Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

A fire steel and a ball of twine for tinder.....works great! I also carry small squares of wax that have been melted with dryer lint embedded for damp trips. The dryer lint acts as a wick and they burn a long time, and are easy to start. I always try to find natural tinder close by if I can and use it first using what I have in consecutive order from hardest to easiest....next summer, a now string and a hearth board

Fire starting is a skill and an art. Anyone can use propane or butane. But having the skill to get a fire with the minimum material is a must have as far as I am concerned, and mowing the hard way will make it easier in adverse conditions even when you've got torches and such.

I am not expecting zombies, or an EMP to shut down the grid....but if it ever happens, I have to admit watching the soccer moms will be entertaining. I make a habit of teaching what I know to anyone who wants to know.

that is what I use is a propane torch for sweat soldering pipe.. to light my fire especially during very wet days.

mine is a old simple one it just has a valve to control the amount of flame.. I have a welder sparker to light it with.

Fire starting is a skill and an art. Anyone can use propane or butane. But having the skill to get a fire with the minimum material is a must have as far as I am concerned, and mowing the hard way will make it easier in adverse conditions even when you've got torches and such.

Having the skill to start a fire with minimal material would seem critical...but...
Having a means to start fire, be it a flint and steel, magnesium block, or lighter is simply wise preparation.
If that is all it is, basic preparation, a simple lighter makes a lot of sense, and there isn't much point in arguing over lighters versus other fire producing tools.

But what about being in a situation where no fire starting tools are available?
If you don't know what sort of materials to seek out to create your own tools, you are pretty much done...
I need to learn more...

Rob

i'm diggin the wax in egg carton idea. wonder if leftover charcoal dust-n-bits from the bottom of the bag would help or hinder.



in relation to that: http://youtu.be/-VhAkPPHcns making fire fuel bricks with paper and weeds

I use road flares, they work wonders on wet wood.

Liquid nails adhesive , PVC plumbers glue or roofing felt all make good fire starters if in a pinch when I used to build houses all of these we're available and on cold mornings we used them on plywood to start fires to stay warm and get rid of waste

To prevent wet matches get some candle wax melt it down and dip the head of the match in it and let dry . You now have waterproof matches. Just scrape off the wax and your ready to go

Here is mine....

I take a cotton ball and rub some Vaseline into it and stuff it into a straw cut the straw to length and seal both ends with a lighter and a pair of pliers. to start it up just cut it in half and use a lighter or a spark from a fire starter. it burns for quite a while

If you happen to have a cow-pie or two... but be careful lighting it!!! lol

Cow pies also keep skeeters away

And some people too!!! LOL

Careful what you use if you are going to cook on the fire. Plumbers glue and etc are great for fires to keep you warm (although careful of the toxic fumes) but don't cook on them. My favorite is a paper bag of but shells, like pistachios, walnuts or peanuts. They're light, light easily and after a while, you get plenty of light!

Matts right. We used to give loads of treated wood away for firewood. They use some nasties in the treatment of that wood make sure you're not cooking anything on it, bbq rather than a dutch oven and it's well vented.
I heard of a family being really sick after using oleander branches in a bbq.


WARNING to the foamie TD builders: polyurethane produces hydrogen cyanide when it burns....
http://urethaneblog.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/01/some-people-just-dont-like-polyurethane.html and there are loads of other links on google.

My latest round of fire starters are egg cartons filled with wood pellets I bought at a feed store. There uses for large animal bedding. I then poured melted wax over them. Burn hot and for quite a while.