fire trick

[north-north-west]

... come on we've all got a little neanderthal in us somewhere yeah?!

Grunt for yourself.

I always carry lighter and matches 'just in case' although my stove has piezo ignition which (so far) works perfectly. And a little scrap of bandage from the 1st aid kit would make decent tinder if absolutely necessary. But, really, who needs a fire? Waste of time and effort, apart from being environmentally unsound.

[Son of a Beach]

I too miss the old camp fire, but I do understand that in most bushwalking areas it is unwise to use them most of the time, for most of the people (and therefore everyone should fall into line in order to make it 'fair'). With stoves being sooooo light these days, carrying one doesn't bother me at all, and if I'm carrying it, then there's not much point lighting a fire apart from atmosphere, and that's not worth the risks in most places, and the environmental damage every fire does in some places (eg, scar on the land, lack of vegetation for miles around popular fire spots - I remember all the trees within 100 metres of the Lake Ball hut had no branches within 2 metres of the ground the first time I went there).

[Liamy77]

I will sometimes gather a little tinder and small twigs n dry bracken at the farm and have a camp fire with my kids (2 and almost 5 y.o.) but when walking i use stoves too (i have a "few" stoves ) but i think it is useful and reassuring to know how and be able to actually do it - you can loose lighters, run outta oil, but you always have your skills and knowledge. For the kids the stoves are exiting too and the fire is just as good in a picnic ground with shorter walks from there too.

[tasadam]

Another fire trick is in knowing how to start a fire without matches. Rubbing 2 sticks together is not really the way. I have started a fire like this -
Prepare a piece of wood as a base board with some dry grass / bracken or whatever on standby.
Find another manageable sized piece of wood with a bit of a cup shape to it, to hold in one hand.
Find a straight dry stick to use as the spinning stick, the bottom of which will be where the magic happens.
Find a bendy piece of wood to use as a bow.
Tie a string to each end of the bow wood to make a bow like as in a bow & arrow.
Wrap the string around the spinning board with one loop, so that as you slide the bow back and forward, the spinning stick spins. Adjust the tension of the string in the bow as needed so it still spins while pushing down a bit so as to create friction at the base. The bottom of the spinning stick is placed on the base board. The top of the spinning stick is held with one hand using the cup-shaped piece of wood on top of it. Roughly vertical, and the bow held horizontal.
Spin the stick like crazy to make enough friction at the base so as to generate smoke, then it's a matter of getting the right combination of dry stuff onto the hot stuff with a gentle blow so as to ignite it.
Make sense?

[Liamy77]

I also find a sprinkle of sand in the base bowl helps increase the friction and therefore the heat...
heres how i prepare the base for the friction stick (although i dont use a bow, and it can take a while to build up the heat etc, less with practice):

[scubabob]

Lots of interest and info on here, thanks to all, i have picked up a lot. Just for the record though, i do not light fires when i go bushwalking. I carry a Kovia stove and plenty of gas; plus a Hexi stove, tablets and matches as back-up should the need arise for them. As with everything, like diving, i do plan for the worst case scenario. If it all turns to tears and for some reason i am stuck somewhere, (bad weather; broken leg, etc), it's an extreme emergency back-up. i have no desire to be on the 6 o'clock news

[Ent]

Hi

The flint is brilliant as a hell or high water lighter of a gas cylinder plus she-lite at a pinch but I have the smallest one in the series and have had not much luck lighting paper so will leave that trick up to people with the bigger ones.

Cheers Brett

[Justly Dirge]

Hi,

This is my first post, so please excuse me if I miss something. I'm really interested in primitive bushcraft and would like to learn more about edible flora. Was just reading here about bow drill fires. tasdam, if you got fire from the steps you listed, you're one heck of a fire starter. The fella who posted the diagram below was right on. Bow drill fires are not that hard, if you have the right materials and set up. I've been making simple kits for a few years. If anybody is interested, please let me know. If there's enough interest, I'll post them for sale(cheap). Primitive fire making is a skill that might save your life one day, and the ability to do so separates real outdoor survivalists from the wanna be's. If you're local to Brisbane, I can give you a free lesson! I'll have you making fire within an hour!

Thanks!
Justly

[DaveNoble]

A good trick is to cut up some small bits of bicycle inner tube - into bits about 2-3 cm long. They make a good fire starter. I think I got this tip from "Safety in the Bush" published by HWC. They can be used to start a fire with wet wood (very fine sticks!) as long as its not too windy. In many places you can often find dry tinder - under logs, in tree hollows, in overhangs etc.

Once on a Tassie winter trip in the Reserve, I met up with Ossie Ellis - a master bushman. He always was the first up in the huts and in a few minutes would have a roaring fire going, often started with wet wood. I asked him what his secret was - and he showed me. It was a packet of Little Lucifers.....

Dave

[dplanet]

What are Little Lucifers? Thanks Dave.

[Strider]

Cotton balls rubbed full of Vaseline work great too

[Moondog55]

Still and all; we should all know "How-To" just in case.
As a long-time walker from the old days when a fire was the standard way ( and often the only way ) to cook, little tricks like collecting dry wood as you walked along and always having dry tinder in an inside pocket are second nature.
Apart from the Bogong summit most of where I walk still allow wood fires and I still use one when safe to do so, although these days I mostly use a tin can Hobo stove to conserve wood and boil the billy quicker.
A gas or liquid fuel stove is always in my pack, but I get a lot of pleasure out of the use of a resource that come summer is just an added hazard where bushfires are concerned, it is the small stuff on the ground or close to the ground that is the kindling for the bigger fires after all, and these days I hardly ever burn anything thicker than my finger for cooking.
Car camping is another matter, usually bring my own firewood tho, as well as my own windshield and fire pits

[Moondog55]

"Little Lucifers" are solidified kerosene, standard fire-lighters from the supermarket, my grandfather was a superb bushman, and he could light a fire in any weather, his "Trick" was a friction top tin can filled with already split pine kindling and kero, I learned from him and I always have a tin like this in the picnic pack and the back of the ute.
I use Milo tins as they come in such a good range of sizes and the kero does not evaporate from the closed tin ( well 2 or 3 years anyway )