We never know when a fire will come in handy. Perhaps it will be on a hike or a camping trip, or it could be on a hunting or fishing adventure that doesn't go as planned. No matter what the situation, it is always a good idea to have at least a couple of fire starting methods in your pack. Because some methods are better suited for different situations, I try to have three different ways to start a fire whenever I hit the field.
The obvious choice would be matches or a permanent waterproof match, but what if you forgot to fill the lighter fluid reservoir on your waterproof match and it's pouring down rain. Your typical matches might light, but they will quickly be extinguished by the weather conditions. In this situation it would be very helpful to have an alternative method to get your heat source going.
One of my favorite methods is steel wool and a 9 volt battery. For best results use super fine steel wool. Take one piece of steel wool and pull it apart so that you end up with a puffy ball. Next take the 9 volt battery and touch both terminals to the ball you just made. Be sure that you get a good connection between the terminals and the steel wool. Once a good connection is made, the steel wool will catch on fire!
You will want to be sure to have your tinder and kindling close by so that your fire can be quickly transferred from the steel wool to the tinder. It would also be useful in wet conditions to have a method of protecting your initial fire as much as possible from the moisture.
Make sure that if you plan on making this one of your back-up fire starting methods that you keep your battery and steel wool stored separately. It wouldn't be good to have your pack go up in flames while you were carrying it.
- Any day in the outdoors is a good day
