Okay maybe the thread title is a little harsh but after some fire practice today it's really given me a reality check again !!!

I'll start by saying to fellow forum member Sutured that I eat my words from his previous post, in heavy prolonged rain the ferro-rods suck !

As the forecast today was heavy rain, high winds etc I suggested to forum member Satsumatengu that we practice our fire lighting skills.

When we arrived at the Inlet we found the water levels were so high that the trail has completely gone !



Only way we could continue was to cut through the wet bush on a detour, you can just about make out ST coming through !



This is where we had to go.



I told ST he was up first, we began with the ferro-rod and all seemed well at first.



Now we hadn't picked the ideal location as we wanted to make the fire near the water, the only place that wasn't submerged was a rocky outcrop partly covered by some trees. Everytime the fire started to take some water would drop down and put it out, ST tried using his hat to protect it.



Now this fire must have gone out maybe half a dozen times. The ferro-rods sucked under such heavy rain, we tried ranger bands and they caught but soon went out, we tried PJB's and they too went out !!!
About to give up I went in search of some fatwood for one last try, we were also now relying on a Bic lighter to start the fire.



Finally we had success, the fatwood took and we soon had a nice little fire. ST was amazed at how stuff that he thought would guarantee fire had failed so miserably !



We threw some pine needles into the water and made a cup of hot tea !



I hope my pics go a little way toward showing just how bloody wet and nasty it was today.



As we continued the hike we passed the waterfall in full flow.



[img]http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac306/Pitdog_2010/McKenzieBiteSoaked022.jpg[/img]

The feed into the top of the falls.

[img]http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac306/Pitdog_2010/McKenzieBiteSoaked023.jpg[/img]

One wet pooch !

[img]http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac306/Pitdog_2010/McKenzieBiteSoaked024.jpg[/img]

And two very wet forum members !!!

[img]http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac306/Pitdog_2010/McKenzieBiteSoaked026.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac306/Pitdog_2010/McKenzieBiteSoaked027.jpg[/img]

My final words of advice, get out and practice this stuff in the worst weather, don't wait till you really need fire only to find your methods don't work !

Excellent advice!!! Practice what you prepare guys!!! Great pics man

GREAT pics and info Pit, thank you. I need to check out my fatwood, some of what I have is so dry it almost looks like cedar!

Good practice.

great pics and moral, Practice makes perfect.

Thats always a good reminder. You should have at least 2 ways of doing/accomplishing the same task. Three is even better.

good advice and nice pictures

Firemaking can be a real pain in the rear end!
Usually I get pretty good results when using cottonballs, even in very wet conditions. However, I have only once succeded in lighting a fire using only what I could find in the underbrush. If you can find a birch tree, climp up a few metres and peel off the fine bark, which dries up pretty fast if it is windy. Of course this is pointless if the rains...

Great pics and good advice!

I believe the culprit here is your fire-making technique, NOT the fire-steel....

The fire-steel's sole purpose is to provide a reliable ignition source for your tinder.

Your photos show that you already passed the ignition phase and that your trouble was in sustaining combustion of your fuel source (twigs).

No matter what your ignition source was, you would still have had problems because your twigs were saturated and so was the ground you were working on.


In all likelihood your early attempts dried out your twigs enough to sustain combustion.


Here's a video that shows demonstrates the BEST way that I have found to start a twig fire :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VvIbroqGBM


As stated in this video, I cannot recommend the log cabin or tepee techniques as you have almost zero control over combustion of your fuel source.

I've used this brace technique personally with great success and have never had a failure, even in totally saturated Michigan hardwood forests. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Great thread Pitman and an excellent link Farewell . I admit I am a log cabin guy and usually always have good success . But I can see where this method is MUCH better and I will certainly be trying it out .

That's a great technique AFF. I will be adding it go my arsenal.

Great vid!

I will take that one with me in my mental notebook.
Thanks.