Fire starting

what are some fast ways to start fire? No matter how hard i try i never seem to get a fire started..

 

I think a fast way to start a fire is to use a fire starter. If you keep a lot of fire starters you'll be able to start fires for a long time in a survival situation. All you have to do is get sparks from the fire starter on to some tender and once it starts burning transfer the fire over to some dry wood. To keep the fire going just keep adding dry wood. This seems like the easiest way to start a fire besides using a lighter.

 

OK, so don't do what I did. I tried using plain old hardware-store-bought naphtha in one of my Zippo lighters.

Naphtha is naphtha right?! Wrong. I ended up having to replace all of the cotton wadding in the lighter's reservoir that had been "contaminated". Using the naphtha billed as "lighter fluid" restored perfect performance in this lighter. Here in the states, the big lighter-fluid brands are Zippo and Ronson.



I have a stack of spare lighter wicks, but I just pulled out and trimmed the existing wick and like I said, with the proper fuel the puppy lit just fine.

I did notice that I needed to store more lighter flints, so I ordered some more to put back for any future need.

Remember to keep flammables in safe storage.

My Zippo lighters evaporate-out their fuel too rapidly; so, I put a lighter in a heavy-plastic type sandwich bag with a zip-lock closure. This massively lengthens the fuel life within Zippo-type lighers, but certainly not for over two or three months. Never let naphtha leak-out onto any cloth products lest you create a fire hazard, plus a skin damaging situation (chemical type of "burn", i.e. tissue damage to the skin). Know too that a bunch of rags soaked in fuel can spontaneously combust.

Properly store and seal all fuel types.

I also keep hurricane matches in small sealed containers and keep match striking surfaces in separate small containers.



I never keep the plastic disposable butane cigarette lighters. They spook me.



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As an aside, I found an interesting link concerning the pH of common cleaning agents. Don't get nuked by cleaning agents. ammonia + chlorine bleach = ☠ "Danger, Will Robinson!"

Here's the article link:

"Average pH Levels of Common Cleaning Supplies"



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