Fire Starters and Kits...

Coffee bags (the little mylar ones you get from Robert Timms) snugly fit a bic and can be resealed with a household iron.

My Compact Fire Kit containing Bic Lighter, Ferro Rod + Striker, tightly packed with a fist sized pile of Vas covered cotton wool tinder. There is room in the Strobe Pouch for additional Tinder / Lighters / Folding Knife / Fire Starters etc. It's Dummy Corded to the pouch, a second Bic is also Dummy Corded separately to my hunting rig, remember one is none two is one!




The design allows for the waterproof capsule to be unscrewed from the tethered lid and to be used without the lighter being removed from the capsule.  The waterproof capsule preserves the lighter and avoids accidental leakage of fuel. 

Mate you know I have a rattle can fetish! I go weak at the knees when I've got a can of Olive Drab in my hands! Why I'd even hit the wife up with some OD or Coyote if she'd let me! 

I find this makes lighting fires in rain easier. Have enough small wood or combustibles to build a tiny fire, just large enough to start drying collected wood so it then takes off.

Similarly a few sheets of cardboard around the edge of the bucket would allow you to use the cardboard as a roof over the fire to get it started when raining. I did the same thing recently with a thin plank of wood. Propped the wood about 10cm up in the air, shoved some plastic, paper, bark and small sticks under it, laid larger damp wood over the top and lit it. The heat lit the thin plank and any heat directed around the plank dried the wood on top. At the same time the plank stopped the rain dousing the small fire. It worked well.

Flint and steel for when you run out of matches and lighters.

Bulrush/cattail/cumbingi flower fluff is a good tinder.

norseman(?) mentioned WetFire which looks good. I think there are a number of these type of surefire (pun intended!) firelighters.

Condy's crystals and sugar mixed 9:1 and ground to a powder will light from a spark.

Even a handful of dry grass is really handy to get a fire lit. A lot of heat very quickly.

The plastic label from soft drink bottles also burns well. Fold it up and stick it down with its own adhesive and you get a little wad of plastic which when burning gives off heat for a few minutes. I find this really handy as the heat is in one spot so dries anything above it well. Paper, cardboard or wood burns from one side to the other which is good for increasing the size of a fire but the plastic ignites one spot well. Very handy.

I also use old spray cans to help light fires. Make sure the can is empty and not under pressure. Put a couple of holes in it (I use the can opener on a Swiss Army Knife on the bottom of the can and I make two holes to be sure it is vented as exploding spraycans are not fun!). Then point the end of the can with the holes in it at the fire. Residual propellant will come out of the can and give a small flame. As the can heats a bit more boils out. Not much but it helps initially.

Put a couple of candles in there as well. Light the candle and you have a flame for as long as it takes to get the fire lit. Better than wasting match after match.

I love the gas torch lighters. But they run on butane which doesn't like freezing temperatures so not recommended for Canada! Although you could put it in your pocket to warm it up. "Blazer" is a brand that was recommended on Day to Day Preppers. The cheap ones don't last well.

Condy's crystals and sugar mixed 9:1 and ground to a powder will light from a spark.

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Explain this to me.... Condy's crystals must be a the brand name of a local product of some kind ?? ??

What is that ??
Details please..

Condys crystals AKA Potassium Permanganate AKA KMnO4. Also the addition of glycerin to the Condy's/sugar powder will produce spontaneous combustion.
It is an oxidiser so works well as an antiseptic. A faint pink solution in poultry water can help with 'wet cough' in poultry. Also works as an anti-fungal for your feet, soak your feet in the pink solution. Could possibly be used as a water sterilisation agent but I don't think it is vigorous enough to kill everything in the water, just most things.
But it does stain, quite a dark purple colour when you get it wet, so be wary.
Can also be used in methamphetamine production, if that is your thing!

A good while back it was popular to have a few of those weather proof trick party candles that reignite after blown out. Like $5 for pack of 12.



A fire kit must have is a pencil sharpener, break twigs off side of tree truck especially pine, remove the bark and process through pencil sharpener, quick start in any whet condition.

May as well just carry a bundle of hand held marine flares.

Those suckers will light a fire under water.

Remember the pencil sharpener itself is fine aluminium, can be shaved to make tinder.