Most Used Fire Starter?

[DancesWithKnives]

Personally, I get the most use out of a plain old BIC disposable lighter. I have a Zippo but it is a pain to remember to constantly re-fuel the thing. As for matches, I have a hard time finding good "strike anywhere" types so I don't use them as often as the BIC.

What's your favorite fire starter for your survival pack (or just to keep on you in case it's needed)?

DWK

[Bushman]

Not carrying anything to start a fire out hunting will probably come back to bite me one day, but I don't. I fired up three piles of brush last weekend up at my cabin and its hard to beat a little boy scout juice (charcoal lighter) and a stick match. This year out camping I was perfectly content lighting my camp stove with a Bic lighter; that is until I got disorganized and lost track of where I'd put it.:( Then I remembered that the MRE's come with a book of matches in every pouch and that saved me from eating cold food.

My buddy used to use one of those little butane lighters for his cigarettes and the thing looked and sounded like a mini blowtorch with a blue flame. I often thought that one of those would throw a lot hotter flame than just a plain old yellow flame Bic lighter if a guy needed to get something wet started.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I flick my Bic!

Alan

[DancesWithKnives]

One of the guys at another of my other outdoor forums has one of those mini torches. They burn hot as the hinges of hell. He said that the only downsides are that you need to keep them warm in really cold weather (inside pocket or the like) and they're a tad heavy. Might get one someday---just for entertainment and to annoy my hunting buddies.

Bushman, you probably have every bit as much outdoor time as I do so I'm not being critical. However, it's pretty easy to slip a lighter/firesteel/match case into your pocket when heading out hunting. Heck, the BICS are cheap enough to leave a few in my bird hunting vest, winter coat, fishing vest, etc. I haven't had them dry up, like the Zippos do.

Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

DWK

[Sidekick]

I found a bic lighter in a box of stuff from my service days. It was at least twenty years old and lit right up. I like the zippo too but like you say unless you keep after it it's always dried up when you want to use it.

[DancesWithKnives]

Amazing bit of history! I know that a few years isn't a problem for them but twenty is incredible.

Thanks for the cool story,

DWK

[Rock Chuck]

In 45 years of hunting, I've never had to light a fire away from camp but it only takes 1 sprained ankle 3 miles back to make a guy really glad to have an inferno-maker in his pocket. I carry a couple different ways to light up. Matches in a waterproof container along with a couple kinds of fire starter. A metal match. A Bic. All that stuff total only weighs a few oz. and takes up very little room in my pack.

[Sidekick]

The lighter is still laying on the kitchen counter. It's been there for about a year now and I use it once in a while to light the woodstove. I'm kind of curious now how long it will last.

[DancesWithKnives]

Last year I dropped a modest Whitetail buck just before the end of legal shooting hours, a ways east of Missoula, MT. I was a few miles from the road and my truck. It was cold and dark so I pulled out one of those Coughlan's firestarters that looks like a giant match made out of some sort of wax/wood composite. I stuck it in the ground and arranged some pine needles and small, dry twigs around it. It burned for several minutes and got my fire going easily. I appreciated the light, warmth, etc. that the fire provided while I boned out the buck.

Next day when I was going back to retrieve the rest of my meat, the forest manager told me that there was an aggressive boar griz in the area that had run some hunters off their kills. I was really glad I'd had that simple, easy firestarter. Not being able to start a fire and boning out that buck with just a headlamp might have been a lot less attractive proposition.

DWK

[kjjm4]

I use a ronson jet lite torch lighter. They're like 2 bucks at wal mart, burns crazy hot, refillable, and a fill up lasts a pretty long time. I actually bought the first one I got to light cigars, which I occasionally smoke while camping, one thing led to another and I discovered that they work really well to start a campfire.

[Altjaeger]

I carry a Zippo in the woods though I gave up cigarettes several years ago. My camp gear always has 2-3 more of those long charcoal lighters scattered about in it.

[bill m]

It looks like the Bic is winning.
For all of the stuff that I use that is specialized, I have to confess to being loaded with a Bic. Orange too. Don't want to lose it.