Fire Starting Kit

Scouts love to build fires

Some time within the first 18 months of starting the scout program, your scout will learn how to build his own camp fires. The supplies he will use will vary in form and function, and usually come from his wilderness survival kit.

After helping my son build a wilderness survival kit, I quickly realized that this kit would probably never be used. However, the fire starting supplies could be used nearly every time he went out.  So why not just build a small and efficient fire starting kit?  My kit and its contents are at the bottom of this post.

There are plenty of videos online from preppers and zombie-watchers detailing the contents of their kits. However, I have found that most of the items they insist upon are not very practical unless you are actually being chased during a zombie apocalypse.  I have also found that you can build a nice fire starting kit inexpensively, and if done right, it can fit inside an Altoids can. The links I am providing below point to Amazon, however, you can some times find better prices on e-bay.

When trying to build a fire the first thing you need is either a spark, a flame, or some form of intense heat to ignite the tinder. The tinder will then be used to light the kindling, and the kindling will be used to light the fuel wood.

For your initial flame or spark I would include the following:

• 1 x Mini Bic Lighter - This should be considered the primary source for creating the initial flame. However, when using this, you should not skip the tinder phase and try lighting kindling directly as that will only waste your fuel.
  
• 10 x Stormproof Matches with strike pad - These are a great secondary option for creating an initial flame even when the weather is less than ideal.  These are slightly more expensive then standard strike anywhere matches, but well worth the money, just do not forget to include the special strike pad. I like to store mine in a mini ziplock pill bag and my Exotac MATCHAP case. I put 10 matches in a pill bag in my Altoids can and 11-12 matches in my Exotac MATCHAP that I hook to my pack.
  
• 1 x Ferrocerium Rod - This man made material is often mistakenly referred to as flint, however it is not flint. A Ferro rod, as it is commonly called, works significantly better and should be included as a tertiary option. Depending on the size of rod you buy, it may not fit in your Altoids can, but can easily be strapped to your pack. My preference is the Exotac nanoSTRIKER.

For tinder I would include the following:

• 6 x Cotton Balls smeared in Vaseline Petroleum Jelly - These should be considered your primary tinder source as they light quickly and can burn for up to 10 minutes. You often need to tear them open to expose the dry internal fibers to get them started. I store my cotton balls in a pill bag.
  
• Some small strips of paper / cardboard or a small candle - This would be considered your secondary source of tinder. Cutting up the box that your Storm Proof Matches come in is a good option.
  
• 1 x Magnesium Bar - This should be considered a tertiary option in your kit and is used by scrapping shards of magnesium on top of other dry tinder such as wood or grass that you can find in the wild. Igniting the magnesium shards with a spark will greatly assist you in getting the tinder started. Some times you can get a bar that has a built in Ferrocerium Rod. 

Other options that some people talk about, that I would elide:

• Magnifying Glass - It is possible to create a fire from a magnifying glass, however, it requires that you start your fire at mid day and have lots of direct sunlight.  This is not practical for any scout, and should not be included.
  
• Two Sticks and Some Rope - It might be an interesting academic exercise once, so your scout can understand the theory, but other than that it is not very practical.
  
• Fire Piston - A novelty item and not really suitable for anything your scout is going to do.
  
• 9 volt battery and steel wool - Once again, just because you can does not mean you should.
  
• Flint (as in rocks) and Steel - This option is archaic and not very effective
  
• Standard Strike Anywhere Matches - These are good and relatively inexpensive, however, they are problematic if the weather is less than ideal.
  
• Char Cloth - An archaic and not very effective solution
  
• Steel Wool - Not an ideal solution

Other things I like to include in a kit:

• 1 x 12x24 inch sheet of aluminum foil - This can be used to start a fire in a leave-without-trace condition, to cook something in, or as part of a wind shield. 

My Altoids Tin Kit - Version 1

This kit costs about $10.00 plus the cost of the Altoids, weighs 125 grams (~4.45 ounces) and consists of the following items:

1 x Mini Bic Lighter (11 grams)
10 x Stormproof Matches (9 grams)
6 x Cotton balls smeared in Vaseline (11 grams)
6 x Strips of card board (4 grams)

1 x Magnesium bar with striker (53 grams)
1 x Two square feet of tin foil
1 x Altoids tin (37 grams)

I use a velcro strap to keep it closed.



When you first open the kit, this is what you will see.

When you remove the mini Bic lighter and stormproof matches you will see the second layer.  Notice the strips of cardboard on both sides to take advantage of the curvature of the container.

With everything removed, you can see all of the contents of the kit.

If you are looking to save space and weight, you can get rid of the Magnesium bar and scraper, that would save 53 grams and give you a lot of space for other things.  If you removed the bar and got a different container, that would save 90 grams of weight, which is nearly 3/4s of the total weight.