The topic of fires is almost as volatile as handguns. You will get a lot of people who say "never" and a lot who say "always". When I backpack, I generally don't like fires. It all depends on my schedule, and the regs of the place I am in. If the regs allow it, then it depends on how much time I have, and how close to water I am. I don't believe in throwing dirt over the fire to put it out. I either douse it or don't build it. If I have to haul water a distance, and I don't have a suitable "dirty" container, then I probably won't make one.
I carry a little container of vaseline, and dry cotton balls. Then I rub some vaseline in when I need to. That way I can use the vaseline for other purposes, like first aid. Starting a fire this way is very easy, since it burns for so long. I also carry matches, a lighter, and a ferro rod. I also carry a magnesium rod. The mag rod is harder to use because you have to make a pile of shavings, but if you practice, you can figure out how to do it right. Sometimes I carry a magnifying glass. My first choice is to use a magnifying glass, it is fun, it takes some skill and perfect conditions, and it uses no resources. The next option is the ferro rod. It is fun, takes skill and uses a little more resources. If that fails, then out comes the bic. My matches are my last ditch effort, because they cost money, can break easily, and I have a limited amount.

Lori, do you mean the REI waterproof matches failed? Never seen that happen. I'm talking about the wooden ones that are mini sparklers and don't go out until all the flammable coating is used up.

That's what I'm talking about. I had the match fall apart when I tried to strike it. And one time everything was so wet that even when I got my tinder lit, the fire wouldn't go - the REI match burnt out, the tinder burnt out, and the twigs kindled for all of a few seconds - then the fire died. Short of carrying dry wood, I'm not sure how we could have gotten it going. But that's why you always have layers.

Hmm, I haven't had one do that yet-fall apart and I used them in winter. But I kept them in a plastic bag, so maybe that helped. One thing with a liquid fuel stove, if you have enough, you should be able to start almost anything on fire.

One thing that I've done in wet coditions, and only in an area with a fire ring, is to take the top off of my MSR fuel bottle, and pour a little coleman/white gas on. Make sure to put the lid tightly back on the fuel bottle, and move it far from your intended fire spot.

Stand back and throw a vaseline cotton ball, or match. The fire ball can be pretty awesome, so I only reccomend this as a last resort. But, you can skip the tiny kindling, the small pieces and medium small will boil off the moisture and burn pretty well.

Again, I've only done this a few times over the years, as it is unsafe. Make sure you haven't spilled any on your clothing.
Not a brilliant method, but it beats freezing in cold rain/snow, when all else fails. The white gas is much more volatile, than charcoal lighter fluid so really be careful, and again, use extreme caution.

This method reminds me of the last thing you hear a Kentuckian say before he dies..."Hey Ya'll watch this"...O.K., I can say that, you cant...

J. (Kentuckian)

In my opinion it is more effective to build the fire as normal and soak a wad of toilet paper in the gas. Then put the toilet paper in a strategic spot and light. That way, the fuel doesn't go up all at once.

If the fire doesn't light on the first try, do NOT pour white gas on it directly or you can light up the whole bottle. If this happens, be sure to get a video.

When its wet if you have a decent sized pocket knife you can split small sticks to get to the inner dry wood. Stand the stick up. Place the knife blade across the end of the stick with the sharp edge pointing down. Hit the back of the knife blade with another stick of wood to drive the knife down into the stick. Some of the knifeblade should stick out so you can continue to drive it down through the wood. Never try to chop wood with a knife, that might be another video.

Believe it or not, you actually need a little skill to start a fire with gas. I took my scouts on a backpacking trip in early September a few years ago. Maybe I can find the trip report...(found it, I don't know how to link to it. Search under "Notch Lake, Uintas Report" posted on 9/13/2010)...Anyways, the boys wanted a fire, but I really didn't want the hassle, even though we were close to water. So, I told them they could have one, but I wasn't helping. So, off they went to gather firewood. If you have ever seen my scouts gather fire wood, it is kinda funny. They leave for 10 minutes and come back with a tiny little stick in each hand. Anyways, they came back with green wood that was on the ground, or even green wood from trees with green leaves still on them. This was a little frustrating for me since I had spent the last two months teaching them proper fire techniques. Anyways, I tell them they need to find dry wood. So, off they go and come back with more green wood, the set up a fire lay and go about trying to light it. They try matches, they try lighters, they scrape and scrape on the fero rod....nothing. Then one of the leaders offers a little white gas. They pour it on, it lights up and they think they are good to go. I tell them it will be out in 5 minutes. Sure enough it was out before that. By this time I have a little more sympathy for them, so off I go for dry wood. 100 ft from our campsite, and 2 minutes later I come back with a hand full. Then I break it up in little pieces, arrange from small to large, get my cotton ball, put some PJ on it, and light it with the fero rod. Sustained fire with the wood burning soon commenced. Then I went and brought back some more dry wood and told them I wasn't getting any more. That fire didn't last long because they wouldn't go get more wood. They did go back and got some more green wood, but not enough to last very long.

I saw a video of a bunch of guys building a huge bonfire with small trees on the outside. Then the guy poured 5 gallons of gasoline inside it and after giving it a chance to evaporate a bit they tossed in a match. When it went off pieces of wood weighing over 100 pounds moved at high speeds toward the fire builders. It was the fuel air mix inside the "structure" that blew up with the force of several sticks of dynamite.

Now gunpowder, especially the black powder type, will get a fire going... You can supposedly dump powder out of a few rounds, put it in your tinder and fire a spark at it from the entied shells - maybe one will hit powder. I haven't tried this...
Jim

I can hear the eulogy now:

"...And, of course, we all remember Jim's last words: 'Hey, y'all, watch this!' "

Yeah, those are sure fire ways to have more fun than you really need.

Back in the mid `70's the fire chief of Rockford, IL made the headlines in the local newspaper and TV news when he was squirting lighter fluid on a charcoal grill for a "Firemen's Picnic". As I recall he got a lot more than just the charcoal burning, but they got it extinguished pretty quickly. Talk about embarrassing...

I applied finallyME's lesson with my kids this past weekend. Well worth it.

To respond to Bill's story about the fire chief, my scoutmaster did the same thing at home when I was 11. It provided a powerful lesson when he came to camp with barbequed hands.

I would like to offer this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brb4usB35WU video as instruction on making a small twig fire.

I would also suggest using a small BIC lighter as your primary fire starting tool, but have a back up such as a ferro rod, just in case. Check your tinder to get an idea of how long they will burn. Vaseline/cotton balls have a couple of minutes burn time. I use a short piece of corrugated cardboard with the paper taken off one side, then roll it and tie it off with some jute twine. Finally dip this in some beeswax and let it dry. Light your tinder or light the jute twine with your lighter and use this to get your fire going. I have had one of these tinder tubes burn for 20+ minutes.

Regards,

Ellis