Starting a Fire with Everything All Wet Materials

[SilentWolf1966]

Not much diffrent from what Dave did you dried it only difrence its dry no matter how you look at it its dry.You can always find dry ttinder if you know where to look.Never have not found dry tinder yet even in pouring rain.Not bad though.

[KittchenSink]

Now that my friend, was a piece of knowledge worth acquiring. I reckon we all should try that one at least once. Superb!!

[stopcraponutube]

Seriously, this should be shown as an in-flight movie on aircraft just incase...

[born2ride97]

@stopcraponutube Yeah because of all the survivors in an airplane crashes...

[1969jmac]

The title is misleading. when you started the fire everything was NOT all wet. You spent considerable time drying things out.

[112890ccc]

I FAILED

[weerobot]

Excellent video.

[speedracer6985]

Ok joe i no drying what you can is common scence but here is the thing if it is a complete downpoor you cant dry anything your whole body is soaked no hiding in your shirt etc... what im saying is all these arguments are a waste of time survival is about doing what you can when you can if you cant whats your next best option??? and thats why you should always keep a fire starter and cotton balls in a old pill bottle in your coat....

[survivethewild]

@speedracer6985 Search youtube for this "Fire with Wet Birch Bark and Firesteel". But the point really is to think and improvise when you don't have your coat ;) You need to try different these all the time and understand the physics.

[vmaxerv4]

Excellent no bullshit video - Thanks!!

[tidiertrout96]

i heard an airplane on 12:46

[synal]

That's a great video!

[Terrakinetic]

Just saying thanks for the instruction.

[liquidturion]

great job and effort  Thanks for the video.

[RobertMOdell]

Of course, if it is pouring down rain and 40 degrees out, it will be next to impossible to dry out your materials without at least a minimal shelter established. Birch trees sure make awesome fire starter. Excellent video. Was enjoyable to watch.

[BLACKBIRD102airborn]

HOW FAR SOUTH DO BERCH TREES GROW?

[C24B9]

Hey, I want to toss an "attaboy" your way for the 'warts & all' presentation. It's way too easy to snip out that frustrating bit where the fire-steel wasn't quite getting you there...but, you let us see it as it was. Thank you. (I think God rewarded you with a good flame for the comment "easier said than done.") Cheers.

[shamanspirit1984]

good video=) now i have a next challenge=) try it when U are wet as well, because if something happens (plane crashes into a lake/sea, u fall into a river and it takes u down stream, its raining and ure lost, u crash your boat somewhere) the murphy's law sais ure gonna bet wet as well=) problem is, u cant just blow on your fingers and dry them and start preparing/drying stuff, its all gona get wet again and again as u work. this video teaches a good lesson: patience is the key=)

[ungnaturkraft]

You do not need the cotten ball just start the birch bark with the fire steel. Much quicker and you save energy.

[iq201]

This video convinced me that I will be carrying a candle that can stay lit for hours, and will therefore stay lit until I get a bigger fire going. There's too much depending on the cotton balls/lint in this situation, even if you had petroleum jelly mixed in. That would freak me out. I'd carry a lighter too, but I wouldn't want to waste the lighter fluid too much. My trust in matches is so low that I don't carry them at all.

[timothy6487944]

@iq201 i never thought about carrying a candle that's a good idea

[00Avenger17]

really awesome actually ^^ the first video that is actually genuine and does it for real!! good advice =P NICE! =P

[Tritonnl]

Good video, YOu did well IMHO.

[outithewoods]

Its always the way, the more you need a fire the harder it is to light ,This would normally be in the cold wet and rainy conditions,also the bet time to practice .

[ftlqed]

Could have had some chemicals and a zippo, shake the zippo around. Or a nine volt and some steel wool. Put a cap on it. Nothing is really free.

[primitivebushskills]

nice experiment good and intressting

[primitivebushskills]

nice experiment and that you make something diffrent

[primitivebushskills]

nice program



[pappyhighlife]

Another great video. Joe I have been a woodsman for nearly 50 years and I must say you are doing good things with our craft. More importantly you aren't selling anything you simply share and that little brother is a great talent.

[maximillianof98]

hi joe, in your old video "Mini Survival Kit ", it took you less than 3 minutes to get fire from a wet BIC lighter.

how much time did it took you to get fire from wet cotton + firesteel?

what if you are having a wet bic lighter this time, instead of a wet firesteel?

once you get the wet bic working (in 3 minutes), you can use it to dry the cotton.

[survivethewild]

@maximillianof98

Yes, I could've done it quicker with a wet bic.

I spent about 10 mins on the cotton balls.

[maximillianof98]

@survivethewild 3 year ago, you promoted the bic lighter as the 1 item survival kit (and fire kit too, i suppose). i wonder you still stand on this idea?

everyone (kids too) is making video/tutorial on how to use a firesteel, cause it's not easy (for someone else, at least), and it's cooler than using a lighter ("i can do it, you can't" mentality)

of course, no one wants to watch "how to make fire with a bic"

it's too easy, but that's the kind of tool i need.

[survivethewild]

@maximillianof98

You should always carry a lighter, or 2, on your person as an EDC item.

And I consider an altoids kit an EDC item as well, it's always in my back pocket, opposite my wallet.

This video was just meant to show that you can still persevere under adverse conditions.

[maximillianof98]

@survivethewild yes sir, a butane lighter is my EDC, though i am not a smoker. when i go camping i'll bring a few of them, stored in different places, some wrap in plastic, cling wrap.

after some practice (+cursing and swearing) on firesteel, manage to get fire too. it makes me realize how easy fire lighting can be with a simple cheap butane lighter. 

[BestFreeWow]

@survivethewild kinda curious as to why you didn't scrape some shavings from the firesteel on the cotton ball first to help ignite the cotton?

[survivethewild]

@BestFreeWow I did. Watch it again :)

[BestFreeWow]

@survivethewild I think I'm going blind..must be the fluoride :P

[shimono1000]

@maximillianof98 , It is very true what you say .. I always carry my bic and some cotton for the gas if it ends .. is much much easier .... and cheap ..! is not spectacular catch fire with a bic, but the idea is to fire .. bic my work .. Greetings from Paraguay.

[Roboflux]

Hi, thanks for info but what if you have no cotton ball, just the nature around you and no firesteel and lighters so on?

[survivethewild]

@Roboflux

Well that's a different situation for sure. In that situation, I would find the driest materials I could for bow or hand drill. I'd try to find natural tinder, such as cattails, dead hemlock leaves, brown rot, etc. I'd shave the outside of all the sticks off to get to dryer material.

If I had birch bark in the area, I would put it to use as soon as I had flame.

Hope that answers your question.

- Joe

[Roboflux]

@survivethewild jepp, thanks

[hiddenblade123]

awesome one brother man

[kingtut1964]

if you dry out the materials, then your not starting a fire with everything wet;your starting a fire with dry stuff......just sayin......

[midnightsurvival]

great vid joe. i think the best lesson to learn is, DO NOT PANIC!! ur first time u said u were in a hurry. this time u slowed down and only used cotton ball. great job. thats one of the reasons ppl preach so much about getting out and doing it, even someone as skilled as u were unable to do it when u first went out. u learned ur lesson and did a bang up job the second time.

[OriginalJosh01]

Thumbs up my friend. Nice video. I wish I had a place to go and get away from the city, like that.

[MrBillTroop73]

Did the cotton ball actually catch enough to start the birch bark? Or did the birch bark start and catch the cotton?

[survivethewild]

@MrBillTroop73 It was the cotton ball. I have done it with just cotton balls, no birch before too. That wasn't the paper thin birch stuff. It was the thick gray, Virginia birch.

[MrBillTroop73]

@survivethewild Good deal!

Thanks for the reply.

[Tossdart]

Great vid Joe again being honest. Survival though as I know you know can toss a few at you. Turned over in a swamp turn on a river -10 C 800 meters to willows, no trees, barren ground & rocks & pouring deluge so forth.

[survivethewild]

@Tossdart In your situation, would I have firesteel, lighter? Give me a riddle and I'll try to solve it :)

[Tossdart]

@survivethewild I won't tempt you, you may just be silly enough to over turn your canoe on the Mackenzie Delta! I'm just saying nature rarely cooperates. It is amazing what ice water can do for ones anatomy as an example, then the gosh aweful numbing wind to only find tussuck grass. It is my bet then that a Zippo lighter & fuel in double plastic bags drys cotton faster than a steel. Just no river k. No winky :)

[docheiter]

dude! you don`t need cotton balls to light fire if you have that Birch bark.

you can scrape upper layer of bark into small chips..and that will take your spark..those chips.

[faolbushcraft]

Good video with solid solutions. Nice!

[seanmulhall]

Joe great video. I always like the way you keep your videos real. I too try to show the realities of camp craft and video making. Sean

[bearpatch1]

fine solid video and demo, 5/5*, thanks,---JC

[ArtisanTony]

Technically you are not staring a fire with wet material if you dry it out, LOL

[BulletProofNinja49]

1 trick for the rod that works well for me.. it put the knife and the fero rod into the object you want to light then pull only the rod away.. while holding the knife in.. you dont need to use much of the rod at all...

[survivethewild]

@BulletProofNinja49 The problem was, I'd already hacked some good notches in my firesteel, so it was skipping around on me.

[Ikefis]

Thanks for the video. Great effort. Dave was right. Back when the Army had a Jungle Warfare school, in Panama, we all learned there is always something dry....always. Unless you are a fish, there is, in any environment, something dry. Always and everywhere. Don't waste time drying stuff and risk no fire. Be proactive, get about and find what you need to assure you have a fire.

[survivethewild]

@Ikefis I don't disagree, you should always look for dry stuff. However, if you can't find it, or you do and it gets wet, you can still start fire one way or the other.

[greenback001]

thanks for the tutorial.

[KonstantinKuehn]

great video...... only one thing that i like to do is make feathersticks.. it really helps make things less complicated..... i might post a video if i can get the damn camera to work with this mac!

[cory8791]

GREAT VID!!!!!  thanks for the info!

[187plumber]

very cool vid glad to see you back posting

[0122358]

you wereing camo goretex pants?

[survivethewild]

@0122358 Yes, they are Czech military gortex pants I believe

[IVOIPSG]

nice video...try to ruff/fluff up the skin of the birch bark then it should be good to go . thanks for the video. hope to see more soon.

[ZZOTH]

what kind of leatherman you use?

[survivethewild]

@ZZOTH it's actually a gerber, I misspoke.

[johncajunmanbrown]

that was excellent!

[giutoniolo]

Very nice video dude! I wish we had birch bark here in Brazil! Thank you for taking your time to post it bro!! 5*****!