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brandon_a_boyer |
Firestarting
Apr 27 2012, 6:27 PM EDT
TR and his gun thread got my gears turning on going back to basics.Post a method of starting a fire other than lighters matches or flint and steel. Steel wool and a battery. Touching the steel wool to the battery contacts causes the steel wool to burn rapidly. Easily starting a fire. 3 out of 3 found this valuable. Do you? |
Sharpie41 |
1. RE: Firestarting
Apr 27 2012, 6:30 PM EDT
Bow drill (for fire, not for drilling)
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Zee-Man |
2. RE: Firestarting
Apr 27 2012, 6:50 PM EDT
Aside from what is already on the Fire pages? The Iroquois Fire Pump. This is something that is still on its way to the pages. For an illustration see my profile. Simple to make, and energy efficient. Like other friction methods it does require practice. I feel it is easier to master than the bow drill.There is quite a bit of discussion on other sites about whether the hearth board and the drill should be the same species or species of dissimilar hardness. The discussion further makes distinction whether the drill or the hearth board should be harder. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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Zee-Man |
3. RE: Firestarting
Apr 27 2012, 7:03 PM EDT
Got 9 volts DC but no steel wool? Use a piece of pencil lead instead. Steel wool and pencil lead behave as resistance elements. The finer the resistance element the better heat transmission. Greater resistance will give greater heat conversion. This is somewhat hard to describe. A thicker wire can transport more electrons than a thin wire. Thus the thin wire has more resistance. Also having less mass, the thin wire can store little heat making it glow to not only conduct heat but to radiate it also. Different conductive materials have different resistance. The carbon in the pencil lead may be thicker than the wire one uses, but having higher resistance than say, copper, it makes a good heat element. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
The_Anomoly |
4. RE: Firestarting
Apr 27 2012, 7:25 PM EDT
I have a 10x magnifying glass in my BOB. I've burned some paper with it, but never tried to start a real fire with it. I can't imagine I'd be too much more difficult to do.
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=jesse= |
5. RE: Firestarting
Apr 27 2012, 8:42 PM EDT
"I have a 10x magnifying glass in my BOB. I've burned some paper with it, but never tried to start a real fire with it. I can't imagine I'd be too much more difficult to do."haha, you beat me to it Anomoly! I was going to use this one. I've started a few camp fires like this, but only when it was dry. Tough to get a good beam with clouds or hot enough when leaves are wet. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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The_Anomoly |
6. RE: Firestarting
Apr 28 2012, 1:58 AM EDT
"Tough to get a good beam with clouds or hot enough when leaves are wet."yeah, I've had that issue before. I'm actually a little curious if I can use my flashlight (800 lumens) to start a flame. I've melted ice with it before, I have to think with a bit of focusing, in a pinch it could ignite something as well. Do you find this valuable? |
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brandon_a_boyer |
7. RE: Firestarting
Apr 28 2012, 1:55 PM EDT
Another Option is a fire piston.Rapid compression of air inside of a closed cylinder will cause the air temperature to rapidly increase. Igniting tinder inside of the piston. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_piston Do you find this valuable? |
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The_Anomoly |
8. RE: Firestarting
Apr 29 2012, 12:11 AM EDT
huh, never heard of one of those before. Looked up some info online and found the Numyth Vulcan Fire Piston. I don't know much about these but from what I saw, it's a rather robust little system. I think I'm buy one and have 1 more redundancy to my fire starting bag.
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Zee-Man |
9. RE: Firestarting
Apr 29 2012, 1:29 AM EDT
| Post edited: Apr 29 2012, 1:56 AM EDT
Fire pistons require a specific minimum ratio of compression. IIRR it is 35:1. Making one seems simple, but missing that ratio will result in failure. The size of the tube is not all that makes the difference, the tightness of the seal is significant. The one I attempted to make has two failure points. Both are with the plunger. I used an O-ring for the seal. The O-ring fits snugly, but the gap between plunger and tube is so great that the O-ring allows too much air to pass. My next attempt will use a plunger with a much closer fit and a smaller O-ring.Do you find this valuable? |
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brandon_a_boyer |
10. RE: Firestarting
Apr 29 2012, 1:49 AM EDT
"Fire pistons require a specific minimum ratio of compression. IIRR it is 35:1. Making one seems simple, but missing that ratio will result in failure. The size of the tube is not all that makes the difference, the tightness of the seal is significant. The one I attempted to make has to failure points. Both are with the plunger. I used an O-ring for the seal. The O-ring fits snugly, but the gap between plunger and tube is so great that the O-ring allows too much air to pass. My next attempt will use a plunger with a much closer fit and a smaller O-ring.Yeah, I typically advise people to just buy one. It's tough to make one yourself that will stand up to repeat use. Do you find this valuable? |
