Fire starting tools and tinder

[Okanagan]

Yesterday at the huge Sportsman's Show in Puyallup, WA I ran across some little blow torch lighters and bought a couple more of them.  My main tool for starting fires however is one of the ferrocereum rods that produce a shower of sparks (second photo down).

Below are a couple of lighters.  The orange one is the Windmill Storm Proof Trekker made specially for backpacking. For starting campfires the cigar store lighter beside it with the long angled neck is a MUCH better design IMO.





My main fire starting tool now is one of the ferrocereum rods, below.  It doesn't run out of fuel, works when wet, is small and light, etc. 




Cotton balls impregnated with Vaseline ignite with one stroke of sparks if they are teased out into fine fibers rather than clumped.  I put a gob of Vaseline in a zip loc along with several cotton balls and knead them till the grease is dispersed through all of the cotton, and double seal them in waterproof bags.   





Scraping pitchwood with a knife or sharp edge of a broken rock produces a fine fuzz.  Usually it only takes one stroke of the fire steel to light the pitchwood fuzz. 



We carry at least three ways to start a fire and keep it burning long enough to dry out the wet stuff we have to work with in our world.   Ability to start a fire is important whether backpacking or in a vehicle miles from pavement or the nearest house.  We keep a lighter, matches and fire steel along with a Trioxane tab or bit of pitch wood in pockets as well as in every pack, glove box etc. so we always have it.   Matches in waterproof prescription bottle and Trioxane are missing from the photo below but not from my pockets and pack.



Grandson in late November roasting a hot dog for lunch over a minimal fire on a day when we were out looking at spawning salmon.  It was raining and had rained constantly for three weeks.  We found zero dry material.

[weedwalker]

The gel hand sanitizer is a good firestarter too. The small travel bottles don't take up any space and will start a lot of fires. Maybe try it with your cotton balls.

Sent from my ZTE-Z990G using Tapatalk 2

[Okanagan]

Thanks.  I have to try that.  I didn't know that stuff would burn but it makes sense.

[weedwalker]

Yes it burns. It's alcohol based. And the gel sticks to what you put it on.

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[FinsnFur]

Yes it burns. It's alcohol based. And the gel sticks to what you put it on.

Like Napalm
------------------------------------>>
Awesome post Clyde! Thanks for putting it up.
I'm going to move it down to "Equipment" where it'll be easier to find, and reference down the road.

I've never seen a cigar lighter like that before, but now you got me wanting one.

[Carolina Coyote]

Yes a very good post, some great idea's on being prepared when hitting the outback. cc

[yotefever]

Since I live so close to an REI store I also have some of their  storm proof matches
http://www.rei.com/product/617046/rei-stormproof-matches

You never know when you need a fire.
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/256449/

[KySongDog]

Good post.  Of course, the key point should be that you ALWAYS must have your tools with you. 

I hunt alone most of the time.  Here is something I never leave home without.  I carried it on all of my Alaskan trips as well.

A PLB (personal locator beacon).........  this is the unit I carry......




I won't go in to all of the details here but you can read about it at this link:

http://www.thegpsstore.com/ACR-2880-ResQLink-PLB-Personal-Locator-Beacon-P2719.aspx

There are other brands on the market but this is one I bought.  And I hope I never have to use it. 

[linemansteve]

Semp,  do you inset the quarters to get it to work ? Steve

[Okanagan]

Jim, thanks for moving this thread. 

You can google Mega Pocket Torch and find places to buy, but most of them seem to be all metal.  The all metal ones are heavier and don't have a see-through tank to see how much butane is left and when it needs refilling.   I'm sure they work as well but it is nice to pick out the color and features you want. 

I found my first one at a tobacco shop and then couldn't find another till I ran across these at a booth selling zillions of kinds of lighters at the Sportsman Show.  The flame is adjustable to be really long, and it is piezo electric ignition, no spark wheel etc. and it is a mini blow torch with sharp pointed blue flame.

Semp, you are wiser than we thought!

I have a SPOT with me and have never used it except a few times to send the OK signal to wife and a few friends.  I don't do that much because I don't want them expecting messages.  I hear that smart phones have an app that links SPOT system to satelites and lets you write and email a text message in real time rather than only having a pre loaded text message.  If so, I want one.

[KySongDog]

Semp, you are wiser than we thought!

Was there EVER a doubt in your mind??  I'm hurt to the core!           

I have a SPOT with me and have never used it except a few times to send the OK signal to wife and a few friends.  I don't do that much because I don't want them expecting messages.  I hear that smart phones have an app that links SPOT system to satelites and lets you write and email a text message in real time rather than only having a pre loaded text message.  If so, I want one.

I researched the SPOT units and decided the service wasn't reliable enough.   SPOT runs on commercial satellites while the ACR unit runs on government satellites.  SPOT requires a yearly subscription while the ACR unit does not.  You have to register the ACR unit with the federal government and you are responsible if the unit is activated frivolously.   


Here is some cut and paste info that compared the two:



What’s the difference between a SPOT and either a Personal Locator Beacon or an EPIRB  (emergency position-indicating radio beacons)?

We like to say it’s an apples to oranges comparison. If your intention is to buy a life saving device, the most important part is to do your research and ask the right questions. We like the SPOT product, it’s a neat little tracking device, but it’s absolutely not a replacement for an EPIRB or Personal Locator Beacon.

What are the power and frequency differences?

Power and Frequency are two key areas to consider when researching a life saving device. If you’re not an engineer, these two subjects can be a little intimidating. Think about it like this: Satellites are thousands of miles away from earth, so your beacon’s signal needs to have enough power to travel that far and be able to go through anything between you and the satellite (trees, weather, out of slot canyons, etc.).

Power: SPOT is powered by 400 milliWatts while ACR 406 MHz PLBs and EPIRBs use 5 Watts. Think about the Total® cereal commercial where they show you how many bowls of the other cereal you need to eat in order to get the nutrition from one bowl of Total. In our example, you would need 12.5 SPOT units to equal the POWER of one ACR PLB or EPIRB. When your signal has to travel 22,000 miles to reach a satellite, you want to make sure you have more than enough power to get it there!

Frequency: The basic principles of frequency are that the lower the frequency, the easier it can penetrate buildings, trees and meteorological activity that appear between the transmitting device (PLB, EPIRB or SPOT) and the receiving device (the satellites). FM radios and TV channels work on a lower frequency which is why they can penetrate buildings and the environment pretty easily. Now think about radar which uses a really high frequency. Radar works by hitting an object and bouncing off, that’s how radar knows where to place an airplane on the radar screen. So the higher the frequency, the less likely it can penetrate things in between, the lower the frequency, the easier it can penetrate. 406 MHz PLBs and EPIRBs use a dedicated frequency set up by the search and rescue community that is in the same range as UHF TV stations. SPOT uses the 1.6GHz frequency which is four times higher in the frequency spectrum. This means SPOT’s frequency is four times less likely to go through an object or weather than the lower 406 MHz frequency.

Summary: Considering power, combined with frequency, ACR’s 406 MHz beacon stands head and shoulders above satellite messenger systems like SPOT. ACR has 12.5 times more power and is four times more likely to penetrate objects in between the beacon and the satellite than SPOT.

Testing and Approvals
SPOT is not a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB). We’ve seen some websites calling it one, but make no mistake, it is not a PLB. Personal Locator Beacons, like EPIRBs, must be submitted to an independent test lab that verifies the frequency, operating life, testing in extreme temperatures, environmental testing, etc. From there, the product must go to Cospas-Sarsat, USCG and finally the FCC (or other comparable agencies in each country) for approval to certify that the EPIRB/PLB meets the standards for Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) and that it exceeds required operating and mechanical conditions that will appear in the marine environment. PLBs and EPIRBs are rigorously tested by governing agencies to confirm they will work properly in the environment. This is a big difference from SPOT which only has to self-test and self certify that it meets Part 15 FCC. If you are not familiar with Part 15, check out your garage door opener, it is approved with the same self certified rule.

Made in the USA vs. Made in China
ACR PLBs and EPIRBs are MADE IN THE USA, SPOT is made in China. While outsourcing a product to Asia can ultimately reduce the cost to manufacture a product, you also lose process control over the manufacturing, which is key to Quality. ACR strongly believes that products whose sole intention is to save lives must work the first time every time, PERIOD. The only way to meet this goal is to oversee the entire manufacturing process and test, retest, and test again during the process. If you watch our factory tour videos on our Website, Facebook or YouTube, you will see the extreme steps we take to make sure we have a zero defect ratio. We actually had to email SPOT’s customer service to find out where they manufacture their units because they do not mark this information on the box, in the product support manual or on their website. “Axonn is the manufacturer and they out source labor in China” â€" Raquel Talarico, SPOT Inside Sales and Marketing (raquel.talarico@findmespot.com).




What does Search and Rescue (SAR) say about the differences?

A 406 MHz signal coming from an EPIRB/PLB is recognized by SAR as a true emergency, and they act immediately. By law, search and rescue is required to find and turn off any 406 MHz beacon once activated. Search and Rescue has made it very clear that SPOT and other tracking gadgets are to be treated as a missing persons report: until they get more information regarding the distress message, they are going to wait and see, and not deploy their forces for the possibility that someone simply has a flat tire on the side of the road and needs help. Additionally, if the SPOT unit is unable to download and retransmit a GPS position (see frequency and power issues above), SAR has no idea where the transmission has come from and will not put their forces in danger looking for a needle in a hay stack.

Redundancies
Murphy’s Law has taught us all that whatever can go wrong will go wrong. We embrace that philosophy with every product we make so that you are given every opportunity available to get rescued. PLBs and EPIRBs have multiple ways to contact SAR in order to get you rescued. SPOT has one single transmission method. PLBs and EPIRBs can contact SAR via 406 MHz, which locates your beacon using Doppler Shift, it can contact SAR using GPS data and it also has a 121.5 MHz homing frequency so when SAR forces get a few miles away from you, they can home in directly on your beacon and find you faster. SPOT uses GPS only to send its location. If you cannot download GPS, SAR will have no idea where you are.

Satellite Monitoring
406 MHz signals are monitored by a governing agency in each country. In the U.S. that’s the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and in Canada its The National Search and Rescue Secretariat. These agencies maintain the registration, and alert search and rescue of any activation. SPOT has hired a company called GEOS to monitor and alert search and rescue of an activation. The Cospas-Sarsat and NOAA have had over 26+ years of experience monitoring these frequencies and alerting Search and Rescue. GEOS is relatively new and not well known to the SAR community and does not have authorized use of the SAR system.

Coverage
EPIRBs and PLBs use the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system which contains 2 different satellite systems (LEOSARâ€" Low earth orbiting and GEOSARâ€" Geostationary). These two systems cover every inch of the planet. SPOT tracker is part of Globalstar and uses the Globalstar (Nasdaq: GSAT) satellite system which only covers a certain percentage of the earth, but has quite a few locations that are undetectable.

Experience
If you had to have knee replacement surgery, would you have your family doctor do the procedure or would you rather have someone who has nothing but knee replacement experience, someone who helped write the latest surgery techniques, someone who teaches other doctors how to do knee replacement surgery?

The Cospas-Sarsat satellite system has been in place since 1982; it is a collaborative system of the worlds search and rescue community dedicated to saving lives. The system is credited with saving over 24,500 lives thus far. Of all of the registered 406 MHz beacons, ACR accounts for more than 60 percent. We have over 25+ years of experience building life saving beacons, 53 years of experience building life saving signaling products. When you buy an ACR product, every single product comes with that experience, knowledge and lessons learned of how to effectively build the world’s most quality life saving products available. The Globalstar satellite system began commercial service in 1999 and has had a shaky operating life thus far. The satellite system was designed for voice communications and SPOT (launch in December of 2007) is their first product aimed at providing a form of safety.

Overall
One other thing to be aware of is that SPOT requires an annual subscription fee of $99 or $149.99 if you want tracking. The device cannot be used until the subscription fee is paid. The 5 year ownership of a SPOT unit is much more expensive than a PLB or EPIRB: $149 unit cost, $499 in subscription fees, $250 for tracking fees, plus GEOs insurance (total 5 year cost can range between a minimum of $648 to as high as $1,649). If the Globalstar company were to close, your SPOT tracker would not work anymore. EPIRBs/PLBs do not require a subscription fee since they use the Cospas-Sarsat satellites (a humanitarian SAR system fully funded by member states of the U.N.).

If you are looking for a tracking device that does not have to work every time, get a SPOT. If you want a life saving device, designed and manufactured to work when your life depends on it, get an ACR EPIRB or PLB.

[WldWldWest]

Very Cool Thread!
This is what I carry in my "Pack, Pack"

My wife give's me the remnants of her candle's and I melt em down and dip my cotton balls in the wax and it keeps them 100% waterproof, after this winter I started adding a lil oil to the wax because when it get's cold the wax is way to hard to cut open to expose the fiber's, after adding a lil oil it makes it much easier, these were double dipped and they take a spark really well and burn about 20min or so.
I Also keep an Altoids tin full of River Burch bark and it takes a spark better than most tender I've found.
Finding sap wood has become a hobby of mine and this piece is off a root I dug up and prolly my best yet, very dence and has a very strong Turpentine smell to it and ignites very easy.
And of course my Firesteel...Dont leave home without it

[coyote101]

My primary fire starting tool is a small BIC disposable lighter that I carry in my pocket all the time. It is always there, pretty reliable, and up to the task MOST of the time. However, it is not 100% reliable, could get lost, and isn't always the best tool for the task. So, like Okanagan I carry several different methods of starting fires in a small "emergency kit" in  my pack. 

This is the emergency kit that I carry: 

An old plastic container from a military first aid kit. It measures about 5" X 4" 1/2 X 2":


It holds a surprising amount of stuff, much of related to fire starting.

L to R, top to bottom: Plastic 35mm film canister with cotton balls, strike anywhere matches, a matchbox striker and a few of those trick birthday candles that you can't blow out. Film canister with vaseline impregnated cotton balls. WetFire fire starting cubes (normally stored in the film canisters). Box of strike anywhere matches sealed in plastic. Esbit hexamine fuel tablets sealed in plastic. BIC mini butane lighter. Magnesium fire starter with ferrocerium sparking rod insert. 


I've played around with a lot of fire starting methods and materials. I have never found anything that will catch a spark as well as a vaseline impregnated cotton ball. If I had to reduce the kit to the minimum, it would be the ferrocerium rod and the cotton balls.

[Ladobe]

Learned how to make/use all the primitive methods when a kid living on a ranch, and via scouts/survial courses.   Methods from gathered on the spot when needed (most of which are a RPITA and not always reliable), some carried in that were most often used even near 60 years ago.  The longest used that is still carried is flint and steel in a tinder tin.   The one always in my truck to grab and take along when I ventured far from it I've had since the 60's, but I used them in the 50's as well.   And there are some commercial made in the truck, just part of the survial gear/supplies that also remain in the truck in kits (been stranded far out on the desert a couple of times IOW).   

Magnesium, steel wool & cotton balls, flashlights/etc that use 9V batteries, a lens, Bic's, metal match, even my ancient scout match box, etc.   They are seldom used though, just too many decades relying on the old F&S that I can gather/make tinder/charcoal for anywhere, renew the flints and find/gather new ones just about anywhere, a tool that will never wear out.
 

[Okanagan]

Good stuff posted here.  Like Ladobe, I hate to count on finding fire making stuff in the bush, especially here where it is so wet.  That could get a person killed.

Our problem isn't so much getting a flame as it is to keep it going into a self-sustaining fire.  In that photo of the wet grandson and smokey fire, I kept feeding slats of fatwood under the fine twigs till we got enough dried to burn and then dry out pencil size and larger.  The sticks leaned up on the rocks partly over the flame are the driest stuff we could gather and we were constantly drying wood.  The best source of fire starting wood in our area is the fine dead twigs on the trunk of large trees under a heavy overhang of branches that shed water.  They may be wet also but they are fine enough to dry out quickly with a sustained flame under them.  Most people start the fire too soon before they have a enough secondary twigs and such to feed it and keep it going.

Semp, that makes a compelling case for the personal locator!  I wish the SPOT was more reliable because I like the ability to send the three pre-written messages that came on my version that is several years old.  So far, when tested it has always sent a message out, from here in town along the US border to wilderness along the Yukon.  But it is not nearly as trustworthy and I am looking into what to replace it with.  Thanks for the good info!

Wildwildwest, I have done some experimenting and by trial and error arrived at a mix of 2 parts Vaseline to one part parafin melted together, and use that for cotton balls, etc.  I made a mix of dryer lint with fatwood sawdust and planed savings glued together with the Vaseline/parafin mix.  I made balls out of that the size of a ping pong ball with two wicks in it and a cotton ball stuck on top!  More work than it is worth but they are fabulous fire starters that ignite easily and burn for several minutes.  I gave some to my boys who roam farther than I do nowadays.

Pat, that waterproof first aid kit is a dandy for this purpose.  I've been looking for something like that and now know what to look for. 

I'm going to try scraping some regular wood without pitch in it and see how easily that fuzz will start with the fire steel.

[Ladobe]

Even from the dead of winter in deep snow country to tropical rain forests during torrential rain, burnable material can be found if you know what and where to look for it.  IOW have a knowledge base about a habitat BEFORE you venture into it.  I'm one who has traveled extensively to many habitats found on earth and used survival tactics in them - because of actual survial need a few times, but also just wanting to learn by doing to have the experience if the real need came up.  Be prepared.

Survival priorities are standard, although fire place within them can be moved up to number one in some situations where exposure has made it a first priority.   The rule of three's in extreme survival... a healthy peson can survive up to 3 minutes without beathable air; 3 hours without shelter; 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food.   They are all variable depending on the person and the situation, so the 3's a guideline.   Fire often goes hand in hand with ehancing shelter, drinkable water and maybe eventually food, but is not the first priority except if exposure dictates it.   

All looks great on paper maybe, but... exposure is the cause of most failures to survive and can be from many different mechanisims, any of which can also dictate what is the priority to prevent over exposure even on a simple day hike.   For example heat loss can be from conduction, convection, radiation, respiration or perspiration, all of which also cause dehydration and stress to your body at various levels that can change immediate priorities.    So in situations from extreme cold to extreme heat they are factors.   Learning how to recognize what you actually need to survive and when you need it is really the first priority (AFTER you have calmed down if needed and AFTER you have accepted your fate). 
 
Learning to take care of your real priorities before you attempt to do anything else will make the difference.    In my case a couple of times that were real survival situations where I was injured bad enough in the back country alone that I knew even if I could stop the bleeding/bind broken bones when I could try to get myself out it was going to take many days.   I did get out eventually (one time actually well over a week to do so), no worse for wear other than the injuries because I did what it took to survive first... and well enough that I didn't try to rush getting out and make the injuries worst. 

The need to survive can pop up any time in the outdoors, you can get in a survival situation in your vehicle or within gun shot of it, so something to always be prepared for.    More advanced survival kits in all vehicles that make sense for where you go, packable kits of various design to match what you do on foot alone or with somebody else.   A person can carry enough specialty items in even a small belt pack and water to make all the difference when alone to last for days, obviously even more items if the load is shared with others.  By that items you can't gather where you are, items that can be made to work for multiple needs.   Hauling in food is just wasting weight better used for those items and enough water to get you started until you can find/make a useable source if it gets to that.   In most situations you will either get out on your own or get help long before you have a need for food.

[KySongDog]

Okanagan

Here is a link to some info on  406link.  This is an OPTIONAL service to go with the PLB that allows you to send short pre recorded messages to several email and/or cell phones.   It is not needed or required with the PLB but it does add some convenience if you want to send "I'm Ok" messages.   It also pinpoints your location on a map that your family or friends can view (with a password).


http://www.406link.com/

[nor-cal yote]

Have any of you guys used a fire piston to start fires. I carried one for about 4 years, then lost it and have not replaced it yet. There are a lot of people making them now.

[FinsnFur]

Never heard of them, but you made me look em up.
Very interesting.
Works like a diesel engine some say

This guy made a pretty slick one with a 7mag casing

[slagmaker]

Exectally like a diesel enjine jim