Watching Youtube Does NOT Equal Skills

Feisar

OK, this might be an obvious one, well actually it most definately is obvious! Watching vids does not equal skills.
Case in point, feathersticking for firestarting with a firesteel. I got together a considerable pile of feathersticks yesterday and couldn't get them to light with just the firesteel.

my3cents

Good point, but once you have the basics you can pick up and store away ideas the might help you out in the future.

Fire starting skills are a good example (not suggesting yours are in anyway lacking) where skills need to be built. Stuck out in the woods even with a good lighter you can't just flick up the flame and start a fire. Lighting a fire is a process which you have to try and perfect yourself before you'll be anyway good at it. Even if your feathersticks worked then I'm sure you realise that there is still a long way to go before getting a good fire going. Until someone has not completed the whole process under varied conditions a few times they would probably still fail if the feathersticks worked if they hadn't prepared properly. It just isn't obvious until you have done it for yourself that you have to have a good supply of dry material stacked and sorted before you start. A video might even labour the details of preparation but most of us look around and think that we have enough to get going so will jump right in and start to make a flame long before we really have the means to make good use of it.

OK there are times when one spark will set a whole forest alight but thats not a situation we get here very often.

Never tried feathersticks btw.

Boardnashea

I have worn a steel flat trying to start a fire. Finally got it going with frayed sisal as tinder.

my3cents

Boardnashea wrote: »

I have worn a steel flat trying to start a fire. Finally got it going with frayed sisal as tinder.

In the summer I find that I can easily start a fire with dry dead grass, this time of year not a chance.

My fire lighting kits always include a ziplock baggy with cotton pads rubbed in vasaline. If you can't start a fire with those its time to either give up and go home or be cold and wet.

I have fire starter packs (kept in BOBs, day bag, car boot etc) made up of ...

Lighter
Matches (Swan Vesta)
Tinder cotton pads + Vaseline (also handy for packing around optics like binoculars)
Firesteel

All kept inside multiple ziplock plastic bags to keep them dry.

Every stove (both gas and petrol) has a firesteel popped in with it so no chance I'd be too far away from making a fire provided I can find some dry kindling.

Jaden

I use "Survival sweets". Small cubes (1cm cubed maybe) of Firelighter, wrapped in Clingfilm. Waterproof, long lasting, and really good for getting a flame to take. Vaseline and cotton wool always in my First Aid Kit.

Stovepipe

One of the American preppers who posts on Youtube always advocates have a small piece of bicycle inner tube, because it will always light, regardless.

my3cents

Stovepipe wrote: »

One of the American preppers who posts on Youtube always advocates have a small piece of bicycle inner tube, because it will always light, regardless.

Yeah, but it stinks.

Stovepipe

I know but if it got you started, it'd be worth it.

Tabnabs

Last week I was in the woods trying out my new firebox-type stove and although plenty of kindling and a decent amount of tinder, it struggled to take. I chucked everything at it from my little tinder box and found the dryer lint to provide a good hot flame and used the knife to pare a candle and sprinkled wax shavings over the flames, to very good effect.

I have used the Vaseline impregnated coton pads before too, but wanted to try something new this time. Still working on fatwood shavings and birch bark tinder to get a more natural tinder fire going.

You will learn lots of new tricks from youtube and it's a fantastic source of free information, but useless without trying it out in the field.

My top tip is to join the excellent Irish run FB page and group Living to Learn. No connection, other than a fan of their work and the spirit of the group.

Stovepipe

Had a look this evening. very good.

Benny Biscotti

Living to learn is the only reason I have not deleted my Facebook account.

Ubbquittious

I noticed this when watching videos about fixing cars.

Youtube: Remove old part just like that with your fingers and attach a new one from the box

Real life: Find out your car has a slightly different version of that part, soak in WD40 for a few hours, eventually remove the old one with the help of an angle grinder and oxy acetylene torch, realise yer man at the shop gave you the wrong replacement, spend hours online trying to find the exact version you need and wait weeks for it to arrive while you have an unusable car sitting in the shed

my3cents

Ubbquittious wrote: »

I noticed this when watching videos about fixing cars.

Youtube: Remove old part just like that with your fingers and attach a new one from the box

Real life: Find out your car has a slightly different version of that part, soak in WD40 for a few hours, eventually remove the old one with the help of an angle grinder and oxy acetylene torch, realise yer man at the shop gave you the wrong replacement, spend hours online trying to find the exact version you need and wait weeks for it to arrive while you have an unusable car sitting in the shed

Its just the same when you read the Haynes manual.

Stovepipe

yep...just had the joy of changing a Picasso oil filter.....

ILoveYourVibes

Feisar wrote: »

OK, this might be an obvious one, well actually it most definately is obvious! Watching vids does not equal skills.
Case in point, feathersticking for firestarting with a firesteel. I got together a considerable pile of feathersticks yesterday and couldn't get them to light with just the firesteel.

I love your post. I know nothing about .....what ever survivalism is. But for ANY any topic ..it shouldn't have to be said.


It does though sadly.

The Enbalmer

Always carry a lighter..Refillable butane (bic is best)they will save you hours trying to light a fire with flints and stuff.

A friend of mine was a fighter during the Kosovan war he said that butane lighters were like gold dust..the simplest and most convenient way to light a fire. You can get thousands of lights from one lighter and a gas can to refill cost less than 2 euro.

Forget stories about lighters degrading etc that only occurs after exposure to sea water or extreme humidity for an extended time. The spark mechanism may fail but the lighter itself can still be used.