Tips on How to Start a Fire After it Rains
Wet wood and fire don’t mix well together, and you can end up going through a lot of fire-starting material to get one started after a good, soaking rain. However, there is a simple technique that can help you to use less material while getting a good fire going in a short amount of time. All you need are some basic items that should be in your survival kit or bug out bag anyway, along with a couple of branches and some thick log segments. Look at the steps below, and see how this technique may prove to be invaluable in the field if you need to start a fire in wet conditions.
Getting Started
The first step is to choose wood that will be appropriate for this project. While it may be difficult to find completely-dry branches and logs, the aim is to find items that are not soaked all the way through. A nice firewood-sized log is an excellent option to consider as the center will probably be dry even if the edges are sopping wet. Take the log, stand it up and secure it in place so it doesn’t tip over as you’re building the fire.
The next step is to choose the best branches to use for tinder. The easiest way to test if a branch is completely-soaked is to bend it. If it bends and doesn’t break, or is very pliable, then it’s too wet to use. However, just as the logs, the center of thicker branches will probably be dry, and you will be able to tell as they will snap after some bending. Use these branches. Break them up into smaller pieces or start hacking them away down their centerline to expose fragments of the drier wood inside.
Next, you want to start hacking away at the mid-section of the log to break up the wood and create a cavity that you can use to build the fire. You can use your survival knife, hatchet or saw, but the aim is to cause the wood in the center to splinter and fan out in order to create a series of thinner fragments that will be easier to light later. The more you can break up the center of the log, the better.
Putting Everything Together
Next, you want to take your fire-starting material from your survival kit and place it between the cracks and crevices in the center of the log. You also want to sprinkle the core with some of the tinder that you made from the branches. Start the fire, and gently blow in order to nurse it into a nice, smoldering burn. Before you know it, the flame will start to draw out moisture from the larger fragments embedded in the log and ignite these pieces as well.
All you need to do now is trim and separate wood from branches in order to use the drier pieces as a way to add fuel to the fire once you transplant what’s burning inside of the log. You also want to cut some more logs that are relatively-dry and hack away at the outer edges that are wet. While this involves a lot of cutting and effort, the effort will pay off as you will have a nice starter-fire going that can be used to build a bigger one. At the end of the day, this method allows you to use as little fire-starting material as possible, and this can help you to hold on to what little supplies you have remaining.
Consider this method as a basic guide, and feel free to improvise in order to find the best and most efficient way to start a fire that works for you. Once you get the hang of it, you will be surprised at how easy it can be to get a fire going even when the weather isn’t cooperating.
