A cozy little fire.

To Build A Fire: Part – 8 Lessons Learned in Fire Starting

This series, inspired by Jack London’s book To Build a Fire, has been awesome for me. I have learned a lot about a number of different fire starting tools and methods. Not to mention destroying some unrealistic ideas with respect to my own abilities.

Lighting a fire in the right conditions is easy. Lighting a fire when it is cold outside can be hard. Lighting a fire when you are cold and wet in addition to it being cold outside, is super hard.

Through the series I tried Coghlan’s Waterproof Matches, a Bic Lighter in the Exotac fireSLEEVE, Exotac nanoSPARK, Swedish FireSteel 2.0, Exotac polySTRIKER XL, Coghlan’s Storm Matches, and the Doan Magnesium Fire Starter Tool.  Some of these methods did much better for me than others…

If only I could have got something like this going every time…
  1. Hey Brother – Good stuff as always! In my experience I have found that any of the sparking methods must be augmented with the use of charcloth and charwood. Keep the videos coming. -W

    1. Thanks Willard! I totally agree with you on sparks. Definitely need specific tinder to get them going. 🙂

  2. This was a really cool series. So many others who review equipment or tools never do so in adverse conditions that could influence the results or the viewers opinion. Kudos for going above and beyond in your reviews.

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