You are currently reading "
Starting A Fire With Wet Wood", entry #28149 on
The Captain's Journal.
This article is filed under the category(s)
Survival and was published September 14th, 2021 by Herschel Smith.
If you're interested in what else the The Captain's Journal has to say, you might try thumbing through the
archives and visiting the
main index, or; perhaps you would like to learn more about
TCJ.
Hiked the Laural Highlands Trail a few years ago in June. It rained hard almost everyday and the wood was almost non-existing at the shelters and what we did find was soaking wet.
I made fire 4 of the 5 nights by battaning wood and like in the video, using twigs with vasline soaked cotton balls to get the party started. I also scavaged charcoal from other fireplaces in the shelter area. We planned to get to the shelters in the mid afternoon before other hikers arrived that allowed me to scavage. Fire allowed some warmth in a damp shelter and helped dry things out a bit.
Thermite pucks will do nicely as well.
Lint from the clothes dryer also works well for kindling, even with only a flint & striker to start.
Another good presentation on making fire in the rain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3KsbS60pEc
Bullshit video. That wood was not soaked like in a hard rain like he said. He dipped it in the creek. The surface of the wood was wet, on a sunshine day, not soaked. Maybe his trick could work, but this vid sure did not prove it.