Fire-lighters

[BlinkingCory]

One thing I learnt recently is that you can use steel wool and a V9 battery to start a fire. It'll even light when soaking wet as it relies on electricity to complete the circuit and provide the heat.

Since learning about it I've also added it to my firelighting kit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbwNJhJwnSs

If you tie a bundle of it on the end of a bit of wire or stick in one of those metal hand wisk thingies you can twirl it around as a signal.

Cool
I keep a cyalume light stick on approx 8ft of paracord for that very purpose.
When my lad was young he'd play helicopters during the winter with them.
ps so did I

[oldman]

Hi all,

Although my probation officer says I'm not allowed to play with fire here is a few hints.

Tampons ... I always have some of these in the first aid kit as they are good for plugging a bullet wound but if you pull them apart they will catch a spark from a flint quite well.

I always bag the sawdust from chainsawing the logs. I add molten wax and press egg sized balls out of it. Great fire lighters.

My favourite method of lighting a fire will always be a Molotov cocktail ... it could be why I have a probation officer.

Oldman

[Arzosah]

For my little incinerator fires recently, to get some wood ash from the garden and reduce the amount of prunings hanging around, I've used various bits to start the fire and keep it going when it's temporarily burned low:
- a "spill" made of a long twist of newspaper
- the outsides of teabags the paper stuff, I kid you not
- tiny little thin twigs, like dried buddleia flowers.
- amazingly, thin branches of holly - they were only cut about 2 months ago, they were twined in with the cherry laurel I was cutting back severely, and I laid them around on the soil I'd been weeding, to stop the cats peeing on it. Used a few on the fires this week, and I was really surprised at how brightly they burned.

[ukpreppergrrl]

I like coffee stirrers. The wooden ones obviously! I normally...collect....a few each time I have a coffee, but a few weeks ago I bought 1,000 for about a fiver. They reminded me of the wooden splints my grandmother always used to have by the fire so I thought I'd give them a go. They light really easily and burn well. They won't take a spark but if you have a flame, particularly if you're down to your last match, they are a good way of moving the flame around and make excellent kindling.