manmade tinder practice

Today I decided to finish off the second exercise in the Bushcraft forums Bushclass.  For this 5 manmade tinders need to be lit by ferro rod.  I selected the following materials, Tinderquick tab, FAT tinder, Esbit tablet, IGKNIGHT fire starter brick, steel wool, and Livefire.  Here are my experiences and observations.

Tinderquick:

This was the easiest of all to light.  It took only a single small spark, however it does burn out fairly quickly.  The ease of lighting makes them great for a real situation where you need a fire.  However I think really good prep will be needed in wet conditions due to reduced burn time.

FAT tinder:
These little tinders are what I have with my paracord bracelet.  Like the tinderquicks they are easy to light, but have a reduced burn time.  This can be extended by placing the rubber ranger band holding them on the bracelet into the mix.  They are nice because you can carry many in a small space and always have some available.  They are also sealed so they won't get wet.

Esbit tablet:
The Nesbit tablet is a real pain to light.  It took many attempts with a small ferro rod.  Obviously it is very long burning, since it is primarily for cooking, not fire lighting.  It also burned cooler than most of the other tinders.  This would not be my first choice to start a fire, but it would work in necessary.

IGKNIGHT bricks:
These are my second favorite tinders.  They are easy to light, though not as easy as a tinder quick.  They burn very hot and for a reasonably long time.  Generally half a tablet works well, and a full one in wet conditions will get stuff going.

Livefire:
This is always in my kit.  It lights fairly easily, has a very long burn time, and can be turned off easily by shutting the lid.  Thus it is good for starting many fires, as well as providing light or even cooking using my Emberlit Fireant if wood isn't available.  It is so useful, and really light.

Small Ferro Rod Strikers

Lately my primary means of starting fires has been the ferrocerrium rod.  This is one of those situations that bigger really is better however I always have seemed to have gotten small rods.  Primarily I do lighter weight backpacking and hiking, so carrying a 1/2 inch bar doesn't seem to fit that.  Additionally when I am out backpacking there is usually some backup, either a mini bic or some stormproof matches.  I use the ferro rod most often because it takes more skill and practice, and it takes time to get good with.

Recently at navigator I tried making a fire in the rain with the kit I brought.  I had good tinder material, chunks of fatwood, jute cord, and waxed wood shavings.  I also brought the Sparrows Lockpick flint butcher set.  This consists of three ferro rods, one large diameter that is stubby with a hole and lanyard, another longer moderate diameter, and a smaller one drilled with 2 holes.  It also comes with a dedicated striker, which has an aesthetically interesting design, looking much like a butcher knife.

At navigator I found using this striker to be very difficult when my hands were cold and wet.  I have seen some people on the internet connecting lanyards to it, which gives more usability, however I still not convinced it will work well in cold weather situations.  Eventually one of the other participants used his gobspark to get our tinder lit.  So I set out last night to try a bench top experiment with different rods and strikers all of small size.

The gear:
flint butcher set
LMF style rod with handle and striker from livefire
ceramic striker from wazoo survival
rod equivalent in diameter to those in some buckles
cheap and crappy ferro rod and magnesium block

For each of the ferro rods I tried each of the three dedicated strikers and subjectively compared the consistency to generate sparks and especially huge ones.  I found that the hardest to use was the flint butcher striker.  I only ever got weaker sparks, and never the big gobby ones that stayed lit for a while.  This could still be a technique issue, but as of right now it isn't working well for me.

The middle of the road was the scraper on the livefire striker.  This worked well on all of the ferro rods, however one issue with it is that only one of the sides has a good 90 degree grind.  It does also have some grooves at the end, which can also be used.  This is also the piece of kit that I have the most experience with.  I have had trouble before in wet weather with consistency.

The last and my favorite of the bunch was the little ceramic striker from Wazoo.  It was the easiest to get lots of consistent pressure and big sparks from all of the ferro rods, regardless of size.  It is also the smallest and lightest of all 3 strikers.  That is an advantage in my view in warmer months where you won't have gloves, but it would be the hardest of them to use with gloves.

So what I learned was that for the smaller sized ferro rods the best performing dedicated striker I tested was the small ceramic one.  As such I will likely switch to carrying that instead of stashing it deep inside my survival kit.  Additionally for colder weather conditions a different setup is probably a good idea, specifically one that works well with gloves on.  One of my big concerns is still weight, so I likely will never carry a giant ferro rod all year round.  From what I saw at navigator the gobspark is probably a good bet for winter.

Navigator Core AAR

Over the weekend I attended the Goruck navigator core event in Lost Nation VT.  I didn't know what to expect, other than learning a bunch of navigation skills which was my goal.  I am a hiker and trail runner here in New England, and have always relied on trail systems and easy egress.  We have good trail networks here, and most land is surrounded by roads.  So while I carry a compass, it is generally so I can go in a straight line until hitting a road if necessary.  I really wanted to change that and get some real skills.

The packing list I looked at had some stuff that was never used, and is not listed below in my load out, such as a cordellet and webbing.  Since then they have updated the list, which is very much inline with what was actually used.  So my full load out was not very optimized.  I am use to running lighter weight gear, so packing like this is a bit out of my element.  However, I felt ready for whatever cadre threw at us.

I arrived the night before after the 4 hours in traffic heading out from Boston.  I was greeted by the folks from the navigator legacy event, who where all around the campfire.  Soon after a couple of other folks from my class showed up.  We had a good amount of time that evening to talk with the cadre and the legacy participants.  This was insightful in regards to what to expect, as well as good outdoor knowledge.

We started out at 0800 with a  bunch of classroom information on map reading.  I have never dealt with maps in this way before, so it was very informative.  Cadre Doug was really good at teaching us how to read the map, and gave us a bunch of exercises to help us understand how to use the UTM grid.  Following this we had our first movement.

Unlike a regular Goruck event which is team based, our movements were solo, and skills focused instead of PT focused.  That isn't to say that the movements were easy easy, the terrain was difficult, steep, and at some times with thick foliage.  For the first movement we had a single location to get to,  however it still required some route planning to get from the easy low ground up to our individual points at the top of the hill.

After we returned we had more classroom time, and learned new skills necessary for locating our position if lost.  Then we started our big movement.  This one involved hitting 4 different checkpoints.  During this movement I mistakenly attached my Spot tracker to the shoulder strap of my ruck, which may have disrupted my compass some.  However the bigger problem was traveling through such rough terrain, where I probably got off course some.  This prevented me from solidly hitting my next point.

This big movement was my first time really spending time out at night.  It was intimidating at first, but it the became fairly comfortable.  It might not have been as easy if following a trail, but moving with map and compass it was very reasonable.  I am glad for this experience, and learned a great deal.

The next morning we had a chance to try finding our position using known points.  Unlike most of the places I hike, the peak of our hill was heavily wooded.  In addition the weather was less optimal, with reduced visibility to other hilltops.  This made resectioning more difficult, but between that and using a bit of logic with the terrain it was possible to figure out which peaks I was actually looking at.  

At the end of the course I felt confident to truly start the next part of learning about navigating.  While I had trouble actually executing the navigation during the event, I feel confident to go out and try this some more.  Luckily I remembered there is a fixed orienteering course in my home town, which I plan to use my compass skills and pace count to try to hit all the fixed points.

Loadout:
Base: Patagonia RPS pants, Patagonia Caplene midweight, wool injini socks, 
Mid: Patagonia nano air and Patagonia nano puff
Shell: Patagonia super alpine and EMS hiking pants
shoes: 5.10 aesent for day 1, altra superior 2.0 for day 2
socks: 2x Darn Tough, injini toe socks
Hydration: 3l source bladder, nalgene with pace lid
pack: GR1 with waist belt
Sleep system: Tarp tent notch, black diamond alpine z poles as support, zlite pad, sea to summit comfort light pad, EMS velocity 35 degree bag, enlightenment gear 20 degree quilt
nav tools: seat2summit map case, map tools super GTA scale, Suunto mcl compass, pencils, waterproof field notes notebook