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Fire starter for wet material

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50cal.cliff

58 Cal.
Joined
Jan 22, 2007
Messages
2,368
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30
Location
N W Florida
I am not sure if this is the right place but a conversation with a buddy the other day, prompted me too share this with you. When I told him this story he thought it was a great idea!

Have you found yourself in a situation where you needed a fire and all the twigs seemed to be damp or wet, or perhaps their was enough wind starting a fire was made difficult.

After a bad experience a few years ago I got caught out in some of the worst weather. I threw up a quick shelter to block of the wind and rain, form a tarp I had in my back pack. The shelter was greatly appreciated but, a fire was sorely needed to dry me and a couple of friends I had been hunting with.

I managed to get the tinder fire started almost immediately but I like to have never got the twigs I had gathered going. Everything was wet from a two day rain.After that experience I came up with this idea.

It does work I tested it by soaking some twigs in water for about 24 hrs and then tried my new fire starter idea!

I made up some beeswax and paraffin wax candles about 60/40 respectively, for wet fire starters! The beeswax seems to make for a hotter fire and it slowed the burn rate of the candle itself!

I used an old paper towel center for the mold! I taped up the tube and pulled a cotton string through the center for a wick.

Once cooled I put the tube in the freezer to get it really cooled off. The tube will usually peel right off but if it doesn't don't sweat it the candles still work. I then cut the candles into about 2" lengths.
Then I carved off about 1/4" of the wax to expose a 1/4" wick. The 1/4" I carved off went back into my wax supply.

Once you get them cut and the top carved off to expose the wick you can wrap them in parchment paper and put them in your fire starter kit.

If you get into a situation where it is windy or you all you have is wet material to start a fire. Once you get your tender going take a sprig and start the candle put the tender and the candle on the bottom an start building a tepee of the wet twigs.

Fire tender is always a good idea but if your fire material is too wet or you are in a windy situation, you have got problems with the tender burning up before you can really get the fire going. You will be surprised but the candle keeps everything going till it dries the twigs and you eventually get a roaring fire.

Anyway I thought I would share my idea. It also works if for some reason your tender get damp. Sit the candle in the middle and light it and start building around it!
 
Right on Cliff. A nice fat candle is imperative here in our wet climate. And you're paper towel tube defines what I think of as "fat."
 
I've been "cheating" with candles for years. :grin: I just use plain beeswax, and I save the nubs from the candle lantern for the fire kit.

In a serious emergency, like your buddy got dunked in the river and you need fire now to stop his hypothermia..., I have hand sanitizer and one of those tiny bic butane lighters in my modern first aid kit that I carry, and hand santizer gel is really flammable. Add it to your fire set and use your candle too..., no worries.

LD
 
Keep in mind that back in the olde days, dying of hypothermia and other exposure issues was very HC/PC. If wanting to die an agonizing death, alone where the coyotes and possums will eat you is your idea of being 'authentic', then go for the tinder and beeswax thing.
I ain't that dedicated.
I carry flint and steel, tinder, etc. But, I also carry two or three Bic lighters and several small fire starter sticks plus some newspaper in plastic.
Just because you survive doesn't mean the PC cops are going to come after you. :wink:
 
You need to learn how to find dry tinder and dead wood that is not wet, even after days of rain!

Learn to look for dead tree limbs and branches hanging in trees, off the ground. Same with twigs. Under thick bushes, you will find dead branches, protected from the rains by the thick growth above.

Learn to spot any kind of over-hang( rock outcrop or leaning, or deadfall trees), where you will find dry leaves, twigs, and branches. You can find dry leaves under the wet surface ones found among the roots of large trees, for instance. Tree crotches on the Lee( downwind) side of a tree will also often hold dried materials, including animal fur.

Look for abandoned bird nests. Those twigs are dry, and you often find all kind of light dry materials in the nest that make fantastic tinder.

Practice your firing starting SKILLS at home in good weather, before you need them on a hunt!

I took my flint and steel kit to a friend's house, on a Rainy, cold, February day, to start his fire in his fireplace. He didn't have any tinder- used up his newspaper trying to light a huge stump the night before! I told him it was not a problem and I would simply go outside and get tinder to start the fire in his yard. He followed me.

I went behind his Yew hedge in the front yard, lining his picture window, and snapped off dry, dead twigs and branches from the underside of the bushes. He was speechless. I then went into his back yard, where I had seen a dead branch hung up in the branches of a tree the past Fall, after a storm. It was still in the tree, but had worked its way down a few feet.

My friend spotted a dead branch he had put against the back wall of his home, and went to pick it up. I stopped him and told him it would be too wet, as it was soaking up moisture from the ground. He tried the "snap" test at my instruction, and found the entire branch was soft and "spongy". I had him take it into the house to dry to use as tinder for later fires.

I pulled down several branches of the tree where the dead branch was located, slowly working my way to where I would be able to grab the branch the dead one was resting on, and pull them both down to where I could grab the dead one. My friend could not believe that the branch I recovered "Snapped" when I broke the branch into manageable lengths. But, he learned that dead branches off the ground can remain dry even when rained on for 3 days straight. The bark on the branch keeps the rain from penetrating the wood underneath.

When we went back into his house, I laid out all my "sticks" in order of thickness on his hearth. Then I took out a piece of charred cloth, and my flint and steel. With him watching, I struck a spark into the charred cloth. I put the charred cloth into a nest of hemp rope I had and quickly blew the glowing ember into a flame. The burning hemp was thrown down into the fireplace, in front of his logdogs, and I systematically built a tipi of sticks, starting with the smallest, and working up to the ones as thick as my thumb, over the burning hemp. When I had white hot glow in the middle of the tipi, I slowly shoved the fire back, under the logdogs, and the huge stump he could not light the night before.

The newspaper had helped warm and dry out the stump, BTW, so the wood quickly began to burn. He was in shock that I could get a fire it that fast using flint and steel, and "wet" twigs I picked up out of his own yard. :grin:

[Hint: If you have a camping are at your local gun club, where members can use it during vacations, insist that some dead trees in the camp be left standing alone- to use as emergency Dry firewood if someone needs it.

My club left a dead tree right next to our equipment shack, and the termites, and wood peckers worked on that tree for several years before it got so wobbly that it posed a danger of breaking off, or falling down on one of the club members, or family members. Then we cut it down, and used it as firewood.]

Our ancestors kept an eye out for tinder- bird's nests,dry down from milkweed, and many other plants including cattail heads, etc. as they worked and walked, or hunted thru woods. It went into their shirts to stay warm and dry. They also kept an eye on the weather, and changing wind directions to tell them when to seek shelter.

Momma Nature does not suffer fools very well. BTDT. Learned my lessons the hard way. I would much rather spend some time writing this advice, in hopes that PEOPLE WILL TAKE IT SERIOUSLY, THAN TO READ ABOUT SOMEONE DYING IN THE WOODS because they don't know how to find tinder, or how to start a fire.

I survived a storm that caught me unprepared by shear LUCK. I spent the next 3 years reading and practicing everything I could locate about finding dry materials, and starting fires in bad conditions.{The best book available now is " Primitive Wilderness Living & Survival Skills", by John and Geri McPherson }

Oh, I melt paraffin wax into a used percussion cap tin, then form a wick using an old T-shirt, twisted and then dipped into the cooling wax.

I use plyers to hold the top end of the wick above the wax, so it is easier to light. I then cut kitchen matches short enough to fit in the tin(3) and use masking tape to seal the tin when its closed. [The plyers, when leaned against the edge of the tin, will act as a heat "sink", drawing heat from the tin and molten wax, to cool the wax down faster. The masking tape makes a hot burning "tinder" in any weather, as it has oils in the fabric/paper and glue.] The tin easily fits in the unused watch pocket of my jeans.

I build fires OVER the tin, letting the hot, burning wax, dry any wet wood, and keep the fire going. When I break camp after the rain stops, I dig the tin out of the ashes and take it with me.

Old shotgun shells can be used to make such "survival" candles, too. :thumbsup: :hatsoff:

I carry at least 3 different means of lighting a fire with me when hunting, BTW. A plastic zip lock bag with dried birch bark,or dryer lint, for tinder easily fits in a day pack, or cargo pocket. :hatsoff:
 
I take a piece of cloth that I put in molten beeswax or parafine. When it is still clammy and pliable I put some dry tinder in it and wrap tight. When dry I dab some molten wax around the edges... When dry this package is put into a leather bag that is made as watertight as possible with fat or wax ... I use this as a back up system together with some candle stubs. It also think it is a solution that is more or less PC...
 
Always have a long haired wool jacket on or with ya.If ya have to, start pullin hairs of the sleeves or whatever,if if you have a striker,or any form of ignition start with that wool.My brother in law was in a plane crash in Alaska,the plane cuaght fire and he pulled the pilot out getting third degree burns on his hand and legs.The pilot died in his arms as he prayed over him,then he took off trying to get to a camp sight he saw from the plane to get help,he made five miles and had to stop and it was the next day
he had a couple of matches and pulled the hair off his coat but it was in snow and like you everything was green,he knew choppers were in the area and at least got a good smokey goin and the choppers saw that..Also if you can find pine pitch that's good..
 
That is quite a story. And, as I understand it, not unusual for Alaska.
The TV 'survivors' are never well prepared. I guess if they were there would not be a show.
It takes very little room to keep several Bic lighters, some flint/steel and tinder and/or a magnesium firestarter. I've always thought I would like to have a belt made with a fire striker hard buckle and flint arrow heads for decoration. And maybe a small magnifying lens also.
 
Cliff I'm a country boy from Alabama. The best thing I've found to get a fire going is to cut pieces off a fat lighter stump. Its saturated with turpentine and it burns hot. Its easy to find in most areas in the south where there were long straw pine forests. I also break dead limbs off of trees to put on the fire I've started using the fat lighter. Limbs that are lying on the ground are usually to damp to start a fire with. I also keep a couple of disposible lighters with me they work great in damp weather. A country boy can survive!
 
yes sir candles work great, and in a pinch you can throw a lubed patch in the tinder to help it get going too, as long as its some kind of oil/tallow/ or wax type lube that will burn.
 
Check out the post on "Bees wax pine cones" in the Trekking section (pictures and everythin...) I re-purposed some donated old candles and the pine cones from my yard and made some real nice fire starters, from the initial tests I re-dunked them in wax a few more times and even after sitting in a bucket of water overnight they worked great....with the multi-dip method I got a standing flame off them for 32 minutes before it went down to an ember.....just shake the water off them and light the end, pile your wet sticks on top and theres plenty of flame and heat to dry your wet twigs and get you going....

BTW...took one and crushed it in my hands cuz most things in my haversack get smacked around pretty well and the nice thing I found was that the wax held it mostly together even when it was broke...
 
I make fire starters two ways, For when I have a lot of room to carry them (like at a rendezvous ) I use empty tolet papaer tubes filled with a mixture of wood chips and candle wax. ( I get it cheap using scraps from a scented candle company). The other style for when carrying room is limited is to just melt the wax and dip coragated cardboard into the wax and hange it from a string to cool. The waxed cardboard doesn't take up much space. Also for emergency cooking I roll coregated cardboard into an empty cat food can and then pour in wax. This makes an excelant "sterno" stove. :idunno:
 
Like VTdeerhunter, I have made the wax/pine cone starters. In fact I have a bag of them in my shed right now. Another trick(not too PC) is to put wood sawdust/chips in the cardboard egg cartons and pour scrap wax over that. You can then just break off one of the "cells". I've never put a cotton wick with them, but may just try that when making more. I keep several in my basement for lighting the auxiliary wood burner furnace in the winter.
 
Probably not HC/PC but I always take a couple of egg crate cells with me filled with parffin and or beeswax and dryer lint.These start a fire very quickly as they burn extremely hot.I carry flint and steel with char and jute birds nest,bic lighters,magnesium fire starter and kitchen matches in a K&M match case,while some of these are not HC/PCthey will let me survive if hurt or lost.BTW the entire kit is in a couple of prince Albert tobacco cans and a small leather bag
 
Learned this one from a Moose guide in Newfoundland.
Never go out in the woods without having a large bunch of birch bark in your pack. I pick up every piece I see. Can also remove directly from tree as long as you don't take enough to ring the tree and kill it. Stuff burns hot as hell, even when wet. Shred it up fine, and it will blaze up from a spark.
My answer to Amex. I never leave home without it.
 
I do a lot of meat smoking so finding a good, quick way to start a fire without chemicals was an imperative.

What I found, and what has made it's way into my pack is a product by Duraflame (modern, yes i know) but can be found in almost any woods.

If you are near any areas where Pine logging occurs, find freshly cut stumps and take a good pack axe to them. The wood in the middle still produces the sap for a little while after the tree has been felled and becomes ridiculously saturated with it. A couple pieces of this with a good spark wil light just about any fire out there. Burns long and hot, even when wet.
 
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