Wilderness Arena > Food, Water, Shelter > Firecraft

Firecraft

Fire principles including choosing a site, selecting material, and building fires for survival.

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Making Char Cloth (charcloth) – the essential outdoors firestarting material

Char cloth (or charred cloth) is a swatch of fabric made from vegetable linen, such as cotton, that has been converted into a slow-burning fuel of very low ignition temperature. A single, small spark placed on char cloth will ignite the cloth which will begin to glow red. The slow-burning char cloth can then be used to ignite a tinder bundle to start a fire. Once ignited, it will continue to produce smoldering embers for a minute or two giving you plenty of time to place the cloth into a tinder bundle and blow on it until the bundle ignites and begins burning.

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Alcohol burning cat food can stove – easy to make, easy to carry

A Cat Food Can Stove is probably one of the easiest cooking stoves to make. In addition, it is lightweight and foolproof.  It never clogs and there are no moving parts to break.  They burn ethanol or methanol alcohol so finding fuel is easy.  Simply pour alcohol-based fuel in it and light.  The stove will…

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Fire Principles

Introduction to Firecraft In survival situations, the ability to build and light a fire can make the difference between life and death. You can use fire to purify water, sterilize bandages, signal for rescue, drive animals from their homes, efficiently modify the landscape, smoke and preserve food, softening tar for adhesives, making charcoal for medicinal…

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Building a Fire

Fire Building Methods There are several methods for laying a fire and each one has advantages. The situation you are in will determine which of the following fires to use.   Tepee Fire To make a tepee (or tipi) fire, arrange the tinder and a few sticks of kindling in the shape of a tepee…

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Lighting a Fire

Tips for Lighting Fires Always light your fire from the upwind side. Make sure you lay the tinder, kindling, and fuel so that your fire will burn as long as you need it. Igniters provide the initial heat required to start the tinder burning. They fall into two categories: modern methods and primitive methods. Using…