Survivalist: Boundary Waters Fire Starter

Heading into the wilderness, or heading to an isolated island, it seems that both help to reset our perspective on the world :

Life is simple if you get back to basics.

During out last Boundary Waters trip, this sentiment really set in for both of us.  Every day was focused on 4 simple things: shelter, water, food, friends.  Tim Ferris writes in his most recent book, Four Hour Chef, about the Survivalist’s Rule of Threes; assume you can survive without the following things for the given amount of time.

Shelter — Three Hours

Water — Three Days

Food — Three Weeks

We were far from having to rely on the Rule of Threes during our BWCA trip, but I did focus on honing my skills in surviving in the wilderness. Due to my recent man-crush on Bear Grylls, I decided to buy his fire starter  and test it out on trail. Starting a fire without matches can be tricky. I prepared for success by making tinder out of cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly (or Vaseline) to catch the spark. These babies last for a good 30 seconds to a full minute, which is enough time to catch small twigs or branches on fire. To prep these cotton balls, I put a pinch of Vaseline in a ziplock bag along with 4 cotton balls. Then, I massaged the Vaseline into the cotton balls. Presto! Great tinder with no mess.

To keep these cotton balls dry I kept them in an old film canister.  I could fit at least 4 in there. 

The BG fire starter also has a hidden, waterproof compartment that can keep at least 2 of the cotton balls dry.

I was incredibly excited to try it out the BG Fire Starter when we first got on trail. There are two parts to this tool, a metal striker a ferrocerium rod that emits the spark.  It took a few tries, but I finally figure out two key points to sparking a good fire.

1. Keep the striker in place while moving the ferrocerium rod. This makes it easier to control where the sparks will land.  If you move the striker instead of the rod, your sparks will fly everywhere.

2. Scrape with the sharp area of the striker. Imagine shaving a pencil with a sharp knife, except you are moving the pencil instead of the knife. I was worried about breaking the rod or scraping off too much, but no matter how hard I tried, the tool stayed intact.

Adding to this, our friend Adam showed us a technique used in Kenya to build small fires for heating a kettle of water.

The basic principle is to configure 3 rocks under your pot so that the fire in the middle can be fed through the 3 different holes. Make sure to place this fire in a well ventilated area, this way the 3 holes will fuel oxygen to the fire. You can then feed wood in through these holes to feed the fire underneath.

The embers of the burning sticks will gather just below the kettle.

In the end, you will generate sustained heat for a long time, instead of having a roaring fire for just a few minutes.