Your favorite backcountry fire starters

[Miles]

Birch bark is a great natural fire starter.  Peel the layers apart in sheets and it will light/burn easier.  It burns quick and puts off some really black smoke.   Plus even in a rainstorm it's easy to get dry birch bark.

[Miles]

White birch is the best.  Yellow birch is a pain.

[mrmoskillz]

Anyone who thinks only a Bic lighter is going to be a good idea when they are minutes away from Hypothermia should think again.  Looking for good dry firestarter in the woods under that condition is risky too.  How much damage are you going to do looking for good dry firestarter if you have a compound leg fracture or something equally as serious?  Volunteer for search and rescue...you will find that not everyone loosing life on the mountain was unprepared.

Why would anyone wait until they are "minutes away from hypothermia" to start building a fire?  How about looking at getting a fire going before it's down to the wire?  If you wait until you can't physically do it, you're an idiot.


Sure I always hear the "what if this".  Well what happens if a tree falls on your head?  Are you now going to wear a helmet while hunting now just in case?   What happens if a loose rock rolls down and pins your leg against another?  Are you goint to pack around the Jaws of Life just in case?


A little common sense can go a long ways...  So does a simple bic lighter.

So if you fall in a creek or river in the late season you are already minutes away from hypothmia and your wet bic wont work you die.

[Pathfinder101]

 

That's why I use magnesium.  It still throws sparks even if it's soaken wet from a dunking.  Doesn't run out of fluid at the worst possible time either.  Army snowshoes are actually made out of magnesium.

[BLUEBULLS]

I just rub 2 sticks together real fast....


then once I'm warmed up, I pull out the old bic or one of the several books of matches that I keep in small ziplocks in almost every pocket on my pack and light one of the little brown fire starters. 

It's usually easy to find plenty of pitch so that's usually what I rely on.

[Alpine Mojo]

Vaseline and cotton balls are a reliable classic.  They are cheap and simple to make.  Pair that with a bic lighter or two and you are set.

If you want to show your friends how cool you are with some exotic fire-starting method you read about on the internet, use something else.

[400out]

gas and Styrofoam

[Miles]

Anyone who thinks only a Bic lighter is going to be a good idea when they are minutes away from Hypothermia should think again.  Looking for good dry firestarter in the woods under that condition is risky too.  How much damage are you going to do looking for good dry firestarter if you have a compound leg fracture or something equally as serious?  Volunteer for search and rescue...you will find that not everyone loosing life on the mountain was unprepared.

Why would anyone wait until they are "minutes away from hypothermia" to start building a fire?  How about looking at getting a fire going before it's down to the wire?  If you wait until you can't physically do it, you're an idiot.


Sure I always hear the "what if this".  Well what happens if a tree falls on your head?  Are you now going to wear a helmet while hunting now just in case?   What happens if a loose rock rolls down and pins your leg against another?  Are you goint to pack around the Jaws of Life just in case?


A little common sense can go a long ways...  So does a simple bic lighter.

So if you fall in a creek or river in the late season you are already minutes away from hypothmia and your wet bic wont work you die.

See above comment about falling trees....   

Put your helmet on.

[Cascade_fisher]

I carry several -
Soaked cotton balls
Purell hand cleaner is a good one
Ball up some duck tape will burn for a while
Baggie of fat lighter

Problem is none of these are "starters" so I also carry -
Butane lighter
Magnesium stick
Waterproof matches

[saylean]

Im a pale red head, so usually I just take my shirt off and wait for the reflecting sun to magnify enough to start a fire from a bunch of bundled sticks/tinder. Takes about 2 minutes on nice days.

 

I usually carry waterproof matches, one or two lighters, magnesium stick, and some more matches. Ive heard of the cotton balls and vaseline....I have used that to start fires at the house just to see how it works. I have used duct tape a few times, will often use my cup o noodles cardboard packaging to help get things going a bit. Iceman, I believe, had a pretty good example of fire starter bundles about a year ago. I liked that thread.

[WAcoyotehunter]

I carry cut pieces of pitch wood...guaranteed to light no matter how wet and will burn for quite some time to get a fire going.

I carry the vaseline covered cotton balls and pitch wood, along with a lighter and two small boxes of waterproof matches. 
Pitch wood can be lifesaver in wet conditions-

[HORSEPOWER]

Cotton balls soaked in Vaseline, homemade parafin and lint, lighter, and magnesium.

I carry both the cottonball/vaseline and the parafin/lint because I usually get about 4 minutes out of a cotton ball/vaseline in the wind and about 12 minutes out of the lint/parafin.

I use egg cartons as my container, add lint (you can also add wood chips and a wick if you want), then pour the melted parafin in.  break the egg cartons apart and there you go!

Don't forget about the 9V battery and steel wool.  Works good, but I usually only take it if I need a spare 9V for something else.

[NRA4LIFE]

I carry several means.  The wax covered cups you get at a water cooler burn great.  Dry birch bark too.

And for those who think a Bic lighter won't work after it's wet, that's hogwash.  I had an old boy at deer camp snatch one out of my hands and he threw it in a pail of water and said something snide like "now what are you going to do?".  I had it lit in 5 seconds.

[RB]

I carry a windproof butane lighter, a Bic lighter, magnesium block, a chunk of fir pitch wood and a couple small candles. Knock on wood have not had to build a fire to survive yet. Did build one a few years ago on a beach in southeast Alaska waiting for my brother to pick me up. Searched around under trees to find pockets of dry tinder and was able to get one going.

[groundhog]

I just use a lighter. I usually have one in my pocket and at least one or two in the pack along with TP and paper towels. On the east side their is always dryed up moss, dead Pine needles, and pitch bark for tender. The combination of these three is hard to beat. In the worst of conditions I have always been able to find dry tender without much trouble. The key is to take everything from standing trees and not off of the ground. Anything that has been on the ground tends to have more moisture in and on it.
A buddy of mine keeps it real simple and carries a road flare. Pop the top and instant super hot flame for thirty minutes. I have seen him start the flare, throw it in a snow bank and throw some wet branches on top. Instant fire.

Or you could use just about any bag of chips. My kids were playing around with using Doritos,Chitos, and Fritos, as fire starter and they all work very well. I think I will stick to the first mentioned method but it was interesting to see.