[Glenn Bartley]

So you suddenly find yourself in a SHTF scenario, and it could be anything. You get to the point where you need to start a fire either as: a signal, for warmth, for protection from animals, to cook or whatever.

What kind of firestarter do you depend upon to start a fire when the SHTF? Which would be your firestarter of choice when you find yourself in a SHTF scenario. Please be realistic as to what you currently have on hand, carry in your rucksack, or to your abilities to improvise. In other words please don't answer bow and spindle if you don't have a real clue as how to make fire that way, instead be honest and admit its your Bic lighter that you favor or actually know how to use.

 

[RIKA]

OOh. I'll flick my Bic(s) until it runs out of fuel. Lifeboat matches are present as those things will burn anywhere. Tinder is stored in film cans. I have a large rod type spark striker (think its manmade) that I got from Buckshot that works very well - huge shower of sparks.

A person can start a fire using broken glass, scrounged eyeglass or binocular lenses, a battery etc so there is no reason not to have a fire if you have any knowledge at all.

RIKA

 

[Garand]

Currently in my kit, I have butane lighters, waterproof strike anywhere matches and numerous books of paper matches sealed in zip lock bags. I have at least one example of each in my buttpack, ruck, patrol pack and my vehicle emergency kit.

 

[Magnum88C]

On me if my pants are on: Zippo
In vehicle: butane lighters
In the vest: lifeboat matches, Bic lighter.
In the ruck: magnesium firestarter, more lifeboat matches, can of zippo fluid (in double ziplock bags), pet dragon.

I try not to short myself of socks, cutlery and firestarting.

 

[TODD 3465]

......... pet dragon.

:laugh01:


I use lifeboat matches and the magnesium firestarters.

 

[brass hammer]

i always have a bic lighter or zippo, so i'll use what's with me!


when they quit,. i ,... guess i'll fashion.,,..a .,...ur,,..,.,FIREBOWL HEADRESS
[yeah,thats it!] and walk the land with a smokin'/glowin' turban! just won't go swimming with it on :nuts:




[deleted] thanks.

 

[mrostov]

Butane lighters have a hard time working at higher altitudes, but I usually have one or two in my ruck.

I usually have book matches stashed everywhere as a backup, sealed in little plastic ziplock bags.

Matches and butane lighters are cheap, weigh nothing, and take up little space. Having something to start fires with is never a place to skimp on having extras.

I have magnesium firestarters stashed about my gear. I also keep one in a compartment I made on my multitool pouch that I keep my Leatherman in.

What I do with many of my magnesium firestarters is I clamp them down to something outside, and then I take a sawzall and then saw them off, lengthwise, about 2/3 or more of the magnesium block. This makes for a magnesium firestarter that is a lot smaller and more convenient to pack around and stash in various places.

In the field I also like to keep on me a Zippo (even though I've never smoked) and in my ruck I'll keep a fuel container for it.

Zippos are great. You can leave one burning without holding onto it or holding some button down, so it can be used for various tasks including an emercency lantern. It also works better at high altitudes than a butane lighter and it doesn't have some of the danger from damage that a plastic, pressurized butane lighter does.

The lighter fluid itself is superb for starting a nice fire in a hurry, especially when conditions are miserable and colder than sh^t and/or you're wet and chilled and need to get warm and dry fast and don't want to screw with more 'proper' firestarting methods.

 

[brass hammer]

MISS COLLEEN, and i were fishing in the white mountains a couple of years ago, had to walk a mile to get to this one lake, a thunder storm hit and hit hard i drug/propped up a row boat for shelter, she thought a fire would be cozy, so i whittle some semi-dry tender and used t.p and used gunpowder from pulled .38's and used jonnie walker black from my hip flask nothing!, it was raining pretty hard, and nothing was working[for me]and told her we was'nt going to have a fire as every thing was soaking wet, well this just 'fuzzed' her up to the point where she took over and had a smokey flame going in about 10 minutes ha! she showed me, but had to agree the smoke was going to run us out of our 'shelter'

i guess that could be deemed a fond memory ha!



[deleted]
thanks.

 

[RIKA]

"Miss Colleen" sounds like an interesting lady. Hope you got to know her better.

RIKA

 

[Rich Z]

As long as you have a sunny day, you could use a magnifying glass in a pinch. I have a couple of HUGE fresnel lenses I bought a while back that can generate a heat spot of around 2,000 degrees using them as a magnifying lens from the sun. Or so I was told..... I know that anything flammable that spot touches bursts into flames instantly!

 

[TODD 3465]

I'm not knocking the use of lenses or other glass to start a fire.

But just now thought that 99% of the time when I really needed to start a fire the Sun was definitly not shining on me. :bounce01: :dgrin:

 

[Glenn Bartley]

I just knew one of you had a pet fire breathing dragon!

 

[andy]

mag lense is necessary for reading the microfiched survival info, anyway. Campmor's matchcase around neck, filled with Vasolined Cotton balls. rub one on hot spots on feet, or sunburnable nose, windburnable lips, etc. They ignite easily, burn hot. Magnesium bar, 2 butane lighters, 3 wick NuWick candle in a can.

 

[John in AR]

What I prefer, and use most often, are butane lighters. Available at SAM's for around $9 a hundred nowadays; cheap insurance imo.

Firestarters in my GHB are:
- two butane lighters,
- three packs of "waterproof" (not lifeboat) matches in double ziploc bags,
- magnesium fire starter with attached flint rod,
- 3x8 inch fresnel lens
- six 35mm plastic film canisters of vaseline-soaked cotton balls, taped shut & double-ziploc-bagged
- approx 20 Esbit pellets with Esbit stove


Those things all together don't weigh probably one pound or so, and IMO, fire's just too important to not "backup the backups".

 

[John in AR]

...Or so I was told..... I know that anything flammable that spot touches bursts into flames instantly!

Two things I can attest to about the fresnel lenses. One, if you stare at the bright spot, it can burn into your retinas much like a welder will. Two, even an asphalt parking lot can be set on fire with one with very little warning.

Both were accidental discoveries. :headbang:

 

[andy]

Man, if all I wanted was a "get home" bag, from 50 miles away or less, I wouldn't bother with more than a couple of butane lighters. I'd rather shed ALL the unneeded wt, and get home a lot sooner, with less errors-injury-illness, from having less fatique. It doesnt get THAT cold in Arkansas anyway, and a fire cant warm you while you are MOVING. so you still need adquate clothing, and that clothing doesn't need much enhancement when you stop to sleep, either.

 

[Garand]

You want to discuss kit, I do! Please post a detailed kit list of what you have packed AT THIS MOMENT! By the way, not all of us live in Colorado!

 

[tuna]

Lighters in pocket for the cigarettes anyway, Waterproofed strike anywhere matches in vest, water/windproof matches ziplocked in bag, and magnesium firestarter for backup to the backup. I use an old jigsaw blade and tape it to the block as I get a pile of shavings easier from my knife, still takes awhile, so I'll use it last.

 

[John in AR]

It's a "cost/benefit" or "risk/benefit" thing. Even if I dumped the lens, the matches, the cotton-ball-vaseline tinder, and magnesium starter, I'd only "save" probably a quarter-pound. They weigh basically nothing, they're unbreakable, and they pose no risk to have on hand. I realize it sounds like a lot to carry, but since the only "cost" is weight, and the weight is basically zero, its cost is basically zero.

Its "benefit" is much more than its "cost".

Same reason I carry three 50-round boxes of .22LR with the CAR-15. Would I ever encounter a situation where I needed even one entire box? Probably not, but since the weight is negligible, the cost is negligible.

I guess the way to word it is that the cost is minimal, and while the 'likely' benefit is admittedly minimal, the 'potential' benefit could be enormous.

 

[TODD 3465]

........... It doesnt get THAT cold in Arkansas anyway.....

Bull Berries!!!

It can get down to -10 F and one thing about here the temp range can go up and down like a yo-yo from one day to the next during the winter time.

I've been out back packing on a week long trip in Dedember/January where it was 70 some degrees one day and the next it dropped to the 30's with freezing rain and sleet. Really throws off the acclimation rate of the body when it does stuff like that.