Gear- Fire Starting Kit

Some seem to be naturals at starting a fire while others...well it doesn't come so easy. I'm no expert and I won't claim to be. I've started my fair share and have also over built and burned through wood too fast and woke up cold to dying embers in the middle of the night. Either way, having a few simple items with you will get you going. Keeping it going is up to you.

I am a huge fan of the re-purposing of durable containers like Altoid and Band-Aid tins. When you are packing a few small items like these, it helps to keep everything together.

 A Firesteel fire-starter, cotton balls, and hand sanatizer. The best way I have found to start a campfire...learned to me by my buddy Joshua.

I first met Joshua at Garage Company in Pelham at a bike night. It was quick and we didn't say much to each other. Later I saw him again to look at purchasing his Shovelhead. In addition to the Shovel I got from him, he is the former owner of the Weed Steed. About a week after we took care of the paperwork, he met me for shots and beers. Afternoon turned into evening and we ended up back at my place drinking more, exchanging parts, swapping stories and generally bs-ing around.

Raised in the country, he is no stranger to the outdoors. Still living in rural Alabama, he is raising his kids the same way he was raised and we talked a lot that night about camping and gear. Since he was delivering me some additional Shovel parts, he was in his truck and had some of his stuff on him. I grabbed my pack and we looked it over. Rummaging through his, I saw the above items in a little bag and it caught my attention. When I asked he told me that was his fire starting kit. I pressed him about the sanitizer and he said it was multipurpose: clean your kids hands or start a camp fire.

A few seconds later there was a flaming cotton-ball on the ground in my garage. Now, cotton balls burn pretty good alone but go out pretty quickly. Add a few drops of sanitizer to the equation and the burn time turns into a couple minutes.

Joshua gave me his firesteel that night and since then it has been in my pack with the cotton and sanitizer. Simple yet very effective.



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