# Making fires in cold weather and snow



## Daddy O (Jan 20, 2014)

I thought this was interesting. I'm from hot country so I know bupkus (sp?) about cold weather, just what I read about in books.


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## warrior4 (Oct 16, 2013)

Cool video. When it comes to starting fire in the cold the same principles apply as starting a fire when it's warm. Keep your kindling, tinder, and fuel dry. Prep everything before you try to start it. It's really not that hard, it just seems harder because it's cold, but once that fire is lit and burning well there's really no better feeling on a cold day.


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## MI.oldguy (Apr 18, 2013)

Good video.but,why dosent anybody carry matches or a lighter anymore?.:Confuse:


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## SecretPrepper (Mar 25, 2014)

MI.oldguy said:


> Good video.but,why dosent anybody carry matches or a lighter anymore?.:Confuse:


You and I think alike. The kids and I play with fire making methods and have a good time with it. On the given day when right at dark someone says "hey dad cand we have a fire tonight" and the answer is yes. I don't rub sticks together. I toss wood in the fire pit and grab the striker and weed burner to start the fire. Wet wood dry wood it doesn't matter.


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## Targetshooter (Dec 4, 2015)

Good post , I practice making fire all the time , I do it on a old direct tv dish I have sitting on blocks ,, it will go with me if I need to bug out ,, I can always sit it on large rocks ,, it's hard to start a fire on wet ground and tin foil is not for me .


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## Slippy2 (Mar 19, 2016)

Good thread for the inexperienced fire makers. I like to make fire often, using a number of techniques, been doing it for nearly 50 years. Lighters and good kindling (good old Southern Yellow Pine Fatwood is my favorite) make a damn difference.

But make sure you keep your eyes on the damn ******** coming into our country illegally, the islamist jihadists wanting to eliminate our way of life here in the Good Old USA as well as the evil socialists with their hands in my pocket wanting to redistribute what I earn to some baby maker in the inner city!


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## ND_ponyexpress_ (Mar 20, 2016)

I believe the key in the snow is to have a dry base so the fire doesn't melt into the snow and go out..


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## warrior4 (Oct 16, 2013)

ND_ponyexpress_ said:


> I believe the key in the snow is to have a dry base so the fire doesn't melt into the snow and go out..


Helpful but not critically necessary. I've set fires on the ice of frozen lakes and there was very little melting. Remember heat rises so the majority of the heat from the fire is travelling upwards away from the snow. Also once a good bed of coals is glowing under the fire it'll act as it's own insulation.


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## SecretPrepper (Mar 25, 2014)

Slippy2 said:


> Good thread for the inexperienced fire makers. I like to make fire often, using a number of techniques, been doing it for nearly 50 years. Lighters and good kindling (good old Southern Yellow Pine Fatwood is my favorite) make a damn difference.
> 
> But make sure you keep your eyes on the damn ******** coming into our country illegally, the islamist jihadists wanting to eliminate our way of life here in the Good Old USA as well as the evil socialists with their hands in my pocket wanting to redistribute what I earn to some baby maker in the inner city!


Where I grew up we called it lighterd wood.

We still call the other part of your post "stirring the pot".


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## AquaHull (Jun 10, 2012)

warrior4 said:


> Helpful but not critically necessary. I've set fires on the ice of frozen lakes and there was very little melting. Remember heat rises so the majority of the heat from the fire is travelling upwards away from the snow. Also once a good bed of coals is glowing under the fire it'll act as it's own insulation.


Nothing like a bonfire on the lake.


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## Slippy2 (Mar 19, 2016)

SecretPrepper said:


> Where I grew up we called it lighterd wood.
> 
> We still call the other part of your post "stirring the pot".


Yes sir, we called it lighter wood until I moved to GA, and it was called Georgia Fatwood by some old timers.

Stirring The Pot is also referred to as Making a Point!:joyous:


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## AquaHull (Jun 10, 2012)

Shat Nagger, I aints be offending you ons that .


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## M118LR (Sep 19, 2015)

I'm not going to drop any names: but it would surprise you how many folks will tell you how great thier survival is, and you will have to tell them that they need to remove the coating from blade and striker to spark a fire. Perhaps that's one of the reasons I've viewed so many pretty pictures of expensive ESEE Knives, and so few photos of unused AFSK 499's? Lighters & Matches tend to be the first things that give/run out in the wilderness. Fatwood, is that the turpentine smelling stuff found in them scrawny soft Georgia pines?


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## Slippy2 (Mar 19, 2016)

M118LR said:


> Fatwood, is that the turpentine smelling stuff found in them scrawny soft Georgia pines?


Yes, lights quicker than a fart from a burrito eating fat man!

See below,


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## jro1 (Mar 3, 2014)

Do you guys get lichen....or old man's beard growing on the trees down there? When hiking through the woods I always make it a habit to collect and fill my cargo pockets with dry lichen and birch bark for starting fires! It lights up fast and in the dead of winter even if it's frozen or wet it alway fires up!


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

I've been making them in Northern NE since I was a child: snowshoeing, winter camping, ice fishing, hunting...........sometimes -10 oF with a 40-50 mph wind

Site prep and have your tinder and squaw wood all set to go; don't use up all your starter to make 1 fire (matches, butane, char etc...). Know where to find dry, tinder and small wood/twigs (bottom dead evergreen branches, birch bark, punky rotted stumps, pitch from evergreens).

Sometimes you'll need a windbreak. Better not to make it on snow/ice, uses a lot more wood. If snow is deep dig yourself a snow pit and make it there, will stop the wind, reflect the heat, and you can even make a partial roof with some boughs. 

Butane lighters stop working when it gets really cold, have an old zippo or traditional method.

Practice in good weather so you're skilled when it turns nasty.


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## Ralph Rotten (Jun 25, 2014)

The one cold weather factor they didn't really get into was the condition of the wood. Early in the snow season you can use deadwood protruding from the snow, but grounded stuff is smoky to burn. 

But late in the season when there has been a few thaws and refreezes even the stuff sticking out of the ground is hard to burn. Late season camp fires suck so I usually modify the menu, stocking food that requires less cooking. It's a PITA cooking over a smoky late season fire.


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## Ralph Rotten (Jun 25, 2014)

Sometimes the dryest wood is the big sheafs of dead bark on big trees (usually the leeward side). This stuff is pure gold.


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## Stick (Sep 29, 2014)

Fifty feet of para cord and a rock. Toss it over the lower dead branches and pull them down. Dry wood right there.


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## M118LR (Sep 19, 2015)

Pulling the Vaseline impregnated 100% cotton ball out of my 5 in 1, armed with 499 and a faro striker,bet my kudlik or beeswax candle lasts beyond timberline (above the circle) longer than anything else in your survival tin?


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## txmarine6531 (Nov 18, 2015)

Slippy2 said:


> Good thread for the inexperienced fire makers. I like to make fire often, using a number of techniques, been doing it for nearly 50 years. Lighters and good kindling (good old Southern Yellow Pine Fatwood is my favorite) make a damn difference.
> 
> But make sure you keep your eyes on the damn ******** coming into our country illegally, the islamist jihadists wanting to eliminate our way of life here in the Good Old USA as well as the evil socialists with their hands in my pocket wanting to redistribute what I earn to some baby maker in the inner city!


We call it lighter pine back home. Smells good, lights up even better. Yup, seems like we're getting it from all angles.


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## jro1 (Mar 3, 2014)

Anybody tried feathering small limbs for kindling? Just by scraping your blade down the limb, you can make fine cuts and feather the log Into dozens of small feathers for Ignition, amd progress into bigger feathers for fuel! But don't cut them off, leave them on the limb and "fluff" the peels out!


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## Montana Rancher (Mar 4, 2013)

Daddy O said:


> I thought this was interesting. I'm from hot country so I know bupkus (sp?) about cold weather, just what I read about in books.


Yawn Nice post I guess, too bad that guy never went through cub scouts.


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## MI.oldguy (Apr 18, 2013)

Jack pine here.the resin just oozes out.


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## hawgrider (Oct 24, 2014)

MI.oldguy said:


> Jack pine here.the resin just oozes out.


"Kirtland's warbler" loves Jack pine.


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## Operator6 (Oct 29, 2015)

I call it lighter knot. Plenty of it here because hurricanes. 

I can tell you which way is north by the way the trees are leaning from the wind. They lean both ways but you'll have a lot more leaning or fallen from south to north. 

I use lighters and fire steels with magnesium rods. Wet Fire tablets and pine lighter knot.


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## Medic33 (Mar 29, 2015)

MI.oldguy said:


> Good video.but,why dosent anybody carry matches or a lighter anymore?.:Confuse:


cause it is cool to be tacticool.
really I thought the same thing


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