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Introduction
Psychology of survival
Survival planning and survival kits
Basic survival medicine
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Water procurement
Firecraft
Basic fire principles
Site selection and preparation
Fire material selection
How to build a fire
How to light a fire
Food procurement
Survival use of plants
Poisonous plants
Dangerous animals
Field-expedient weapons, tools, and equipment
Desert survival
Tropical survival
Cold weather survival
Sea survival
Expedient water crossings
Field-expedient direction finding
Signaling techniques
Survival movement in hostile areas
Camouflage
Contact with people
Survival in man-made hazards
  
Appendixes
Survival kits
Edible and medicinal plants
Poisonous plants
Dangerous insects and arachnids
Poisonous snakes and lizards
Dangerous fish and mollusks
Clouds: foretellers of weather
Contingency plan of action format
Home / Outdoor Survival

OUTDOORSURVIVAL

Firecraft: Fire Material Selection

You need three types of materials (Figure 7-4) to build a fire--tinder, kindling, and fuel.

Tinder is dry material that ignites with little heat--a spark starts a fire. The tinder must be absolutely dry to be sure just a spark will ignite it. If you only have a device that generates sparks, charred cloth will be almost essential. It holds a spark for long periods, allowing you to put tinder on the hot area to generate a small flame. You can make charred cloth by heating cotton cloth until it turns black, but does not burn. Once it is black, you must keep it in an airtight container to keep it dry. Prepare this cloth well in advance of any survival situation. Add it to your individual survival kit.

Kindling is readily combustible material that you add to the burning tinder. Again, this material should be absolutely dry to ensure rapid burning. Kindling increases the fire's temperature so that it will ignite less combustible material.

Fuel is less combustible material that burns slowly and steadily once ignited.


Firecraft
Basic fire principles | Site selection and preparation | Fire material selection | How to build a fire | How to light a fire

U.S. Army Survival Manual Buy The Book This Section Is Based On
The "Outdoor Survival" section of our site is based on the "U.S. Army Survival Manual", a public domain work published by the U.S. Department of Defense that is available for sale at Amazon.com.

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