Learning From Failure Part One

In my life I have learned more from my smallest failures than my greatest successes.  Over the winter I tried a few things Bushcrafting that failed and I wanted to share them.

I took my girlfriend's son out and I was excited to show him how to start a fire with potassium permanganate (KMnO₄) and glycerin.  I thought it would be neat to show him, although I never really held them in high regard as a fire starting tool, being binary, and a one of the components is a liquid that adds weight to a pack.  Potassium Permanganate is not without its virtues.

Pros:  It can start fires, it can make an antiseptic, it can purify water, and it can dye snow to leave help and other messages in the snow.
Cons:  The efficacy of potassium permanganate is questionable when exposed to air or gets old.  If you are relying on potassium permanganate  keep it in an air tight container and know if you open it its potency could degrade over time.  

Why do I bring this up you may ask?  Well I tried four times and potassium permanganate and glycerin did not even get warm.  This is not what you want to happen when you are trying to show a ten year old boy something cool.  At least writing violet letters in the snow banks near his house when we got home appealed to his inner vandal when we mixed potassium permanganate with water.  For me potassium permanganate and glycerine was an epic failure with a witness.

It was better to learn that potassium permanganate and glycerine is not always 100 percent and it is good to always have a back up fire making option (I did).  It is good to learn these lessons when out for the day having fun rather than when I really need a fire to stay warm.  Make redundancy the rule when making your bushcraft kit.  Learn from your failures and adapt. Until my next entry keep your knives sharp and your powder dry.