Not everyone has the time or inclination to practice their fire making skills. But it is possible that anyone might have to make a fire in less than ideal situations as was demonstrated by the unfortunate lady I talked about in the first fire log. So what would you put together in a kit to give someone with little or no experience the maximum ability to start a fire in bad conditions while still being small and compact?

I had my theories on this subject based on what I imagined would give a rookie the most difficulty and how to overcome that. But I wanted to see what a real rookie would do when confronted with making a fire in less than ideal conditions. So I recruited the “Bad Girl” (my nickname for my youngest sister) as my semi-willing victim and set out to find out what it was like for a real life rookie to start a fire.

Since I was trying to be mindful of her time and keep total time I was dragging her away from her books to be around an hour, I figured I would gather all the wood needed for her to start the fire. I was focused on finding out what tools and tinders would be the easiest for her to use and so I did not want to waste her good will by having her tramp around looking for wood. As it turns out, my focus was misplaced.

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