Survivalism 101: Making Fire

[Captain Maltese]

Survivalism 101 is meant to be a series of threads with various potentially useful survivalism & camping related topics. Instead of one gargantuan thread trying to cover everything these will attempt to be more focused. Feel free to add information or to ask questions. It's a forum thread, not a booklet!

---

Making a fire is, possibly, one of the three inventions that all human civilization builds on. But you will be spared the full history lesson for now. The modern camp fire is usually made by casual tools such as matches, lighters or fire strikers. The latter is amusing in being a modern reinvention of the flint and steel kit known to wanderers as far back the Iron Age.

Striking a flame is easy. To keep it burning longer than a few seconds you need kindling. Dry bark, tiny dry twigs, dry moss, paper, oil - there was a time when keeping kindling around was as vital as the cell phone is today. Stuff that burns strongly, but still last long enough to get something more substantial aflame. This might not seem vital to those who live in bone dry surroundings but in winter or in frequently rainy surroundings dry kindling is not quite granted.

Since we are bringing firestarting gear we may as well bring kindling. My personal favorite is the dry little cubes usually used in the fireplace at home; they burn easily and for several minutes, weigh nothing and take very little room. Perhaps more suitable for matches and lighters than the spark makers. Something of more vintage: bringing along a pine tree core stick to make wood shavings. The tar content makes this very combustible. A modern option is alcoholic gel which can be found in sports store. Among the more improvised options are ripped-apart tampons.

What you want to burn is firewood. Nice dry sawed and chopped lumps of tightly grown wood: if it is heavy in spite of being dry, it has a lot more heat potential than a lighter wood of the same size. Birch is an example of prime wood. Wet and fresh wood will burn but with difficulty; it can be added to an already well burning fire. If you are in a forest you can find dry wood as standing, rotting trees or as dry branches - neither will have fresh leaves or pine sticks on them. Fresh branches have a loot of water in them and burn with a thick white smoke, but do not make a lot of heat even though they catch fire fairly easily.

Wind helps to keep a fire going. A little too well; many a forest fire has started from what was meant to be a small coffee fire. It will also blow sparks into dry moss and heather, causing great fires to start hours after the firemaker has left the scene. A stone barrier even a couple of inches high will help reduce the wind. In many parts of the world open fire is now illegal for much of the year.

Building a fireplace in the winter has challenges of its own. Many elect to bring firewood with them from home, especially where there has been so much camping that it is no longer legal - or an option - to find it in what remains of the forest. An added challenge is that the snow can be quite high. At a minimum the snow must be stomped hard, but the snow underneath will still melt. I have seen fireplaces several feet deep in the snow. The melted water does not quench the fire as it evaporates away.

The best fireplace is at the edge of a lake; quenching the fire is easy and the chance of it spreading is smaller, and you can often make the fire on stone or sand. There are however a number of other popular alternatives, which I will get to in the next post.

[Captain Maltese]

Beside the obvious camp fire there's a number of accessories to either enhance it, make it more secure or efficient, or use other fire sources than basic wood. We will look at camping stoves and similar apparatuses in a later post.



Perhaps the most basic camp fire enhancement is a curved stick solidly planted in the ground to hang partially over the fire. It allows you to hang a light pot or similar from it. Preferably the stick should be from a freshly hewn branch as it will not catch fire as easily as a dry one. Also it will help to not put it over the fire until the fire has burned down a bit. I am not a fan of this arrangement as the heat gets uneven this far above the fire and a too heavy kettle might easily bend the stick with interesting consequences. A more solid arrangement involves three sticks as the picture shows. Tripods are also popular, expecially the metal type.

I am a rather bigger fan of another basic method; placing three or four stones in the middle or somewhat off centre of the fire. Once the fire has burned down a bit this becomes a handy and rather more stable 'plate' to put kettles and pans on. Here you get the benefit of both warm embers and warm stones. This can be further improved on by placing a grill between the stones; now you can grill bread and sausages and such.

Disposable charcoal grills have become popular among many campers; essentially a very thin metal box filled with charcoal, a flammable paper, a metal grill and even a metal stand. Firefighters and people who clean up camping grounds tend to be less enthusiastic as many users seem unaware of the wildfire potential or of what to do with the grill once they are finished making food. Personally I really dislike them because the heating is low and slow, the combustion can be unpredictable, and the aftermath is messy. But it is a way to make hotdogs at least. Coal grills are considered open fire and banned many places. There are however also camp grounds with bins meant specifically for these grills. One noteworthy thing - check the Best Before date when you bring one of these grills along. The coal isn't affected by time but the flammable paper is dipped in chemicals which do deteriorate. If you decide to add extra ethanol to make up for the lack of ignition, do so sparingly as the metal foil was not constructed for hellfire.

There are of course also other portable charcoal grills of more permanent character, with lids and carrying handles and the works. As long as camping means sitting within a hundred yards of your car they are nice. If you intend to carry your gear on your back they are not an option.


Another camp fire version involves a metal tripod where the fire is actually hanging from the tripod in a pot of its own. (Note: I am not sure what this is officially called in English.) It has the benefit of not causing any damage on the camp ground. And once the fire  is down to embers you can extinguish the fire near instantly with a lid. On the other hand this is also not a good choice when portable means carryable, and strong wind can carry embers to the ground. For a more permanent location it might be an alternative.

There are some other, more esoteric versions which have evolved as a local idea or as a solution where the normal concept was not possible. These things work but odds are you have never heard of most of them.


The Dakota Fire Hole is essentially two holes in the ground with a short tunnel connecting them. A small fire is made in the one lower end and the tunnel ensures a draft. It could well be called a poacher's fire as the flames can't be seen from anywhere but the sky directly above.


The Benghazi Burner was a solution from the deserts of WW2 which were marked by their lack of firewood. A bucket or tin had holes made in it around the upper half. The lower part of the bucket was filled with sand, and then gasoline. This was then put on fire like with a coal bucket. Obviously the sand could not burn but it made the gasoline burn a lot slower.

But maybe there is an emergency and you find yourself in an urban area, with electricity and gas gone and the weather going toward freezing. If you are making a fire from wreckage do NOT put plastic, paint, rubber on the fire - it will burn but the fumes will be very dangerous. Molten plastic droplets can give you third degree burns. Cans, even empty ones, can explode. Paper and cardboard and plain wood will be fine. Composite wooden plates are very dense and will burn with a higher heat than normal firewood, and may also contain chemicals.

Speaking of fire hazards. Fleece clothing and fleece blankets are very popular these days. They are also essentially recycled plastic, and while fleece is fairly inflammable it IS meltable. Something to consider when you are packing for your next camp.

[Captain Maltese]

Camping stoves as a conceptual invention are fairly close to just 150 years old. Braziers, iron buckets filled with embers or coal, are of course thousands of year old but calling them portable is a stretch. Here we will look at three more practical, transportable means of cooking. The three main categories of camping stoves are defined by their fuel; solid, liquid and gas. There are also some curious exceptions and some models capable of more than one type of fuel. I'll try to hold back on the history lessons.

Solid fuel stoves are not the oldest, but they are the simplest and most compact so we start there. The three main types are A) fuel tablets; typically hexamine. It is a chemical mixture that burns well for a little while, and the stoves are little more than a small foldable metal box or frame where you can put in some tablets, put a match to the pills and balance a small can on top. It is not so much a cooking device as a barely-heating device. B) gelled fuel. The first types were just gelled alcohol in a can and were about as effective as a candle. Today you can buy a similiar gel in sports stores that burn fast, well and quick - this is usually used for preheating for other purposes. However, back in my army days I was issued with a small can of gelled jet fuel and the little thing burned out of all proportion. C) The third is the most modern, and known as a Flameless Ration Heater. This is a one time use bag of chemicals that react to water; you fill the bag with a little water and the ration bag and wait a few minutes. Most military rations seem to use these now and they are quite efficient, but it is no way to cook water. All these three options, being chemicals, emit a big of gas and some people react to it.

Liquid fuel stoves is as old as the oil lamps, but they became an efficient means of cooking when the kerosene pressure burner was invented. Instead of just burning one or more wicks the oil-filled stove or lamp was pumped with air then preheated momentarily, starting the process of making the oil gaseous, and the gas flow burned a good deal better than just burning the oil itself. Now you could bring water to a boil, and fairly quickly too. It meant that fishing boats could now boast warm food and drink, and hundreds of thousands of homes who as yet had not the luxury of gas or electricity got a simple and cheap way to make warm food too. It became a staple of expeditions, especially to the places on the map where firewood was not available. Kerosene got some competition eventually; ethanol burners are small and extremely simple - more or less just a can with a lid, some holes for the alcohol gas and some fabric to retain the ethanol in - and they get less warm yet still suffices for cooking. They also need neither preheating nor pressure. Coleman fuel is another option; this is a patented fuel that works well in stoves specifically meant for it. Gasoline stoves has also haf many fans; it burns very hot. Unfortunately it requires a special clean gasoline as the car types have too many additives.

Gas stoves became a thing only after WW2, as it relies on gas containers which in the smaller sizes usually are not refillable - a symptom of the new use-and-throw-away culture. A big hit in camping trailers, who usually go for the rather big type. The backpacker can now find gas stoves so small that they are little more than a nozzle to screw on the gas can. One big step forward is that the cans are now re-sealing so you are no longer emptying the can when you disassemble the stove. The gas itself comes in several versions and mixtures of butane and propane. The best things to say about these stoves is that they are clean in use, can be very light weight, are fast cookers and often cheap to purchase.  Cans used to be somewhat expensive but non-brand cans are not, in low price stores anyway. The worst thing about gas stoves is that they work very poorly in low temperatures, which is a biggie for us who have up to seven months of snow per year.

Versatility is always a bonus, for survivalists and expeditioners alike. The renowned MSR Whisperlite stoves are capable of running on kerosene, gasoline and gas after a field exchange of nozzles and tanks. The problem is that the Whisperlites are pretty pricey. There are however other multifuel alternatives on the market.

My personal favorite is the little ethanol burner shown here. It is small enough to fit in a pocket, has absolute reliability, no parts to misplace, very light weight, works in any temperature, and if I should manage to lose it I can still use the ethanol to make a fire in anything resembling a cup. It is a cheap purchase and so is ethanol. A kerosene burner is more fuel/heat/volume efficient but for one single backpacker's needs it is perfect.

[WindVoyager]

There never enough that can be said about NOT ever burning treated wood. Its a major no no. I know I have some neighbors who stupidly burn rail road ties, lumber and decking, it sends off thick black toxic clouds.

[Captain Maltese]

There never enough that can be said about NOT ever burning treated wood. Its a major no no. I know I have some neighbors who stupidly burn rail road ties, lumber and decking, it sends off thick black toxic clouds.

I am so in agreement with this. Rail road ties are so full of tar, sprayed on chemicals and metal dust that around here they are illegal for any reuse. I am not sure what lumber you are referring to? Decking would be the green tinted material right? That stuff goes to special recycling around here and is definitely not recommended for burning as it is usually infused with copper, chrome and other interesting chemicals. The smoke is highly toxic, as you say. I am also adding 'normal' wood which has been painted, especially the outdoor type which has been painted with oil paint, but indoor painted wood is also not recommended for burning.

---

We covered conventional firestarting tools at the start. Let's take a look at some less conventional ones.



Yes, the scouts were right - you really can start a fire with a magnifying glass. It isn't even hard. Provided you have a magnifying glass with you on your journey. It also helps if you get actual sunlight in your climate zone. But at least you can improvise a magnifying glass with your glasses, or a bottle, or the bottom of a soda can, or my favorite from Jules Vernes' "The Mysterious Island" - two clock glasses. Even a mirror can do this. And right there you have one of the biggest sources of wildfires; shiny objects thrown away carelessly.



A battery contains enough current to start a fire. The bigger the battery the better, but with an optimal connection like this metal foil even an AA battery will do. Also a cell phone battery can manage this but you will want to consider your connection points carefully less you fry the battery instead of the kindling.



Back to the basics? Start a fire with a stick. Key here is that the stick rotates in a little hole in a piece of wood; this produces embers that can catch fire in the surrounding kindling. You can roll the stick with your hands or make a little bow, which makes the stick go much faster. But of all the methods mentioned in this thread, this is probably the most difficult one to do without practice.



The final one is another ancient one; making sparks by banging two rocks together. Ideally, a piece of steel and a bit of flint. The core of any lighter really, but unlike in ye olde days it's getting pretty hard to find a piece of flint when you need it. Or any other time.

[Snake]

This thread is stuff everyone should know the basics of. It could save your life.