ED's down & dirty woodlore: the best firestarter in the world

Lighters were invented for a reason and helped accelerate us into modern living in the same way the cartridge rifle was a rapid vehicle of our evolution after the musket. If you could time-jump back to 1822 and ask a lone trapper in the Rockies if he’d prefer a ferro rod and a muzzle loading rifle, or a Winchester 92 with 1,000 rounds of ammo and 5 Bics, would there be a second’s hesitation? I doubt it. I have full confidence in the efficacy of ferrous rods and all their variants, but having spent much time in the backwoods on minimalist survival stints I can honestly say nothing beats a Bic lighter. Correction, nothing beats a 5-pack of Bic lighters. Weight for weight, there’s not much in it between that and a ferrous rod kit, so why not have actual flame versus a hot spark that’s unlikely to ignite on first strike anyway. A Bic lighter will generate roughly 3,000 short flames: take into account you’ll probably need a slightly longer flame duration, so with ignitable tinder used every time you’ll get 1,000 fires up and running with a single Bic. That’s 3 years living in the outback. Judging by the hit History Channel show “Alone”, I’d venture to guess few folks would last that long before going completely looney tunes in which case fire would have long been foregone in lieu of eating their own feces or wearing twigs for clothing. I’m certain there’s a more scientific argument for Bics than this here brief post, but in the spirit of “keeping it simple, stupid”,  for $6 or $7 you can buy a pack of 5 Bics for your bugout bag and call it a happy day. Wrap each one separately in a zip lock sandwich bag so if your pocket Bic get’s soaked you can always fish out a dry one from your pack and get a fire going. It may lack the romance and purism of generating a fire from sparks and cussing, but when you’re actually up against authentic survival, a Bic will feel like it’s heaven sent. ED

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