FeatherSticks · Fire

Your Fire Kit: Lighters, Matches & Backups for Bushcraft

One lighter is not a fire kit. Here is the three-source setup that never fails.

Quick facts

1 Choose a reliable primary lighter

A simple flint-wheel lighter is the easiest first choice. Make sure it is full and lights first time.
2 Add two different backups

Pack storm or waterproof matches and a ferro rod, so no single weakness such as cold, wet or empty gas leaves you without fire.
3 Pack tinder that catches easily

Add cotton pads with petroleum jelly, birch bark or fatwood. Prepared tinder turns a brief spark into a flame that lasts.
4 Waterproof everything

Seal matches in a screw-top case with a striker strip and keep tinder and spares in a zip bag or small dry bag.
5 Spread it: pocket, belt, pack

Lighter in an inside pocket, ferro rod on the belt or neck cord, the kit tin in the pack. Losing one never means losing all.
6 Check and rotate before every trip

Test the lighter, look at the matches and striker, refill tinder and replace anything damp, worn or nearly empty.

Relying on a single lighter with no backup.
Keeping every fire tool in the same pack, so one lost pack means no fire.
Carrying a lighter in an outer pocket in winter, where the butane gets too cold to work.
Packing safety matches without a spare, dry striker strip.
Leaving the kit unchecked for months until the lighter is empty and the tinder is wet.
Never practising with the backups, so the ferro rod is useless when it is finally needed.
Assuming fire tools are allowed on every flight or that carrying a kit means fires are permitted.