your favorite REAL fire starting methods.

[Wolffarmer]

I learned this from a great fire starter..pile up some wood..shove a road flair under it..

I did that once when I camped with some good LDS people and nobody had matches. Lucky I had some road flares

[Junkboy999]

I boy scouts, I use to use steel wool from the mess kit and a battery to start fires. I lights up like a filament of a light bulb for a quick second and starts your tender burning.

[Redneck Teepee]

I learned this from a great fire starter..pile up some wood..shove a road flair under it..

I did that once when I camped with some good LDS people and nobody had matches. Lucky I had some road flares

Works every time!

[rowerwet]

we always camp with kerosene lanterns, we buy the citronela oil for them to keep bugs away, a twist of paper with lamp oil poured over it, wait a bit, light it. the oil starts without the big explosion gasoline will have, and burns hot enough to start even wet wood.

[KennethW]

newspaper and a propane self starting torch.

[GerryS]

I start with pine needles or grasses that are dry neat me. If that's not available, I'll use 3 inches of natural jute twine. The progressively larger wood.

If I'm really desperate I'll move on to a small amount of lighter fluid and ferro rod. If things are really really bad, the ill consider big guns. Lighters. If you can't start a fire that way, learn, It will improve your experience camping in unexpected ways. There is something almost therapeutic about starting with a few scraps of stuff and ending with a fire that warms an area. I can't explain why or how, but there is a deep relationship between starting a fire and handling life's challenges...and fast solutions are rarely the right answer.

I ran into this guy a few years ago. He has two videos, one about his cabin then this one about fire. He's a bit of a philosopher, and I LOVE this one! He says what I'm trying to say a lot better, especially when I am using an iPad while getting ready for Mass...

http://youtu.be/XT8eWTXa00I

[canned o minimum]

I'm an "arborist" but never use tree branches or "conventional" firewood. ( Takes up too much room)

I use 2x4s that store nice and tight in a milk crate. I've found that one milk crate full of 2x4s will last most of the nite( till bed time) The wood can be split into varying sizes/thickness to regulate how fast the wood gits burned up.

I carry a hatchet at all times ( cutting tool AND hammer in one). I simply split the 2x4s into kindling and place newspaper( which I use fer reading also) under the "log cabin" style firewood pile.

The firewood is easily transported in the crates and very easily split to the desired pieced fer kindling/firewood.

I also almost always bring along a washing machine tub ( apartment size) to use as my fire pit. It is outfitted with 3 legs that are adjustible in height and this gives off great heat. The added bonus is that the tub is high enuff to put any smoke ABOVE yer head ( most of the time )

One match and the fire is started EVERY TIME.

The newspaper has many uses in the camp. I always read it fer relaxation. The advertisements git burned first. Then the sports page..then the classifieds...all in order of importance ( or the lack thereof) The cartoons are last to go.

Here in SoCal fires are a thing of the past fer wilderness campin so I never have a fire in the woods. Altho, if I was to have a fire there it would be the tee pee style with leaves or pine needles and pine pitch.

[GerryS]

I like the cartoon last part

Dimensional lumber doesn't burn well....too many pops and flying ash. that's too bad. I hate buying firewood too, and the restrictions thanks to disease and invasive pests make bringing from elsewhere a dangerous proposition.

[lrrowe]

Hey Bob, thanks for the info. there's nothing wrong with easy, and I think a 2 or 5gal. container will last a long time for the price, looks like great stuff!

I was thinking the same thing. I like to experiment with new things. And I think it might be nice to have a small container just for the fun of it. But I can see myself making some of some of those homemade starters such as sawdust or shavings and melted wax and so on.

But like KennethW, I pretty much use a propane torch now and blush, I was taught differently when I was a Boy Scout. But at least it makes me "prepared."

[Racquetman]

Yeah Bob, I think its a good idea to have more than one option depending on the situation, but the older I get, the more I like easy, even if it cost a little more......JMHO!

[CharlieL]

Pile up small tiny twigs, then small twigs. THEN I put in the "Fatwood" , more small wood, then the bigger ones, fire up the small twigs, and make sure your "fatwwo" is burning. Never fails


(what is Fatwood you say? I usually find it right there in the woods by my house. It's just an old pine stump from a tree that died suddenly, then the roots send up sap. goes into the stump .)

I usually just go into the woods, find an old stump. give it a kick, if it's solid, probably fatwood.

[lrrowe]

Yeah Bob, I think its a good idea to have more than one option depending on the situation, but the older I get, the more I like easy, even if it cost a little more......JMHO!

Well then, who ever gets some of this stuff first, has to come back with a report.
bob