I'm an Eagle Scout. I've built a lot of campfires in my time. Eagle Scouts pride themselves on being able to build a fire in any weather, any conditions with nothing more than what we find on the ground and two matches. We're tested on it. The test is often in less than what one would consider ideal weather conditions. You only get to fail this test once. One tip is that preparation is 95% of fire-building. Don't strike the match until you've gathered everything you need, have sorted your firewood into tinder, kindling and fuel, and have everything close at hand.
I've even used something called a featherstick.
Yet, until this morning when I went over to the LawDog's place, I had never considered using steel wool as firestarting material.
Go thence, and be enlightened. He'll even teach you to make a featherstick.
One old Eagle tip. If you're ever in the deep woods, lost, in the rain, cold and miserable. If you can find a cedar tree, you're in like Flint.
Ever light a cigarette on a sunny day by using your flashlight reflector?
ReplyDeleteFire with a (special) flashlight, a different way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMdWQnJakqY
Fire with a cellphone, aluminum foil, and a tablespoon of gas:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/572992/gas_stations_and_phones/
I only went to Life-- never did the Eagle bit.
ReplyDeleteMy wife, before we got married, lived in the Willamette valley in Oregon. Wet. She took some wilderness survival classes from a guy there named Mel Jackson. He taught them about sap stumps. Think about a dead tree, standing for years, before it finally falls down. A stump is left, weathered and mostly filled with vacuoles. Mostly. But what about those really hard, sharp jagged bits sticking up from the center of the stump? That's dried sapwood. Carve some off with a sharp knife, and hoard it. They light like crazy, even when wet.
Useful, and I hadn't learned it in Scouts-- I learned it from the mother of my kids.
When I learned the flint and steel thing as a Cub Scout, we used 000 steel wool.