chemicals Used

Percussion

Solar

Compression

Chemical

Electrical

Friction

Recently Ive been fooling around with Percussion and Solar fire starting. I didn’t have much luck with compression. Electrical Ive done before. I hadn’t had much experience with Chemical. I had been shown how to do this but wanted to try for myself. I would also be using much smaller quantities than they use on YouTube. Due to 1) I’m not starting a fire, 2) Large amounts are for show, on film and 3) Conserving the Potassium for carrying in my first aid supplies.

Three ways of igniting fire with Potassium Permangate. Mixing it with 1) Glycerine, 2) Brake Fluid and 3) Sugar, which is friction based and also the highest probability of usage since we all carry sugar in our bushcraft gear brew kits. I rarely carry Glycerol, but brake fluid may be an option if stuck in the bush with a vehicle.

I also don’t believe you require very much of either chemicals if applying them inside a tinder bundle and I could only find one clip of anyone doing this from ten years ago, most of them use large amounts of the chemicals for effect but don’t actually light a fire, only the chemical reaction. Very few of them were bushcrafters using this method in context.

I did have several links to YouTube clips showing the different methods, however after two hours of writing nothing saved and I decided because of the Dumbarse Factor, not to show how to do it from this website. There are plenty of clips on YouTube.

Ill be using very small amounts of glycerol and potassium Permangnate within tinder. The chemical reaction took maybe 45 seconds to 90 seconds to start and smoke before full ignition. Once again I’m not trying to make large ignitions but small controlled chemical reactions to light tinder.

Potassium Permanganate Usage Warnings

Everything in life comes with a warning label

Potassium Permanganate is an aggressive oxidizer. It must be kept in a safe, non-reactive container.

Potassium Permanganate solutions mixed too strong can cause caustic burns!

Potasium Permanganate mixed in large quantities can be explosive!

Potassium Permanganate will colour just about anything it comes in contact with purple!

ALWAYS USE GLOVES AND EYE PROTECTION WHEN HANDLING

Potassium Permanganate can become toxic in high concentrations, just like anything. The lowest recorded instance of a personĀ  poisoned was 100mg per kilogram of body weight. ThatĀ  said, the LD50 scale for Potassium Permanganate is 1900mg per kilogram of body weight.

less than a pinch used
placed within tinder
reaction starts
90 seconds before full combustion