Starting a Fire in Cold, Damp Winter

Submitted: Thursday, Jul 03, 2008 at 22:45

ThreadID: 59479 Views:8141 Replies:22 FollowUps:9

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Geoff1967

This is a very basic topic :-)

I've tried the redhead firestarters as well as that mini blowtorch thingo and despite my best efforts unless I bring my own service station bags of dry firewood I struggle to get a fire started if the wood in the bush is slightly damp.

So whats your ritual for getting a good roaring fire going when wood is damp from dew/rain? Is it a must to bring your own dry stuff? What type of fire starters (if any) do you use?

Thanks in advance for any tips.

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Reply By: Nick R (VIC) - Thursday, Jul 03, 2008 at 22:48

Thursday, Jul 03, 2008 at 22:48

home brand cooking spray works a treat, you only need a little flame to start then spray it and it gets bigger.

I give no warranty as to the safety of this.

I reckon I'll carry a little dry kindling when we leave for our next trip so we can conserve the spray!!!

Nick

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Follow Up By: Crackles - Thursday, Jul 03, 2008 at 23:47

Thursday, Jul 03, 2008 at 23:47

Must admit one cold night we experimented with spray oil, fly spray, CRC & even Aerostart. Makes for an exciting flame but 30 seconds later it's back to smoking if the woods not dry.
Cheers Craig.........

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Follow Up By: Stephen M (NSW) - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 06:43

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 06:43

Wife's hair laquer/hairspray (laquer is better) is a ripper. but as above not respossible for the outcome should it go belly up. (yeah I know hair laquer while in the scrub you dont know my wife lol) I said the same thing to her except shut my mouth real quick when I needed to use it for a blow torch. Regards Steve M

FollowupID: 579818

Follow Up By: Super-T - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 21:14

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 21:14

Go to the chemist and buy a tube of Potassium Permanganate (Kondy's Chrystals). These are handy to have in your first aid kit anyway, as it's a chrystaline disinfectant.
Go to the chemist aisle in woolies or coles, and buy some Glycerine. Also handy to keep in your first aid kit.

Put a teaspoonful of potassium permangante on a piece of flat wood, make a hollow in the middle of it, and pour in enough glycerine to fill the hollow. Slide this piece of wood in under your prepared teepee of small wood sticks etc as seen in the other posts regarding this thread.
Now sit back and wait about 30 seconds or so.
Eventually the two chemicals will create a very hot flame, and should with luck, help get your fire going.

Should you not have the Glycerine, you can grind some of the potassium permangante and normal sugar together under a metal blade or the like, to create the reaction, but i prefer the self igniting method of using the glycerine.

A dry form of disinfectant is a handy tool at the best of times anyway.

FollowupID: 579958

Reply By: Hairy (NT) - Thursday, Jul 03, 2008 at 23:11

Thursday, Jul 03, 2008 at 23:11

Stick your arm down the hollow of a tree a drag out the dry stuff?????
Or buy a 9kg bottle and one of those big gas heaters.......

AnswerID: 313742

Follow Up By: Member - Mark G (NSW) - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 17:24

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 17:24

probably drag out a joe blake. ha ha ha ha :-)))))

FollowupID: 579901

Reply By: Shaker - Thursday, Jul 03, 2008 at 23:16

Thursday, Jul 03, 2008 at 23:16

Try splitting the wood, it's dry in the middle.

AnswerID: 313743

Reply By: Member - Kim M (VIC) - Thursday, Jul 03, 2008 at 23:27

Thursday, Jul 03, 2008 at 23:27

Geoff

If your in the bush, no matter how wet it is, you can get a fire going. Start off with a fallen tree that has a section off the ground. Underneath you'll find dry bark.

Then get a lot of very small sticks (doesn't matter if their wet). If you have a paper or dunny roll, place a few crunched up bits down first.

The clue to all this is to start off small then build up in size. Break up the dry bark to give a bit of energy to the fire, then start to put larger wood on the fire over time.

The trick to a good bush fire in the wet, is in the preparation.

Might add that you can have a fire under a canopy while it's bleep down. Just keep the fire small.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Kim

AnswerID: 313747

Reply By: Dirty Smitty - Thursday, Jul 03, 2008 at 23:35

Thursday, Jul 03, 2008 at 23:35

Heaps of newspaper and plenty of wet leaves, will smoke a bit but will start.

AnswerID: 313748

Reply By: Crackles - Thursday, Jul 03, 2008 at 23:38

Thursday, Jul 03, 2008 at 23:38

We always collect our wood off the ridges where it's far dryer & cart it on the roof rack to camp. Almost all timber in the valleys will never really dry out properly often turning from green to rotten. One can pretty much assume if there was any decent dry timber within walking distance at a popular camp it would have been burnt by the last group.
To get it going we cut the top off a coke can & 1/2 fill with petrol. We then collect semi dry fine braches off standing wattle trees & split the dry timber we collected earlier. Light the petrol & use the blower nozzel on the compressor to feed plenty of air into it & away she goes :-) The petrol burns in the can fairly quietly for about 5 minutes & can't explode.
Dry split wood is kept under a tarp to stoke up the breakfast fire.
If coming into camp late at night I bring a bit of dry wood from home to avoid having to stumble around with a chainsaw in the dark.
Cheers Craig.........

AnswerID: 313749

Reply By: Member - Royce- Thursday, Jul 03, 2008 at 23:54

Thursday, Jul 03, 2008 at 23:54

I'm tempted to suggest WOOF WOOD, but that's not very safe.... so to basics.

It takes three things for the chemical reaction of 'fire' to exist.

Oxygen, heat and fuel.

You have plenty of oxygen, fuel and need to add heat.

A match won't do it, nor will a bit of paper, because the wood is WET.

So... you need to build up the heat before you add the wet wood. That means that you have to have very light, dry 'tinder'. That will be small twigs and bark from off the ground. I also look around for old bits of plastic and other flammable rubbish. It's a nice feeling to clean up rubbish as you go camping anyway.

Once you have a small hot fire burning, then add the smallest of your wet wood, then another bit, until the heat is sufficient to burn each new piece.

The biggest problem is when newbie campers make a big stack of wet wood and try to burn it.

I always wondered who bought those little baggies of service station firewood!

Cheers Royce

AnswerID: 313750

Reply By: Ray - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 02:34

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 02:34

Try rubbing two boy scouts together

AnswerID: 313759

Reply By: Member - Bucky (VIC) - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 03:41

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 03:41

Geoff

I use some diesel, when things are desperate !..
But 98% time just get some small dry twigs and slowly build it up.

SWMBO is the best in the world at getting fires going..

See they are useful for something after all. ( now I done for !)
Cheers
Bucky

AnswerID: 313760

Reply By: didiaust - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 05:33

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 05:33

My better half uses a small tin with kero and a bit of rag in it . This is ideal and burns for 20 -30 minutes. We just increase the size of the sticks/wood - usually in a pyramid.

AnswerID: 313762

Reply By: Member - Phil B (WA) - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 05:53

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 05:53

Hi Geoff 1967
I use a blow torch that attaches direct to the top of the standard gas stove cannsiters.

On one ocassion, we were bogged in for a few days and water was all around us. We made a mound of mud, to get the fire away from the water, placed some newspaper, small twigs etc on top. Hit it with the gas torch for about 4 mikns and away it went.

I have even lit fires in the rain with the blow torch.
Its made by Coleman costs around $30.

cheers
Phil

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AnswerID: 313763

Reply By: Mike Harding - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 07:42

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 07:42

A mix of 50% _used_ engined oil and 50% kero - shake well before use and ensure you have a few dry leaves or a piece of paper in the kindling to apply the initial match to. You only need about 125ml per fire.

Mike Harding

AnswerID: 313777

Reply By: GoneTroppo Member (FNQ) - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 08:01

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 08:01

Dig a conical hole about 30 cm deep at deepest point.

Then dig a further small hole just big enough and deep enough to fit a 850ml baked bean type can at the lowest pint of your conical hole.

The top of your can is to be 25mm above the soil level.
Fill can 3/4 full of petrol.
Put wood on top as dry as you can get and start with small twigs and branches building up to a good few pieces about 100mm diameter

Use long twig on paper to light petrol.

Petrol will burn long enough to dry and heat up wood to get it to burn.

The conical hole ensures there is not enough oxygen to cause petrol to explode, rather it just burns steadily and very very hot.

I had this method demonstrated to me at Wonnangatta station after it had rained continuously for 3 days.
I had serious doubts but changed my mind when we were all toasty warm on a 3 degree night in November.

I've used this method myself since, (nice and warm) but take no responsibility for the safety of it

AnswerID: 313781

Follow Up By: GoneTroppo Member (FNQ) - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 08:03

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 08:03

Bugger, that should read lowest "point" not pint.
Pint is what you have once the fire is going.

FollowupID: 579828

Reply By: DIO - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 08:15

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 08:15

Ah Ah - someone who wasn't in the Boy Scouts movement. Unless there have been continous tropical downpours for days and days, you can always find some dry material either under bark (on trees) or under leaf litter. Be careful though as you nbever know what else might be hiding in the dry spot. Some old newspaper also helps to create some heat to assist with drying things out etc. Just remember, once you get the fire started slowly place dry (drier/driest) wood around the edges and apart from helping to dry any moisture you will eventually build the small fire into a larger fire. Takes a bit of time and patience.
As for fire starters, I've never bought any. I find that used tea bags (once dried) and placed into a seal-able container (old coffee jar is OK) a couple of inches of kero, put the lid on, shake the lot around until all tea bags have soaked up some of the kero. These make cheap and very efficient fire-lighters.

AnswerID: 313783

Reply By: Willem - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 08:19

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 08:19

Drovers from yesteryear used to carry just enough dry tinder in a pocket to get a fire going in wet weather

Scratch around for some dry foliage. Use fire-lighters and match/gas flame to light. Soak twig or wet log in diesel and put on fire(carefully). Petrol ofcourse is more volatile and caution should be exercised if you intend to use it to start a fire.

Cheers

AnswerID: 313784

Reply By: Member - bushfix - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 08:36

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 08:36

G'day,

I carry a hatchet. One reason is to belt tent pegs in, the other is too split open wood or make kindling. If wood is wet/damp, I just split it open to get to the dry stuff, split splinters of dry stuff for kindling. Start with a very small footprint and use the teepee method which takes advantage of convection. Heat energy is harnessed against the dry timber you have exposed using your hatchet, bringing it to ignition point relatively quickly. What you want is to be able to create a "hearth" or "oven" hot spot at the base of the teepee, making the teepee taller as your hearth takes effect. In time, the fire will be established and generating suffiicient heat for you to be putting damp timber on that has not been split open.

kindling can also be made from paper rolled into tight sticks.

my gig anyway, works for me. (you could also use a chainsaw but would annoy your chain.)

AnswerID: 313787

Reply By: Member - V8Diesel (WA) - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 08:41

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 08:41

Cheezels or Twisties. Excellent firestarters and taste good too! Try it.

Failing that, Woofa Wood (aka Diesel, ULP, Kero, Avgas, JetA1 etc) is by far the quickest and most entertaining method. Just decant it first into a small open container, put the lid on the jerry can, move it well away and when you put it on don't hesitate - just dump it and go. Finally, fan the flames with the lid from your esky or plastic tubs. I've lit hundreds, probably thousands of fires this way with no problems at all.

Here's a tip, if you happen to have a leaf blower close to hand try that. 270kmh at the nozzle! Doesn't that half move things along quickly!

My final solution is I always carry a good nights worth of dry wood in my trailer so when I'm stuffed at the end of the day I don't have to search for firewood in the dark and / or rain.

AnswerID: 313788

Follow Up By: Member - Troll 81 (QLD) - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 09:22

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 09:22

I use my air mattress pump it's a rechargeable jobbie and it will blow up the queen size bed and then run for another 5-10 min if needed for the fire....works a treat

FollowupID: 579844

Reply By: John R (SA) - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 09:31

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 09:31

Scrounging for a bit of dry stuff, generally some bark, and a LOT of small twigs is how I start. Carefully build a large, well aerated stack on some firelighters, and build it up. Then it's a matter of continually adding more. The key seems to be flame, as you've probably found. Once the good flame dies, there's no chance of resurrecting it.

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AnswerID: 313795

Reply By: revhead307 - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 11:53

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 11:53

Diesel all the way, usually have a jerry can of it when camping. lights the dampest of fires.

always have dry paper in the car, the rest will happen.

Those sea balls (furry hair like balls that wash up on the beach) are great firelighters soaked in kero.

Jeff

AnswerID: 313816

Reply By: Simmo67 - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 12:55

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 12:55

I have just spent an overnighter on top of Mount Canobolas near Orange (it snows up there!), and the best advice I can pass on is this "SPLIT YOUR WOOD".

It does not matter if the wood is wet, if you carry an axe or tomahaw and SPLIT your wood you can build a fire up nicely without wasting petrol!

This is a basic bushcraft skill - if you don't believe me check out www.Raymears.com or other bushcraft resource.

AnswerID: 313828

Follow Up By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 17:38

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 17:38

I can vouch for the snow on Mount Canobolas. We lived in Orange in 1964 - heres a couple of photos:
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FollowupID: 579905

Reply By: OzTroopy - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 13:34

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 13:34

Put all these posts together and you have it;

1/. Fire Starter - paper / kero block / petrol / diesel or what ever
2/. Layer covering of tinder - bracken / twigs / fine kindling
3/. Layer of kindling - split wood chips
4/. Layer of wood - "feathering" the wood with axe lets air and flame burn the outside more easily.

Main trick is to remember flames go up - so stack in a pyramid shape,
Paper lights tinder, tinder collapses and lights kindling etc etc

Wet or not, it will go - just a longer process when wet - If you want suburban convenience - take gas gear.

One of the most useful additions to the camping gear is an ..OLD.. boy scout handbook. Has all the important stuff like basic firstaid / knots and fire lighting in it - without the blingy camping store price tag.

AnswerID: 313834

Follow Up By: baldman - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 17:00

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 17:00

and don't forget to keep your firewood stacked near enough the fire so the radiant heat helps dry it

FollowupID: 579898

Reply By: Von Helga - Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 20:27

Friday, Jul 04, 2008 at 20:27

I can't beleive that no-one mentioned Hexi Tabs!

For those not in the know they are a small white tablets that we use in the Defence force to cook individual meals.
One tablet will boil about 500 ml of water in 3-4 mins. They are like a firelighter but not.
When your next at your local camp store ask for the Hexi stove and Tabs. I have used the ones available in camp stores and they are just as good as the Mil ones.
The latest civvy version I've seen are ones by Coghlans which are about the size of a dollar coin and about 10 mm think. They come in a pack of 24. 2 or 3 used in your kindling will get the heat you need.
Because the hexi burns for as long as they do, they provide that heat you need of a longer period to get the fire going.

AnswerID: 313902