Backyard Survival Challenge. Challenge #1: Fire Making

[thenodnarb]

This is a little exercise I came up with to give me and my wife a chance to practice our survival skills in a convenient way. There are a number of challenges, each building on the first and getting more difficult each time.

The first challenge is to make a fire in your backyard. Please obey all local ordinances. If an open fire isn't allowed in your area, build the fire in the BBQ(for example). Simply build a small kindling fire, something more than tinder that could be maintained only by adding material.
The rules:
1.)First, all these rules can be bent or broken. They're more like guidelines.(arrrgh)
2.)The materials must be gathered from your backyard or some other convenient location near by(or anyplace convenient). Don't buy materials.
3.)You can only use tools that you either carry on you every day(EDC), or are always in your immediate possession(like a BOB or GHB in your car). Don't use a fire starter you keep in your house.
4.)Challenge yourself. Use a flint and steel rather than a lighter if you have the choice. If you don't carry any fire starting method with you, try to build a bow drill! don't use an accelerant that is not renewable by you.
5.) Post a picture of the fire you built, and the tools you used to make it. If you can't post a picture, tell us about it.
6.) this is an ongoing challenge. If you try a more difficult method, show us! If this post is a year old, go ahead and resurrect it.



My entry: Earlier this week I built a fire with my firesteel that I keep on a necklace that is always with me.I also used my new becker BK2 to batton some firewood into kindling. All materials gathered in my backyard. took about an hour.
Today, I built a bowdrill for the first time. For the string, I used the paracord necklace I mentioned earlier. I also used my leatherman wave to make the spindle and bow and sockets. Took me about an hour.

So go out and do it! This is a challenge! Don't post pictures from recent camping trips. This is an exercise to practice your skills!

[kb58]

The secret, is charcoal paper or cloth. All it takes is one spark.

[Sonic_mike]

i keep dryer lint and Vaseline coated cotton balls with a lite my fire striker in my bob.
I'll take pictures once the rain stops.

[jbohon]

I just tried this about a week ago. I keep Vaseline soaked cotton balls in my GHB along with my striker. I figured that I should at the very least know for sure that it would work. I set the cotton ball in my grill and two sparks later, I had a nice little flame. I think what surprised me the most is how long it burned. I didn't time it, but it was several minutes. I could build a nice little fire with that...

[thenodnarb]

The secret, is charcoal paper or cloth. All it takes is one spark.

I'm aware of charcloth. In fact, making it will be a future challenge. But do you carry char cloth on you every day? I don't. I wanted to see if I could build it with just my firesteel and dry tinder that I could find.

Remember, challenge yourself!

[Exile Machine]

I'll take the challenge. Tomorrow I'll use my eyeglasses to focus sunlight onto a tuft of cat hair pulled from the tail of the neighbor's black cat. After starting the cat hair fire, I'll use my first aid kit to clean and bandage the scratches.
-Mark

[JRent54]

^ Do IT!!!

[joash]

Survival skills are cool & all, but has anyone here ever been in a real life situation where they had to make a fire without matches or some type of lighter?

It sometimes seems that many preppers spend an inordinate amount of time preparing for things that are extremely unlikely.

Many are very concerned with wilderness survival, for example the idea of being stranded with only a knife as a tool. In reality most people never even set foot in a wilderness, nevermind being lost in the wilderness.

[KevinB]

Bic butane lighter on a lanyard around your neck. Enough said.

[11HE9]

... once the rain stops.

Try things out at home when the weather is less than perfect... if you fail, you can always go in the house to get warm & dry




I made some of the egg crate/parafin/dryer lint fire starters a while back... I decided to try lighting one without a match or lighter. I used my magnesium fire starter and a little cotton (corner of a shop rag) to get things going. I think charcloth would have made things a lot easier (on my list of things to make).

The day I attempted my experiment, it was cold and windy. I had to sit on the ground and use my body & jacket to create a wind-break.

Once I got the "fire starter" going, it burned for at least ten minutes, giving me plenty of time to get a good fire going if I needed to




I really want to learn how to use a bow drill well... even if it's only used to show off

[Sonic_mike]

Try things out at home when the weather is less than perfect... if you fail, you can always go in the house to get warm & dry

your rite i'll try tomorrow after work if im not too tired from working 12 hours.

[thenodnarb]

Survival skills are cool & all, but has anyone here ever been in a real life situation where they had to make a fire without matches or some type of lighter?

It sometimes seems that many preppers spend an inordinate amount of time preparing for things that are extremely unlikely.

Many are very concerned with wilderness survival, for example the idea of being stranded with only a knife as a tool. In reality most people never even set foot in a wilderness, nevermind being lost in the wilderness.

I've been an outdoors man all my life. I used to laugh at the "survivor" types. Real outdoorsmen are prepared, don't get lost, and never let themselves get into a position where they need to survive.


Bottom line...its fun. Get out there and do it. Otherwise, go thread crap somewhere else.

[NotEnufGarage]

It'd be weeks or months before I got to that point in a SHTF situation. I've got enough Bic lighters and waterproof matches to keep me going for a long, long time. Besides, you only really need one match. You're not supposed to let your fire die.

[Intimid8tor]

If I needed to light a fire without a match or lighter, I would use my Swedish fire steel using a cotton ball or cotton pad for tinder. If for some reason that doesn't work, I keep hand sanitizer in my packs as the version that contains alcohol is an excellent fire starter.

[CZ97B]

In my glove box and in my 72-hour kit I always have 2 methods of starting a fire, consisting of a lighter and a magnesium block. I also have lots of parachute cord on hand, and always a knife, in case I need to make a fire bow.