Firestarting

[6shootercarry]

If I'm going out for a hike on a day that I don't expect weather to be an issue, warm and sunny for the most part I carry my Swiss Army knife with the magnifying glass in it, and my saliva compass has one on it as well.
I usually carry a Bic lighter with me just to be sure.

As far as the alternate method for a time and situation where sun is not dependable and Bic fails, D Battery and steel wool. That was my favorite at boyscout camp.
We had to make a fire with an alternate ignition source for our merit badge. One during the day and one at night. Mr Curtis said that was the rule...

[JJFlash]

If I'm going out for a hike on a day that I don't expect weather to be an issue, warm and sunny for the most part I carry my Swiss Army knife with the magnifying glass in it, and my saliva compass has one on it as well.
I usually carry a Bic lighter with me just to be sure.

As far as the alternate method for a time and situation where sun is not dependable and Bic fails, D Battery and steel wool. That was my favorite at boyscout camp.
We had to make a fire with an alternate ignition source for our merit badge. One during the day and one at night. Mr Curtis said that was the rule...

My scout squad won the fire-starting competition at some jamoree using the official BSA fire-starting kit, which, if I remember correctly, was flint and steel. Bam, fire! And...disqualified. Said we couldn't use the kit or something or other. So, then, in the dead of nite, we dug a punji-stake pit around the judges' tents....

[Mainsail]

I have used the magnesium block/steel match for years. It has never failed me but it is a little hard on the knife!

Uh, you know the back of the knife works as well as the blade, and doesn't ruin the edge.

[6shootercarry]

My scout squad won the fire-starting competition at some jamoree using the official BSA fire-starting kit, which, if I remember correctly, was flint and steel. Bam, fire! And...disqualified. Said we couldn't use the kit or something or other. So, then, in the dead of nite, we dug a punji-stake pit around the judges' tents....

Hard core...

Mr Curtis was very cool, but he wanted us to learn a thing or two so he did not make merit badges easy to get. I miss the 2 week we would spend at boyscout camp each summer. Some of the best summers I recall. There were two sites we loved:

Main Page - Camp Yawgoog.Org

Visit Rhode Island :: Buck Hill Management Area - Burrillville, RI

I'm trying to get my son into it. Times are different now and he's not the same kinda kid I was back in the 70's so I have to show him some things to get his attention. Last summer at the lake house, I hit a horse fly and knocked it down on the dock. It was still kicking so I went to get the magnifying glass. I put the fly on the patio and called my son over. He watched in amazement as the fly smoked then popped.

He asked how did I know how to do that. I said Boyscout camp...

[Sights on Target]

I miss the 2 week we would spend at boyscout camp each summer. Some of the best summers I recall

Some of the best summers for me too. I can say I really enjoyed scouting.

[6shootercarry]

Some of the best summers for me too. I can say I really enjoyed scouting.

I still get that feeling when I go to the lake house in NY. Family summer home in Lewis county at the west edge of the Adirondack park. My family has been around this lake since the late 1930's. Yes we still light fires the old fashioned way there, we use matches.

I get to take the kids on nature walks, we go find arrow heads in the creek, find snakes in the wood pile...

It's close...

[RixGotSkills]

Zippo, Magnesium bar(s) from FireSteel.com FireSteels, numerous butane lighters, matches in waterproof container.

RH