What is your modern fire kit?

Woods Walker

The Wood is cut, The Bacon is cooked, Now it’s tim
Joined
Jun 8, 2008
Messages
5,433
Location
New England woods.
I have fire kits in my BOBs and other ER preparations.





I have old school kits.





Small modern kits.





Even smaller modern kits.







Kits concocted to test skills.





But when camping aka sleeping out in the woods and yea need fire what's really in the bag. Here is my modern user fire kit.





Notice the not bushcrafty, not tactical nature of the bag it is in. Sil nylon though my gear is always too heavy. Also yes that's a plastic bag.





What's inside.





1. Two Bic lighters. Why this combo?





There used to be a blue Bic but that got used up so just tossed a more visible one in. Not sure what's up with that mini Bic? Well it got in there somehow.


2. Cheap 99 cent ferro rod. I mostly use the ferro rod to light cotton balls and PJ combo if too cold for the Bic (though that will work in the cold) or if looking to have a bit of fun. But it just does not get used all that much when seriously camping. Sure I have a bunch others but that cheapo is what happens to be in the kit. Tend to use ferro rods more seriously when Bushcrafting.


3. Coleman waterproof (sorta) matches. Actually these aren't so bad. I have a plastic tube container (99 cent Walmart special) but the ferro rod fell out. Glued it back but forgot to return it to my camping stuff. So just keep on using the box inside it's own little plastic bag. Mostly for very very cold weather. I gotta put that plastic tube thingy back in. Then again said that some time ago.


4. PJ and cotton ball combo.





I go through a bunch of them. Sure birch bark is nice but these are my primary wood stove igniters when just looking to get the job done. Well nothing exciting but probably don't have more than 5 bucks into the entire user kit.
 

LedTed

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
Messages
740
Location
Britannia
Old school kits are fun. For serious preparation, I prefer Bic lighters over any other source of fire itself. They don't dry out like Zippos and aren't nearly as fidgety as fancier lighters.
 

Offgridled

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 4, 2016
Messages
5,544
Location
Southern California
Great stuff Walker I'll get out some of my gear soon and post pictures. I can't wait to try out the ferro/ magnesium rod combo out you turned me on to.
 

atla

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Aug 26, 2017
Messages
13
i use an altoid tin, with ranger bands around it and a small coil of duct tape inside of it (coal extenders) There's a waxed a short length of waxed 3/8" cotton rope (charred on one end, with a bit of tubing around it, made out of a soda can). this is used to transfer a spark to the tinder. There's a short piece of insulated wire, for use with my cell phone or flashlight battery I keep a fresnel lense, some ashes, and some charred punkwood in the tin. My ferrorod is on my keychain and my lighter is in my pocket. So it will be a long, long time before I have to resort to a pump drill for friction fire! :)
 

terjee

Enlightened
Joined
Jul 24, 2016
Messages
729
Location
Bergen, Norway
Lately it's been gasoline in a unicorn bottle, and a zippo and tri-jet propane lighter.
Much easier to get a fire going when you add some gasoline first. Downside is you're likely to ignite the fumes before you get the lighter near the actual fire, so requires some thought into how to light the fire, and not yourself.
Would not recommend without sober adult supervision.
 
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