You’ve probably noticed that I’ll often send the guys off on the morning of their solo day with some kind of fire carry method.  The ability to carry fire is an important survival skill for a variety of reasons.

First, if you can carry fire, you don’t have to recreate your fire start all over again.  It typically takes less energy and calories to carry fire than to start all over from scratch.  Survival is all about conserving calories.

Second, it’s not hard to imagine that you’ve used the last of your fire starting materials.  Maybe you only had 1 match?  Maybe you’re all out of char cloth?  The ability to travel with fire once you’ve created it could truly be a life-saving skill if you have no other means of making fire.

Thirdly, rarely is a survival signal fire built right at a base camp location.  Oftentimes, survival camps are built under the cover of tree canopies and near building materials.  Signal fires are built in opposite type places – out in the open where they can be seen by rescue planes, ships, vehicles or crews.  The ability to carry fire from survival base camp to a signal fire location could be the difference between being rescued or passed over.  When every second counts, you may not have TIME to start a fire from scratch at a signal fire location.

BECOME A FIRE WALKER:  The Apache Match

One of the easiest and most popular fire carry methods I know of is often called an Apache Match.  Primitive peoples both in this country and others have used similar methods to carry fire from camp to camp and even on long hunting/scouting trips.  This method of carry can last anywhere from several hours to several days.  I’ve heard rumors of Apache matches lasting for weeks but I would imagine that this is in fact a series of Apache Matches rather than just one.

The basic principle is to contain a burning coal inside of a tinder bundle.  By limiting the supply of oxygen and keeping the coal in a near-smothered state, it allows the coal and surrounding tinder to smolder for several hours.  I’ve had many Apache Matches last for 3-4 hours with little effort and maintenance.

Below are the steps to creating an Apache Match that is approximately 12 inches in length by 4 inches in diameter.  One this size can be expected to last anywhere from 2-3 hours depending on a variety of conditions – mostly how much oxygen the coal gets.

STEP 1:  The Coal and The Bundle

I typically use a bright red coal from the fire bed.  This is represented by a red 5-hour energy bottle cap in the following photos 🙂  The coal can be anywhere from 1″ to 2″ in diameter.  It can also be a collection of small coals.  This coal is embedded in between 2 big handfuls of tinder material.  ‘Tinder Material’ is the same as a tinder bundle.  In this case I’m using shredded cedar bark.  Grasses, cattail down, dried seed heads, dry inner bark and plant fibers would also suffice.  Even shredded newspaper would work in an urban scenario.

STEP 2: A Bun in the Oven

This photo shows the coal getting ready to be covered by 2 big handfuls of tinder material.

STEP 3: A Coal Sandwich

You can’t see it in this photo but the red ‘coal’ in officially embedded inside of the tinder material.

Step 4: The Outer Layer

Next, you need to add an exterior layer to the bundle.  This not only helps keep everything together but it also helps protect your hands.  These things can get a little hot when traveling.  The outer layer shown here is also cedar bark.  I left it in big strips versus ‘fuzzing’ it down to tinder material like on the inside.  You use any kind of bark really.  It can be dry or green, it doesn’t really matter.  I’ve even used cardboard before.  Don’t get too particular.

Step 5: Wrap the Bundle

Lastly, you want to loosely wrap the bundle in order to keep everything together.  This one is wrapped with willow bark but you can use anything – paracord, a hoodie drawstring, a shoestring, dental floss, plant fibers, yucca leaves, etc.  Don’t make the mistake of wrapping it too tight.  There is a delicate balance between too loose and too tight and only experience can tell the difference.  Too tight and you’ll smother the coal.  Too loose and the coal will spread through your tinder too fast.

Step 6: From Match to Flame

An Apache Match will require some maintenance and attention while traveling.  You may have to blow on it a little bit to make sure you’ve still got some heat.  You may have to tighten your lashings or even loosen them.  It’s important to check on it every few minutes.

Once you’ve reached your destination, making fire is as simple as unwrapping your Apache Match and blowing the tinder bundle into flame.  If you’ve done everything right, flame should be just a few breaths away.

CONCLUSION

I really believe the ability to carry fire is a necessary survival skill.  Would you like to see more posts dedicated to survival fire carry methods?  I’ve definitely got some tricks up my sleeve for carrying fire in Season 2!

Remember, it’s not IF but WHEN,

In many of the episodes of FAT GUYS IN THE WOODS, I instructed the guys how to ‘carry fire’ from base camp to their individual solo base camps.  Oftentimes, this was quite a trek through the woods and the fire carry needed to last up to a couple hours.  In the pioneer settlement themed episode with Dave, Andrew and Bill, we made fire on Day 1 using a YUCCA HAND DRILL.  When it came time to send them each out on their own, it was raining.  Making fire with a HAND DRILL would have been impossible under those conditions.  So, I decided to send them each with a couple of PINE FATWOOD TORCHES.  I didn’t get a chance on the show to really explain where I got these and how to find them so I thought I highlight that skill in this blog series.

THE TORCH

The ability to source a torch that will burn upwards of an hour is a very important survival skill.  Not only can you use a torch to carry fire from one location to another but it has all kinds of survival uses.  It can allow you explore dark caves, hunt at night (frog gigging especially), travel at night, signal for rescue, and keep predators at bay.  It is an incredibly useful survival tool.

FATWOOD

‘Fatwood’ is a term for wood (typically in the pine family) that has become saturated with sap, also called resin.  Fatwood is sold in stores and online as fire tinder and is an amazing fire starting material.  Pine sap is extremely flammable and wood that becomes saturated with it will burn for a very long time.  Fatwood makes an excellent torch!  Fatwood can be shaved into thin shavings and ignited with just the spark from a ferro rod.  Pine sap (dry or oozy) can be added to fire starting tinder as a flame extender and is a great substitute for PETROLEUM jelly when making PET balls (cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly).  Below is a photo of pine resin oozing from insect drill holes in the side of this pine tree.

FINDING FATWOOD

If you can find pine trees then you can find FATWOOD.  I find that many people are confused about how to actually find fatwood.  If you are, I hope to clear that up.  The easiest way to find FATWOOD is at the base of dead, low hanging branches on pine trees.

Pine resin (sap)  tends to collect at these joints and will saturate the bottom few inches of the branch where it connects to the tree.  It will remain there long after the tree has died.  In fact, for this post, I am using the dead pine tree shown below which has been dead for over 10 years.  Notice the dead branches along the trunk.  This is where I will be looking for FATWOOD.  Even though much of the tree and the branches are dead and rotting, there is still fatwood at the base of many of these branches.

Here’s a closer look at a couple of the branches.

As I begin to hack into the base of one of the branches with my ax, you’ll notice that the wood inside has a rich amber color.  It’s also very dense.  This is fatwood and it is completely saturated with 10+ year old pine resin.

In the photo below you can clearly see the difference between the resin rich fatwood in the branch (left) as compared to wood that came from the trunk.

As soon as you cut into fatwood you can SMELL the rich pine scent and it is sticky to the touch almost immediately.

MAKING THE TORCH

You can even see the pine resin glistening in the sun on the branch I collected below.  Once you’ve chopped a resin rich lower hanging branch from a pine tree, you have to prepare it for lighting.

It’s important to split the resin rich end to expose more fatwood surface area and allow oxygen to freely flow between the split.  This helps the torch to light and burn longer and more efficiently.

Once you split the end a few ways, press in some green spreader sticks to keep the splits forced open.

CONCLUSION

Depending on the size, a fatwood torch will burn for quite some time.  I’ve found there is a ratio to estimate how long one burns.  If the stick is 2″ in diameter, it will burn about  1 hour.  If it’s 1″ in diameter it will burn about 30 mins.  3″ = 1.5 hours.  Basically, divide the diameter in half and that’s how many HOURS it will burn.

FATWOOD is an amazing survival resource and is an unrivaled material in the natural world.  I hope this tutorial helps you be able to identify, harvest and use a fatwood torch!

Have you ever used FATWOOD to start a fire?  If so, tell us about your experience in the comments below!

Remember, it’s not IF but WHEN,