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Fire Making Out of all the survival skills you need to master, I firmly believe fire making" is the most important. Why? A fire will give you warmth when it's cold, chilly, and downright freezing outside. A fire will provide you light during darkness so you can see to do other things. A fire will allow you to cook your meals and boil water so you can consume them safely. A fire will dry out your clothes when they've become wet so you won't get sick. A fire will provide a way to signal for help, both, during darkness and daylight hours. A fire will protect you from wild critters and help keep the "boggy man" away at night too. So the bottom line is by NOT knowing how to make a fire, it could mean the difference between "life" and "death" especially in a cold weather environment. And so allow me to cover briefly what other survival sites say about fire making... TO CREATE FIRE: You need 3 x elements heat, fuel, & oxygen, and in sufficient quantities and correct ratios too. Because if you use too much of one and not enough of the other(s) you'll produce either (a) no fire, (b) too much fire, or (c) a smoking fire. WHEN SELECTING A FIRE SITE: Choose a location where there's plenty of wood so you don't have to wander far to gather it. And if it's windy or raining, either select a place that'll provide protection against these elements or make a windbreaker out of rocks and/or logs. Check above to make sure there are no low hanging dead tree branches that could possible catch on fire due to flying sparks. And the exact spot where you intend to build the fire, clear the ground of flammable material (dry grass, leaves, etc) and either dig a shallow hole or make a circular wall out of rocks to help keep it under control. And if the ground is covered with snow, clear some away or make a platform out of green/wet logs so your fire won't sink and go out. PRACTICE & PATIENCE: Is the key to learning how to make a fire, plus + practice, practice, and more practice and lots of patience. And if you practice making them in all types of weather and terrain conditions when your life "doesn't" depend on it, you will learn to anticipate what difficulties to expect and how to overcome them, and thus becoming a "master fire maker." Maybe not right away, but eventually. Ya got it? Ya understand? Ya sure? Good! Now let's move on and talk about "fire starters." Check'em out below.
Have you ever used any of these fire starters before? I'll bet ya have, probably the matches and cigarette lighters, right? Well here's something you should know about these fire starters... Flashlight Fire Starter According to some "survival gurus," you can start a fire either (a) by taking out the round mirror reflector, removing the light bulb and inserting in it's place a "cigarette" and then by holding it in the direction of the sun you'll be able to ignite it. Another way is (b) by removing the round mirror reflector & light bulb and take some "fluffed up" piece of #0000 steel wool and touching it to the two metal (+/ ) prongs inside the flashlight it'll ignite and catch fire. Another way (c) is by carefully breaking the "glass" light bulb without breaking the tiny small pieces of wire [inside the bulb] and if you place some extremely flameable stuff like cotton next to the wires it will ignite it. The Problem? No sun no sunrays no heat = no fire! Though this method works well in tropical and desert environments where the sun's rays are much more plentiful and powerful, it doesn't work well in most other places of the world. And if you don't smoke, where ya suppose to get the cigarette? And the steel wool... where are you suppose to get this out in the middle of nowhere? And if your flashlight batteries are weak or dead, then what ya suppose to do? Magnifying Glass Once again, this works great in tropical and desert environments, and in most other places of the world too. And the better "quality made" magnifying glass, like from a pair of binoculars, the smaller and sharper you'll be able to focus the beam of sunlight onto something to burn. The Problem? Again, no sun no sunrays no heat = no fire! And to ignite something with a magnifying glass, the material has to be very dry, very thin, and very sensitive to heat or it won't burn. Magnesium Fire Bar The most overrated, overpriced and hyped up commercial product on the market, which is suppose to work by cutting or scratching off some magnesium shavings from the side of the bar and then striking the "flint rod" (along the side) with your knife to ignite it. The Problem? No doubt some pretty powerful stuff and will produce an extremely hot flame too. But it burns too quickly and rapidly. That is if you can keep the magnesium shavings altogether in a nice small pile on or near what you're trying toignite and burnt. It takes practice, lots of practice, but it can be done if you're a very patient gal or fella. Zippo Lighters A long time ago I read a "three page" article in the American Survival Guide magazine written by some survival guru (or idiot) on how wonderful he thought Zippo Lighters were for starting fires. Yep, they're pretty durable all right. And yep, sure are easy to use. And yep, will start a fire in seconds too. Ya don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure this out, duh? The Problem? Anyone who has ever owned a Zippo will tell you the lighter fluid doesn't last very long, and so you either gotta refill it everyday or carry some around with you. (Duh!) To the writer of that "Zippo article " don't take this personal, but I think you're an idiot! Butane Lighters Probably one of the most commonly carried and used fire starter because they're small, compact, inexpensive, and will last a long time too. And they come in different colors, "orange" and "red" being the favorite and "white" and "green" being the least favorite because if they're accidentally dropped in the snow or tall grass Problem? They must be kept warm to work, because if they get cold they simply won't work. And so they must be carried close to the body so the liquid gas won't freeze or lock up. Flint & Steel No doubt an excellent fire starter, and it works by striking the flint with the piece of steel and allowing the sparks to drop onto the dry tinder. The Problem? You need to carry it inside something along with some fire starting material. Waterproof Match Containers If you buy the one with the "flint" on the bottom, when your matches run out you can use it as a "back up" fire starter. But before placing any matches inside the container, cover them with candle wax to (a) further waterproof'em, (b) to make'em burn longer. The Problem? A little bit bulky, not much, but it only holds about 36 x wooden matches. But if you pack it full of cotton balls and use the flint to ignite them, you'll be able to start a hellova lot more fires.
The Four Finger Fire Starter The smallest, compact, self contained, fire starter on the market, developed by yours truly US Army Ranger Rick!
The Problem? None! Works beautifully! Really! What did you expect, I was going to bad mouth my own product? I ain't no dummy. Unfortunately I don't have time to make & sell these anymore, I'm just too damn busy doing other things. But here's what I'll do, I will try to to post here on my website [soon] how you can make'em, fair enough? Now let's move on and talk about TINDER This is the primary material used to get a fire going and consist of a very dry, thin, light, airy material that is very sensitive to heat and will ignite with the "touch of a spark." And according to other survival sites and books, can be dry grass, leaves, pine needles, shredded bark, cattails, and other weeds and plants that produce a very fine, dry, "hairy" material. And as Ranger George W. Jasper describes in his book Six Ways In & Twelve Ways Out , you make a "tinder ball" out of it. Which is nothing more then twisting, ripping, and fluffing it up until it's about the size of a tennis ball. (Sorry George, you described it so well in your book that I just couldn't resist quoting you, hope ya don't mind.) Personally, I like to make and carry my own tinder inside of a 35mm plastic film container, which are cotton balls saturated with Vaseline. You just spread/flatten out the cotton, smear a little Vaseline in the center, fold or roll'em up and then squeeze out the excess. Then when you're ready to use'em, stretch & fluff'em up and all it takes is a spark to ignite'em and they'll burn for about 3 minutes. But if they don't ignite, it's because (a) you didn't stretch & fluff'em up enough, and or (b) you didn't squeeze out all the excess Vaseline.
But if you're lazy and rich, you can buy pre made tinder or fuel tabs from almost any military, camping, & outdoor supply store. Or if you wanna save some $$$, use cut up short candles, the "joke type." You know, the birthday party "Magic Candles" that you can't blow out. They work terrific, and they're inexpensive too.
KINDLING Are thin, narrow, short, pieces of wood that must be placed on or above the tinder according to thickness & size so they'll ignite and burn more easily, which the first size is "toothpick" followed by "pencil size" sticks. And once the kindling catches fire, that's when you can start adding the next size, "magic marker" and "broom handle" size sticks.
FUEL Once the kindling begins to burn, you're ready to start adding wrist, arm, and leg size sticks. But be careful not to place too much wood on the fire or you'll choke off the oxygen and it'll start to smother and smoke. And if it does this, just remove some of the wood and gently blow on the hot coals to get it burning again, then gradually place more wood on it until you have the size of fire that you want. Remember: The smaller the fire the less wood it takes to keep it going. The bigger the fire the more wood and work you'll have to do to keep it going. Now we're ready to discuss the different types of "fire layouts," and with the help of my "US Army Ranger Rick Action Figure Doll," here's what they look like and how to make'em. THE TEEPEE First place your tinder ball on the ground and then carefully construct a cone shape teepee around it starting with toothpicks and then pencil size sticks. But make sure you leave a doorway open so you can get in and ignite the tinder in the center.
Once the teepee fire is going, you can either continue to keep it burning like a teepee by adding more wood to it in a cone shape pattern, or you can change it into another layout such as...
THE STAR This layout works great when you've got some long, thick, wood to burn but no way to cut them. And so what you do is place them in a star shape pattern and burn'em starting at the ends. And as they burn up, you push them further into the fire to keep it going.
THE PYRAMID A long, lasting fire requiring very little attention once it's constructed and starts to burn. Must be built in layers with the bottom being the thickest & longest to the top being the thinnest & shortest. Must be ignited at the very top so the fire will burn downward in stages.
NEW! Got A Question About Fire Making? No problem, my "fireman" and buddy "Bow" Beauchamp will be happy to try to help ya out. You can contact him at: [email protected]
And if ya wanna learn some more fire making tips, Order The Ranger Digest Series and find out.
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