you light the tinder. Stack up your wood small to large outside your fire ring.
There are hundreds of different ways to build the fire itself. Learn a couple different ones and decide what you like best. Teepee, log cabin, upside down, etc. Boy scout manuals, military survival guides, and commercial camping and survival books are all good places to learn. Going out hiking/camping with a buddy who knows what they are doing is great too. The important thing is to learn how to do it in good conditions so that if you find yourself in a bind you know what to do.
Be safe and have fun!
The most experienced backpacker I hike with, who I call "Russ, the God of Fire," taught me that preparation is key and the step people most often rush through.
I've seen this man make a fire in a driving rain.
He accomplishes this by spending a long time preparing the kindling. Don't skimp on preparing the kindling. It should take up 90% of your fire prep.
I've seen this man make a fire in a driving rain.
He accomplishes this by spending a long time preparing the kindling. Don't skimp on preparing the kindling. It should take up 90% of your fire prep.
I can't decide if this is the manliest, or the strangest, post I've ever seen on B&B. Either way it's an award winner in my book.
Great thread overall! Having tried a few of the techniques herein during my Scouting days, I'd say +1 on the magnesium and keeping a good supply of tinder in the pack. I desperately want to try the sugar thing now, and will forever keep the squirrel idea as fantastic bar trivia fodder.
- Thread starter
- #26
Chuck Norris does it...
Here is one of my emergency fire starting kits. Magnesium stick, fire steel. Several items that when they catch a spark will easily ignite. Dryer lint, jute twine when unraveled will catch just as easily as anything I have ever encountered. Cotton ball will catch a single spark, and flame, but will burn fast. Have your twigs, and tinder close by to add to the process of building a fire once initial source of flame is ignited. Practice, pratice, practice!
I want to know who was the person who discovered that, an how?!
Looks like you're fresh out of squirrel anus, better update that kit!
fires nothing the squirrel is the hard part,
ask how to clean up after going to the poo poo in the wild
+1. I was stifling laughter, then someone said it is how Chuck Norris starts a fire. I had to leave before my co-workers thought I was nuts.
OldSaw
The wife's investment
Blow torch?
Actually I'll add another vote for the magnesium striker, small, lightweight and extremely easy to use. Plus they last a very long time.
Actually I'll add another vote for the magnesium striker, small, lightweight and extremely easy to use. Plus they last a very long time.
someone need to light a fire under his a**
Ah, nuts! If its a survival situation and I manage to catch a squirrel, then I'm going to cook it over the fire it helped light.
Well, by all means make sure you get the fire started before killing the squirrel. Knock him out, squeeze butt, start fire, kill squirrel, cook squirrel.
+1. You'd be surprised how difficult something as simple as making fie is, but how easy it is once you figured out the trick... You most defintaly don't want the first time you try to build a fire be when you HAVE to built it.. I have gotten to the point that I use my stricker to start even my back yard fires well at least to get the flame big enough that my firestarter log will catch
probably as his salad dressing.
Bingo.
My ESEE-5 sheath contains an Altoids box that carries a crappy (but usable) compass, and a magnesium in addition to standard firesteels.
The knife itself also has a depression on one scale that can be used as the upper bearing for a bow drill... but a bow drill would not be my first choice for firestarting.
