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Makin' fire on a wet day.....

3K views 14 replies 6 participants last post by  Sustinemus 
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#1 ·
Old time Woodscraft... :mrgreen:

One of those unsettled days, up here... Rain off and on all afternoon. Nothin' major, just a short soaking and then sunshine.

Good chance to try makin' a fire using damp tinder.

For those of you that spend time outdoors, I'm sure you've all experienced the same thing. How to get a fire started when everything is damp or wet. I've got a trick to show you....

First picture is of something I carry when treking or camping. It's a horsefoot fungus. I find these growing on dead or dying White Birch. It's the only tinder that I know of that you can get to hold an ember when it's just been cut off the tree. They can be ignited the day you cut them. I always have a dozen or so in the basement that I've dried over the winter near the woodstove. Either way, what you do is make shavings with them. I am showing just one shaving next to the horsefoot and in front of the pile.


Rather then use a lighter or a match, I used a flint and striker to get a ember going. In the next picture...you can see the single shaving starting to glow from a few strong blows of air.


I then inserted this into a pile of White Birch shavings that had been in the rain all day today. The resins in the Birch will burn hot if you can ignite them. Moving the Horsefoot ember into the pile and cupping my hand around it...I then blew until the fire ignited.... ;)



This is the same pile of material more then a minute and a half later. Much heat was made, to ignite a pile of kindling for the fire.


Anyrate, if you find yourself in damp or wet conditions, don't despair... Our Ancesters wouldn't...they'd of made camp and simply started a fire....with what was available to them. There are many other species of woods available that will do the same thing. Some of the more resinous pines in the South will do even better....







Anyrate, you could easily use a match to start the Birch if it was dry enough. The point of using many shavings of the Horsefoot fungus is that it will create a long lasting bed of embers...enough to dry out the starter and get it going.

Another use for the fungus is to carry fire. A ember caught in a large piece can be kept going for many hours. Allowing you to easily start another fire later in the day...without matches, lighters, or flint and steel....
 
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G
#2 ·
I'd love to write an article someday about Horsefoot fungus. But my wife thinks I'm pretty weird already...

When I'm at a Vous...I love to visit during the evening. I never fret about starting my own fire when I get back. I carry my ember tongs with me and a horsefoot fungus. I usually use a small pocket knife to hollow out a small chamber hole...leavin the bits and piece's behind.



Just before I'm done visitin'...I grab an ember from their fire. I put this into my horsefoot chamber hole and give it a few blows...



Once it is established I head back to my own camp. This ember chamber will last for many hours.



When I get back to camp, I take some birchbark paper that I harvested along with the horsefoot and simply pile it onto the chamber. A few short blows of air and it ignites...




The Horsefoot fungus also makes a great smoldering smudge to keep insects away.. :)
 
#4 ·
That is very cool!! I see them in the woods a lot. Next time I am going to take some home with me.

I would like to try this myself so I have a few questions for you.

Did you make the steel, if so out of what and how?

Did you buy the flint or find it in the woods?

Do you have to use flint or is their a substitute?
 
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#5 ·
Dom,

All my strikers are made by blacksmith. I've picked up a few from traders. Some spark like mad and others not so much. I've only used English flints and had great luck with them... I think Cabela's sells a charcloth kit that contains a large piece of flint, a striker, and a piece of cloth that you can make char with. It also has directions for making the char. I've never been impressed with char cloth, but others swear by it.... I make my char from chunks of a different kind of fungus that grows on trees.
 
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#7 ·
Dom,....

Give it a go. Buy the Cabela's kit as it is a good one. If you can get to one of their stores they usually have them in stock. I went through the entire rack and found that the flint sizes varied quite a bit. I ended up with one three times larger then the smallest one they had packaged...

Here's my actual fire making kit. I carry my char in a seperate container. The fire lens is old style and very thick in the center. It really concentrates to a pinpoint...








 
#8 ·
Steve, that striker is different than most I have seen, they all seem to be a "C" shape and the same thickness. What makes that one better than those? Seems to me that one might be harder to use due to the open end.

What are those match looking thingies?
 
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#9 ·
Dom,

They come in all shapes and sizes. The one in the picture is well hardened, and showers sparks....

In my left hand (I'm right-handed) I hold my flint with my thumb and forefinger and use the rest of my hand to hold the char. I use the striker with my right hand to hit the flint. This keeps the sparks concentrated and falling directly into my firestarter...

Other folks do it opposite, using the flint to hit the striker over a pile of char...
 
#10 ·
Can't fool me. That "fungus" is what my neighbor's cow dropped from its bunghole when it lifted its tail. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, tellin' whoppers like that.

I use my Zippo and lighter fluid. :cool:

Just a note for those who've never sparked a fire - make sure the steel is "well hardened," as Giz says. Strikers made from old files are the best. Again, as Giz has already stated, a good quality "English flint" is best. There's some crap (can I say that?) out there that really sucks. If you're gonna do this, make it easy on yourself.
 
G
#11 ·
QC,

One of the advantages of a Flintlock is the Frizzen and pan. You can put a tad bit of ffffg in the pan, add some tinder on top...and let the flint and frizzen do the rest... Starts an ember, everytime.... :D
 
#13 ·
What could this be...?

The OD color should be a clue...


The emblem should be another good clue.... :)


My old BSA fire-making kit from the early 1960s... I remember timed fire-building events at the yearly Camporees. (That tinder looks like a scalp fron a red-haired person! ;) )


I found it in the attic at my folks' a few months ago. My mother never threw anything away. :)

xtm
 
#14 ·
You know what? I've seen that done with a flintlock. I don't do flintlocks, so I've never had the opportunity to try.

I'd attend the Rendezvous at Massacre Rock, Idaho with my brother and watch the different events. One event was starting a fire with flint & steel, that was the man's job. The lady then boiled an egg over the fire and when she thought it was hardboiled, she cracked it on her male partner's forehead. If it was hardboiled - no problem. If it wasn't, the poor fool who couldn't get his fire started quick enough got runny egg all over his face. The team that hardboiled the egg first, won.
 
#15 ·
One event was starting a fire with flint & steel, that was the man's job. The lady then boiled an egg over the fire and when she thought it was hardboiled, she cracked it on her male partner's forehead. If it was hardboiled - no problem. If it wasn't, the poor fool who couldn't get his fire started quick enough got runny egg all over his face. The team that hardboiled the egg first, won.
Great fun! Great Idea! :D
 
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