>>643093>>643096If we assume that a lighter is better than a firesteel, then why would I bother taking a firesteel?
I'm not going to use it to start fires if I have a lighter, so it's pushed off to backup lighting duty. But if firestarting redundancy is important, why would I use an inferior tool as backup? It would make far more sense to simply pack a mini bic lighter in a plastic bag with some tinder than a flint rod.
And why do I arbitrarily have to carry "as many kinds of fire starting as I can"? Why not as many as I NEED+1? I have one bic on my person and another in the canister that holds my camp stove. There, try not losing all your fucking shit all the time. If you're going to lose 2 or 3 methods of firestarting it's probably because your pack is gone down a river or ravine, in which case having 20 methods of fire starting in your pack doesn't mean shit.
Lighting a fire is pretty low in my list of priorities in a survival situation. I think you put too much value on it. Building shelter is far more important, and a good shelter isn't going to benefit from a fire very much at all, because it will be as enclosed as possible to trap warm air. A shelter built around fire for warmth will have you up and down all night feeding it (which is exhausting), or freezing to death in deep sleep if you don't wake up when it goes out.
