Trail Blazer III
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 me frame up what my standard for a “great” fire starter. Fire is a core component of survival and you will need it when you are in some austere conditions. To be “great” in my book the fire starter needs to soak in water for at least five minutes and still ignite, few things pass this test.
This cotton disc and fero rod combo are my absolute go to for everyday use and survival. It works every single time.
Let me show you the result, then how to make them.
This first pic demonstrates the fire starter soaking in water, it sat here for a little over 10 minutes.
Simply break apart the fire starter to expose the cotton fiber and ignite with your favorite method. Here I use my trusty fero rod and knife which only took three strikes to light. This burned for over 15 minutes, I would say the average is around 10-12 minutes. As you can imagine if all you can find is wet tinder and kindling this gives it a chance to dry out and actually burn.
The volatiles in these as in just about every fire starter do have a shelf life so performance wanes in a few years of being in your kit.
So let me show you what you need:
1 lb of canning wax
1 tub of petroleum jelly
1 package of 100 cotton facial discs
Wax paper to cool the discs
A double boiler set up to melt the wax/petroleum jelly
Tongs to hold the discs in the melted solution
Cost of supplies: approximately $13 for 100 fire starters or 13 cents each.
Time to make: 40 minutes from start to finish including clean up.
Step 1: in a double boiler with the heat on medium melt the jelly and wax until it is a solution.
Step 2: using your tongs dip the cotton disc into the solution then hold over the double boiler to let excess solution drip off.
Step 3: set the cotton discs on the wax paper to cool, discs will harden when done.
Step 4: clean up and add these to your kit! It’s that easy!
You may be wondering what else passes my water soak test?
1. Cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly(great but are messy)
2. Fatwood
3. Fero rod
4. Magnesium bar(most on the market are garbage and I don’t recommend these)
5. UCO storm proof matches
6. Esbit cube
What fails every time:
1. Bic lighter
2. Blue tipped diamond matches
3. Matchbooks
4. Butane lighter
5. Coglans fire starter
6. Paper based fire starter
7. Cotton lamp wick
8. Jute rope
9. Dryer lint(most our clothes are synthetic now and just melt)
10. Duraflame firestarter
11. Quick wick
12. Potassium permanangate and sugar
13. Fire piston and char cloth
14. SOL tinder quick
15. Camco fire stick
What looks cool but doesn’t work well enough to trust:
Bow drill(humidity kills this)
Friction fire(humidity kills this)
Lens(need a 10x magnification to work)
I hope this helps you with what should be a core part of everyone’s bug out bag or survival kit. I believe everyone should carry three forms of fire starting material to be safe. Good luck out there!
Now let me frame up what my standard for a “great” fire starter. Fire is a core component of survival and you will need it when you are in some austere conditions. To be “great” in my book the fire starter needs to soak in water for at least five minutes and still ignite, few things pass this test.
This cotton disc and fero rod combo are my absolute go to for everyday use and survival. It works every single time.
Let me show you the result, then how to make them.
This first pic demonstrates the fire starter soaking in water, it sat here for a little over 10 minutes.
Simply break apart the fire starter to expose the cotton fiber and ignite with your favorite method. Here I use my trusty fero rod and knife which only took three strikes to light. This burned for over 15 minutes, I would say the average is around 10-12 minutes. As you can imagine if all you can find is wet tinder and kindling this gives it a chance to dry out and actually burn.
The volatiles in these as in just about every fire starter do have a shelf life so performance wanes in a few years of being in your kit.
So let me show you what you need:
1 lb of canning wax
1 tub of petroleum jelly
1 package of 100 cotton facial discs
Wax paper to cool the discs
A double boiler set up to melt the wax/petroleum jelly
Tongs to hold the discs in the melted solution
Cost of supplies: approximately $13 for 100 fire starters or 13 cents each.
Time to make: 40 minutes from start to finish including clean up.
Step 1: in a double boiler with the heat on medium melt the jelly and wax until it is a solution.
Step 2: using your tongs dip the cotton disc into the solution then hold over the double boiler to let excess solution drip off.
Step 3: set the cotton discs on the wax paper to cool, discs will harden when done.
Step 4: clean up and add these to your kit! It’s that easy!
You may be wondering what else passes my water soak test?
1. Cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly(great but are messy)
2. Fatwood
3. Fero rod
4. Magnesium bar(most on the market are garbage and I don’t recommend these)
5. UCO storm proof matches
6. Esbit cube
What fails every time:
1. Bic lighter
2. Blue tipped diamond matches
3. Matchbooks
4. Butane lighter
5. Coglans fire starter
6. Paper based fire starter
7. Cotton lamp wick
8. Jute rope
9. Dryer lint(most our clothes are synthetic now and just melt)
10. Duraflame firestarter
11. Quick wick
12. Potassium permanangate and sugar
13. Fire piston and char cloth
14. SOL tinder quick
15. Camco fire stick
What looks cool but doesn’t work well enough to trust:
Bow drill(humidity kills this)
Friction fire(humidity kills this)
Lens(need a 10x magnification to work)
I hope this helps you with what should be a core part of everyone’s bug out bag or survival kit. I believe everyone should carry three forms of fire starting material to be safe. Good luck out there!
