WALLET-SIZED FIRE SQUARES

I had a friend in college who needed to give himself regular injections of medicine. Each time he would reach into his desk drawer and pull out a little foil packet that contained a 1" × 1" square alcohol prep pad, which he’d use to disinfect the injection site before and afterward. I remembered this many years later when prepping for a survival-kit-building course. I needed a small, reliable fire tinder to pack into tiny candy-tin survival kits, and the alcohol prep pads were just the ticket. They work so well in fact that I keep a couple in my wallet just in case. They don’t burn long, but they will give you an open flame with just a spark; you can use them to ignite a tinder bundle. You can purchase boxes of 100 at any pharmacy for under $5.

MAKE YOUR OWN LINT FOR TINDER

Most people know that dryer lint makes awesome fire tinder. It’s dry, fibrous, and almost always contains cotton fibers, which are incredibly flammable. However, there are no dryer lint trees in the wilderness, or at least none that I’ve found. If you have an ignition source that will create a spark, such as a busted cigarette lighter or a ferro rod, here is a little trick to make your own lint tinder. Scrape any cotton garment at a 90-degree angle with a knife or sharp tool (even rock). You will slowly reveal a small pile of cotton fibers. Collect enough of them to create a tinder bundle large enough to ignite with just a spark. Note: Don’t pack your lint too tight when trying to ignite it. Pull the fibers apart to expose more surface area and you’ll increase the chances that a spark will take hold.

AMP UP YOUR SOLAR FIRE STARTING WITH CAFFEINE

There are very few items that will smolder like you need them to when starting a fire by magnifying the sun’s rays. Dried coffee grounds and tea bags just happen to work. The key is that they must be dry. Once an ember has started to smolder using a solar lens, begin to make slow, steady circles with your focal point around that ember. This will grow and strengthen your ember into something that can then be transferred into a prepared tinder bundle. Dried tea or coffee won’t burst into flame on their own. The resulting embers must blown in a tinder bundle to create flame.

WINDPROOF CANDLES

If you’ve ever struck a match only to have it blown out by a rogue gust of wind, then you will appreciate this hack. Several years ago I was at a birthday party for the son of a friend of mine. The cake was delivered with much anticipation and topped with 10 brightly burning birthday candles. I’ll never forget the look on his face when the candles magically relit themselves just seconds after he thought his birthday wishes were sure to come true. On my way home that day I stopped by the local grocery store and picked up some relighting birthday candles. They make a great addition to fire kits and can be your best friend in the field when trying to start fires in inclement weather. As you saw in the Clothing Hacks and Footwear Hacks sections in Chapter 1, wax is also a great seam waterproofer.

ROTTEN WOOD = FIRE GOLD

Who would’ve ever thought that old rotting wood could save your life? Dry, rotting wood, called punky wood, is one of my all-time favorite survival fire-starting resources. It is the perfect medium for solar embers. Often, when starting fire using a solar lens you have to first develop a smoldering ember, then place that ember into a tinder bundle and blow it into flame. Punky wood makes a great ember that is not only self-sustaining but can easily be grown by crushing and sprinkling on more punk. The consistency of punky wood that you’re looking for is dry, rotting wood that can easily be crushed and powdered between your fingertips. This wood can often be found in the form of dead branches on the forest floor, inside of hollow rotting trees, or on old, dry stumps. Bonus tip: You can also grow a bow-drill ember using powdered punky wood.

MOOSE POOP COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE

Another solar fire tinder hack is poop! I know, it sounds crazy but it’s true. The dry vegetable matter–based poop from deer, moose, rabbits, goats, and cows makes excellent solar fire ember material. It smolders very well and is self-sustaining. I’ve found it best to pulverize it into a little pile on a dry wood shaving, a piece of bark, or right in the middle of your tinder bundle. Dry poop pellets from deer, rabbits, and moose also travel and store very well. They can be collected along the trail and kept in a container to use for future fires. If they are fresh, place them next to an existing fire to dry out or let them sit in full sun on a dark-colored rock. The rock will absorb the heat from the sun and help them dry from beneath.

WHEN YOUR ZIPPO GOES BLIPPO

Disposable cigarette lighters aren’t the only ones that are still useful even when empty. Here’s a Zippo lighter hack to keep in your back pocket just in case. Many people don’t know that the fuel chamber of a Zippo lighter is packed with cotton batting. As I said in the PET Balls hack earlier in this chapter, cotton balls mixed with petroleum jelly is one of the most effective fire-starting tinders I have ever used in my life. The fuel-infused cotton batting inside a Zippo is very similar. You can easily pull it from the chamber, process it into a small fibrous tinder bundle, and then bring it to flame with the spark from the lighter’s sparking wheel. An empty Zippo may not have fuel, but it certainly has tinder and can make fire!

SAVED BY THE Q-TIPS

As I said earlier, cotton balls mixed with petroleum jelly make some of the best fire starters on earth. If you didn’t know this before, now you do! Sometimes in survival you have to think outside the box, and that often includes looking at everyday objects in a different way. Q-Tips, small cardboard sticks tipped with cotton, are a prime example of this. Even though it’s not much cotton, it’s enough to get a fire going in a pinch. It will also burst into flame with just a small spark, such as that from a ferro rod or broken lighter. The trick is to pull the cotton fibers apart and make a wispy tuft of cotton on the end of the stick. This creates more surface area for the spark to latch onto and almost guarantees you an open flame.

SNACK FOOD COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE

You’ve been told your entire life that snack food will kill you. What if I told you it could save your life—and it has nothing to do with eating? When it comes to fire, snack chips are some of the best kindling I’ve ever used. Many snack chips are fried in cooking oil, which happens to be very flammable. In damp or moist conditions when tinder is scarce, rip open a bag of oily chips and light them on fire. You’ll have to use an open flame such as a lighter or match to get them going, but once ablaze they will burn long and strong even in inclement weather. Snack chips are also conveniently packed in waterproof packaging. Note: The inside shiny Mylar lining of most snack-food bags also has several survival functions, as you’ll find in other hacks throughout this book.

FIRE FEATHERS

Your feather down–filled sleeping bag, vest, or jacket may be able to keep you warm in more ways than one in a cold-weather survival situation. Feathers (especially the light, fluffy, downy ones) make impressive fire tinder. The silver lining is that many down jackets and sleeping bag shells are water-resistant, which helps to keep the feathers dry inside. A handful of dry down feathers will ignite into flame with just a spark from a ferro rod or broken lighter. Warning: Feathers are what I call a flash tinder. This means they burn up in a flash and provide a survivor with little time to react. Be sure to have a good tinder bundle prepared before igniting your feather tinder.