Pathfinder I
Fire starting
- Thread starter Horse Soldier
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I know it works, but I usually just pitch mine in the burning barrel. I've started using cotton balls coated in petroleum jelly.
Member III
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I keep a squeeze bottle of Sterno fire starter jell around for when things are wet. It works great and burns long enough to dry out your kindling. Available at your local Walmart.
They taught us this in SERE school. Great for starting a fire, always stays dry, takes up no space, and you can use the jelly for all sorts of things if needed!
Member III
I tested this out recently. I lit a single plain cotton ball and it created a flame (fairly small) for between 10-15 seconds. I then lit a single cotton ball coated in petroleum jelly and it burnt with a big flame for like 2 minutes. So I took some empty toilet paper tubes and pinched off one side and sealed it with some candle wax. Then I stuffed as many petroleum coated cotton balls into the tube as tight as I could and just to top it off I rubbed some jelly on the outside and then I wrapped them in several layers of wax paper. The paper kept them from making a mess out of everything else. I lit one of those things and it was a solid burning fireball for like an hour - I didn't actually time that one, but it was pretty impressive.
Advocate III
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I've finally quit saving dryer lint, as the percentage of synthetic fibers in clothing--and then dryer lint--is often far greater these days and isn't as great a fire starter as the higher cotton percentage used to be. Not sure I like the idea of burning synthetics, either.
Cotton balls w/petroleum jelly, as mentioned, works great as a starter, though you have to keep making them, which usually is not a big deal; I just don't always remember to, so prefer to go with natural methods on-site when I can, and have more fund with them, too.
What I use most in a basecamp is newspaper or brown packing paper from deliveries, twisted and tied in a knot on site, with long shavings of kindling or feathersticks I've made at the time of fire making. Sometimes that I've made ahead and stored if I know it's going to be damp out.
Also very handy, that I don't see mentioned much in fire-starting threads is the paper towel you used to wipe bacon or hamburger grease. I've even kept them in a zip-lock for a few days and used them later for helping to start a fire. Don't throw them in the firepit unless intending to use them soon and before leaving camp, as bacon grease can attract animals from a long way away.
For general fire-starting in a more bushcraft style:
Very handy for helping to start a fire is magnesium. I have several packets of this I keep in mini zip-locked bags (came that way) in various daypacks and go bags for canoeing, biking, and around camp. A little harder to get going sometimes with just a spark, but lights up marvelously with a match, lighter, or and steady flame. Like with the synthetics, I'd let it burn completely--it burns in a flash--before cooking on it.
I LOVE my Mora Bushcraft Knife, too, with it's built-in ferro rod, which can be struck with the spine of the knife to produce 3,000 degree sparks into whatever tinder you're using. Great for the jute and cedar mentioned below.
Other natural tinder I keep and use regularly is jute and cedar bark strips.
- Jute I get from any short piece of real jute rope or twine, like household packing twine. Pull it all apart and it makes a very nice fluffy, quick-to-light, tinder that will start with just a spark.
- The cedar strips I peel from the inside of dry bark. It is very light, very fluffy, can be formed into a nest for putting small shavings/kindling into, lights quite easily and keeps a flame long enough to lay small kindling on it to build a fire. I've had success lighting it even when damp.
I bought a mess of small, extra-thick, puncture-resistant zip-locks that I can use and re-use over and over for packing full of natural tinders like the above. Find a good source of cedar bark, make up a pile of tinder from it, and bag up a bunch and you'll have great tinder for a long time.
If packing natural wood tinders at home for use in future camps, you can bake it for a bit to both help dry it and kill any potentially invasive bacteria/insect larvae so you don't transport it to a new area.
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Trail Blazer III
As stated above, dryer lint isn’t a viable option anymore due to synthetics. Here is a “how to” for my favorite fire starter. This is much easier to work with compared to cotton balls and petroleum jelly.
www.overlandbound.com
OB Approved - How to make a great fire starter
While there are a lot of fire starters out there on the commercial market few of them are actually good and most are quite expensive considering the use. A lot of these companies unfortunately put out a bad product knowing that most people will put it in their kit and never test it. Now let...
Love lint. My wife & daughter laugh whenever I clean the lint screen on the dryer. Works great & it’s free :)
Pathfinder I
Cedar. where I live I have access to it all over the forest. Dry Old mans beard works great too. For the prepare at home cotton balls and petroleum jelly. If I am desperate I look under my 9 yo son's seat for a few corn chips. they work in a pinch if they are dry. for anytime other then summer the dry is hard to come by here.
Influencer I
Nope, you're not the only one! While fun, especially when the kids just want to see tinder catch flame, I find it burns way too fast to light kindling most of the time.
This thread has a lot of good suggestions for alternatives. The effectiveness of some of it obviously depends on how you are igniting it. A lighter should work on almost anything, while a ferro rod might not be hot enough or throw enough sparks for some types.
Experimenting with fire-starting can be a lot of fun and is an essential skill for outdoorspeople. I highly recommend playing in the backyard (with a fireplace of some kind and water or some type of extinguisher near, of course) with different fire-starters and kindling, both synthetic and natural. It will help your technique and teach you properties of good kindling, tinder, and wood.
Have fun and be safe!
