Sandwich Bag Fire Starter.

Never thought of this before gonna have to try it out.



Anyone else got any different ideas how to make fire?.

a reply to: testingtesting

Anyone else got any different ideas how to make fire?.

Mix chlorine and brake fluid and you get spontaneous combustion.
Mix potassium permaganate and glycerin and the same thing happens.

The bag trick is pretty hard...the best thing to do is to try it.

In the past week,I made fire in a torrential downpour which took me 3 hours.
I made some char clothe and some pine pitch.
Fun times.

Theres plenty of ways to make fires...try as many as possible.
Its better to have the knowledge and not need it than need it and not have it.

a reply to: testingtesting

Not bad but you need a sunny day to get things going.

I found this easy friction method interesting as it works 24/7:

I know a lot of backpackers are obsessed with weight, so I thought of this.....
Since I collect gemstones, I have several jewelers loupes. They are very strong, very small magnifying glasses and work great to start a fire on a sunny day. They fold away and are light enough to just stick in your pocket and go and the less expensive ones only cost a few dollars.

a reply to: testingtesting

Alright. That will be fun to try.
I like a mag bar in my pack for any unforeseen situations (like my lighter/matches gets wet or runs out or whatever) or an emergency situation. They're inexpensive, light and last forever, not really forever but you get my drift.
Now, if I lost the bar...not sure. I'm not a bow drill person, never tried one. Oh and be mindful that the little flame that will come from using the bar doesn't last long, like only 2 secs long so you need to be ready with your fuel.
If one does find themselves near water and in need of tinder I've seen folks use the cattail fluffy seeds (?). Also important to make sure you have plenty of kindling to keep it going once it's lit. Like fuzzy sticks and such. Cotton balls are light and easy to carry but, then again...if they get wet.
But, of course you all know all of that
Haven't been true camping in quite some time.
Thanks for the video.

a reply to: testingtesting

I will be trying this tonight if the weather holds out... I'm very interested in the bag not melting however I assume that's just the property of whatever the plastic is that is used to make the bags - like how some brands of cling film can be boiled, or some plastic bags can be put in the oven.

If I can keep it clean and reasonably anonymous I'll perhaps try and film it too.

I've never tried the wood rubbing techniques however I did once use a flint and steel, which admittedly is a bit of a cheat!

Hope you are holding out ok btw

What amazes me in these tutorials is the fact their assuming all semblance of civilization will come to an end and Cave man will be the norm of the day, naked and savage. Where you going to 'bug out' to ? where is the free open spaces ? Moving from known safety to unknown territory. You could think up a cornucopia of inventive ways to start fire, but in the end you will find a Bic or Zippo the most reliable. Dryer lint is the best instant flame fire starter I know of.

the plastic bag does not melt for two reasons .
One is the heat from the sun is NOT effecting the bag its self .
2 is even if you put the bag full of water into a fire it WILL NOT burn as the water can NOt get hot enough and keeps the temperature of the bag down below the point it can melt or burn .
Try this at home get a Paper cup .start your grill have a nice hot Burning fire .
now fill the paper cup with water and carefully put it in the fire directly in the hottest part .
Now watch as the CUP does not burn and watch as the water acutely boils .
its a neat party trick and people are slow and you can make a little money betting the cup wont burn .
as for this post have to try Clorox and brake fluid

a reply to: testingtesting

Great video!

The sandwich bag aspect of it is cool, and could be useful, but I thought they really did a great job of explaining how to craft an ember and give it what it needs. Most people would just take a pile of stuff and light it at the top, but they really take it a step further and show why you need to constantly adjust the situation to create a strong ember.

a reply to: and14263

The bag doesn't melt because it doesn't get hot enough. If you just took a normal empty bag and laid it on the ground in the sun, would you expect it to melt? Of course not. The bag in this video is experiencing the same heat. In fact it is affected less because the water inside keeps the plastic cool.

The extreme heat is created away from the bag. The curvature of the bag causes the sun's rays to focus conically (like a cone). By moving the curve (the bag) closer/farther from an object, you can find where the tip of that cone is and where all of the sun's rays come together. Only at that distance from the object (give or take a cm) will the temperature be hot enough to cause combustion or melt plastic.

originally posted by: Pilgrum
a reply to: testingtesting

Not bad but you need a sunny day to get things going.

I found this easy friction method interesting as it works 24/7:

That is really cool... and yet another reason to keep tampons in your bug out bag.

a reply to: midnightstar

Yea, the Boy Scouts taught us to boil water in a paper bag. But, I was most impressed when my grandfather boiled water in a basket and used it to clean the acorns so we could have bread.

Then I guess it don't take much to impress an eight year old.

Always thought the ole 9volt battery and steel wool was nifty Granted, if you are going to carry a battery you might as well have a lighter, but if the lighter runs out or gets wet this would help.

Great ideas cheers all I'm off in the woods in a few weeks we ate going to have a fire building competition...I'm gonna win .

When I was a kid, my brother and I were in a wood shop, and needed some fire, basically to light up a cigarette. No matches, lighters or anything could be found. What we wound up discovering, is that just about any power tool can be used to produce fire. Drilling a wood dowel into a piece of soft wood, a steel grinder with toilet paper in the path of the sparks, and variations of those things with just about any other tool that could spin... Certainly not a survival tip, but we continued on the premise to see how many ways it could be done.

a reply to: scojak
Agreed. I wondered if the conical effect started at the front of the bag rather than the exit. Now it is cear to me it is a fat lens.

Some good videos on survival here. Smart guys, this one here had me thinking I wish I had one of these mechanisms when I was travelling through the jungle terrain of east Africa.