I like the fact you didn't edit out the fire starting. It shows that trying a new fire starting method under less than ideal conditions is a lot harder than a lot of people think. Over editing and lots of preparation and practice before hand by some RU-vidrs gives people an unrealistic perspective on how hard it is to start a fire sometimes. Excellent vid Funky.
Hi Funky I watched with interest the struggles you had with the fire lighting, may I suggest that next time you make your birds nest bigger and pack it a little tighter, and once the amber is placed into the birds nest not to blow too hard, you had a good start and blew the fire out a few times, and secondly if you did it while standing you tend not to get as dizzy, lastly bush-craft is a matter of knowledge tempered with trial and error in selecting your camp the old adage of location, location, location is true, as the adage of practice, practice and more practice makes perfect in bush-craft skills development.
thanks ken - your in the woods in spirit mate. nice tip with the mre too - will try that one. interesting tube idea too, your the man buddy thanks for taking time out your day to check in bro cheers
i did scrape the fungus first 32:56 i tried striking from various distances - i think it was picked off a tree 2 weeks ago and not propper dry yet - also it was really damp. more practice needed i think cheers mate
cotton nickwax from wilderness leisure - 1 to 6 parts water, in a bucket and sponge it on when its set up - dry in 1 hour and very waterproof now :) cheers
it still amazes me why these skills are not taught at school as part of the curriculum thanks for video brings back memories from army BG before goretex lol
never considered the mist thing - didnt see any sort of mist unless its invisible moisture in the air or something. i have heard of the fanning thing but i wanted to try all natural skills without help - it was real nice to meet tom cheers bear
I learn something new every time I watch one of your videos. Your a great inspiration and I really enjoy my time watching. I need to get out their, I've got most of my kit now been getting equipment for the last six months.
I don't know if anybody has mentioned this yet but, when you u strike your sparks keep the knife as still as possible and pull the flint backwards, you can aim the sparks a lot better and you wont keep knocking the target off
Hey Funky! Great vid mate well done! With the canvas give it a good soaking at home with the hose and let it to dry in the sun, when it dries it tightens up the material and seams, making it more water tight. I always sleep in canvas swags and they rarely leak. Just resoak when it starts to leak again!
Enjoyed the vid guys. Holding the tinder bundle in your hand and having a holes through for the air to travel allows you to just move it back and forth with your arm rather lung power, I was shown this after blowing for an hour nd nearly passing out. Also stripping the bark from the first sticks removes most of the moisture. I dig your tent, tons of room
Got a suggestion for you guys - when you've collected your firewood before you set the fire make sure to strip as much of the bark off the firewood. It's the bark that holds the most moisture so removing it should ensure your fire doesn't go out - no matter how wet the firewood has gotten. Or you can just strip the first few branches until your fire is going well, then it should be able to cope with damp wood all by itself.
Love your work, I seen several of your videos under my real name and you were the one who inspired me to prep. I was searching Survival as that has always been and interest of mine and had been prepping without even realizing it for many years. I saw you vid getting ready for the Doco, then I watched the doco. So thank you for the inspiration. Australia represent :) :)
Another top video Funky! I too have struggled many times with firelighting. I now carry non applicator tampons! Sounds daft but they're small, sealed in plastic so they stay dry. Peel 'em open & you have loads of cotton wool. One spark & away you go! Keep up the good work mate.
Hi Funky,just a little tip that I only found myself by accident it yesterday, I scraped a small piece of flint down a ferro rod and got a massive shower of sparks. With a small piece of flint I was able to concentrate the sparks much easier than I ever did with a blade. Hope this helps.
And I am for sure learning things from what you are sharing. If all goes well over the coming fall and winter, I will hopefully have some gear put together and then put it to the test in our back yard first and then go for something a little more at a later date.
Awesome video guys, watched the whole thing, could not believe you stuck with the old method of fire starting!!! Glad you did'nt give up on that fire!!! Great recipe for the sausage wrapped with bacon. GL on yer next vid!!!
Dogs barking in the background, sounded like a scene from out of 'Deliverance'..! LMAO...! 10/10 for perseverance. "There's only one thing failure cannot live with, and that's persistence"..!
At least it burns! Thanks for letting us learn. A famous German bushcrafter wasn´t able to set up a fire under wet conditions in Sweden. You`ve got it! I was missing the song: I´m a firestarter! :-)
Once again I enjoyed the trial and error approach. Not as easy to get a fire started at times! My buddy and I like to bring a tarp for weather conditions like you had, it gives you some communal space to chill in, if the rain does come in. If put up properly you can get a fire started on the outer edge as well. Cheers!
I liked your gas burner. Quickly. But I use an alcohol burner. In a sealed tent during heavy rain can heat water and heat the air in the tent. And do not be afraid to get poisoning from the burned gas.
Love Cuban cigars . Even as a female my friends and I smoke them after a day of deep sea fishing . We go out about 30 miles toward Newfoundland Canada 🇨🇦. Yea they are nice .
Great video. I subscribed because I'm impressed with how you showed all of your effort in getting the fire going. Well done. I know how hard it can be doing this in wet weather, even with matches or a lighter, yet alone a ferro rod. Stay cool mate.
Fantastic video Darren! Always makes me feel like I'm right there in the woods with ya. A quick tip for the MREs. It's alot easier to cut them lenghtwise vice using the tear tabs. You can access the food better and you don't get it all over your hands. Also you can take an old telescoping radio antenna and add a bit of tubing like from a fish tank and add it to the end. What it does is to better direct the air into the fire bundle by extending it and blowing thru the tubing. Cheers buddy!!
mate - thats a fine comment right there - i just want to do my best :) i glad you watch all my vids patrick - when i see the weather forecast and they mention the north east of jockland - i always think of you lol thanks for your kind words my mate take care up there darren
37:00 thinking if you put your fist on the wood, and pull the firesteel towards you, you'll be able to focus the sparks on the Chaga. Make sure you have a lot of small dry fluffy stuff on the birds nest. Once it's smoking, take it to the birds nest and wave it left to right a couple of times, and let it breath - don't blow it out... Have feather sticks ready, a bunch of them... and the rest you know. Actually, rather good vid. Like to go out and test myself in less then favorable situ's too, how one learns the do's and don'ts. MOAR !!!!
love how humble you were in this era 👍 also think you look better with no goatie, fantastic vidyas tho man, had to go back and rewatch them all agen! 😉👊👊👊
Thanks Funky, for not editing the fire lightings pain, its a real pain in the craft sometimes!, we've all been there! My tuppeny tips would be, make sure the Chaga is really dry ( in reality you would dry your next Chaga with the heat of this fire), put a handle on your firesteel and put the end right on the chaga, either pull back with fixed blade or vice versa, each time you draw, rotate the steel slightly to find the new edge, give the nest more time to breath otherwise ok, lastly, the step between nest fire and actual fire failed because the fuel was far too thick to catch and a nest only gives you a few seconds, what works is an armful of fine brush, like birch fine twigs or the dead stuff under a gorse bush, aiming for a knee high flame which your pencil sticks would then catch on. The moisture content of found fuel can be really high like 20 to 30%, so big heat is needed to drive it off. Spark, ember, nest, brush, pencils, (then main fuel). It's all in the set up. Cheers for the vid big man, keep them coming.
You are the master! You are the only one that set up the tent the right way. If you have good tention allover the tent by using the guylines, like you have, this tent is really waterproof. You can add some detergent to improve the water repellency to make it pearl off easier. I spend some time in these tents while in the Royal Netherlands Army and it allways kept me dry! Too bad it`s too heavy for carrying around a lot. Nice video! Cheers from The Netherlands!
The music on this one really made me smile. The Hallelujah Chorus from Handel, I was laughing. And that lovely Peter Green tune Albatross... Good job on persevering, it was great wet/damp weather practice, which will happen now and then in the Uk :-). And, Good Call with the crampball, and passing the ember. Very impressed, what an education I got tonight. You guys must have been dizzy from all that work on the crampball. Congratulations!
Great trip! What a gent to spend some dirt time with is Tom! Here's an idea for ya, what about taking an animaltendencies sleet sheet, attach the apex of that to the apex of your tent )it will be underneath the flap for added weather protection!) clip the corner of the sleet sheet to the bottom corner of your dutch tent, peg out the other side and youve made yourself an additional functional porch! gotta be worth the weight of the sleet sheet!
Looks like you both had a very good time , carnt wait to get out there my self mate , your an inspiration man love all your vids keep them coming funky!! Peace
Nice one funkyprepper loved that , a have just orded a 2 man dutch tent from wilderness and leisure coming next week for me and my daughter who is 5 in July and she is itching too get away now after watching your vid , me too actually thanks again a have subscribed and away too watch a few more . Stay safe . Liam
With the ferro rod, if your knife has a 90 degree spine on it you will throw a shower of sparks. As neil castell stated previously a carbon steel blade is also better. One last thing I noticed is keep your knife hand stationary or supported and draw the ferro rod towards you. Hope this bit of info helped you buddy.
hey Funky, just a little thing i found when trying to start primitive fires, you don't need a lot of kindling, it just gives more for the embers to burn and can suffocate the would be flames, just a little thing i found along the way i though i would share, might be worth trying. any way great vid keep it up and keep on preppin'
Great video Funky ! Did you know Pine Sap makes a great accelerant, especially in less than favorable conditions & you can find it on most any pine tree. Save the Chaga for tea ! it high in antioxidants. Thank You for sharing with us. ATB
lol -im all puffed out determined not to let it beat me - reminded me of dave granger lol there are temporary kennels not far away - its a bloody nightmare lol
cool camp set up i like the canvas tents i want to build a hammack one that can be used on the ground or up in the air so it can have two perpose. great video.
I love these Overnighters, lets you know which Gear works how and what doesn't work. Not like some other boring Gear Reviewers talking smack at the Kitchen Table. Thanks for the cracking Video, keep them coming!
The best thing you could have done is drop the coal into the grass and had the birch bark around that on the outside. When the bundle did catch fire the first time it was the grass that was burning. I think your birch bark might also be too old and dry to light as easily as it should have.Just my two cents worth. Great vid as always!
Thanks for the shout on the candle mate! Lovely cigar those Partagas! lol! Too true a word dude, dirt time is when you find out whether your doing things right or you need to make your adjustments! Love the look of those dutch tents mate, gotta get me one of those at some point!. With the fero rod mate, if you stick your bandana or a glove on the log and hold your hand with the knife steady right over the chaga/King Alfreds cake you'll get more concentration of sparks on it. All the best!
Another award winning video. Must say, if you are thinking of Nikwaxing your tent make sure you clean the tent extreamly well with their tent cleaner. We had a horrific experience with their proofing spray that made the tent leak even more than it was in the first place! If you want to know more please message me and I will explain in detail how you need to do this. Anyway, have fun and keep the vids coming. Regards, Steve (UK).
when I was in the army I used to cut the MRE the long way, that way you dont have to dip your spoon so deep in the package and get food on your hands or high up on the spoon. Just a little tip for you.
About that Carinthia sleeping bag, you should compare it if it's the same model that the norwegian army replaced due do defects. Moist air is not finding any escape, so you can end up soaked and shivering in it.
