best lightweight fire starter?

[Hunthigh1]

What do you consider the best light weight fire starter? It must be compact and lightweight. Something I can carry at all times.
It also must work very well in super wet conditions

I have a film canister filled with a few vaseline soaked cotton balls. Is there something better that i should consider instead?

 

[Akicita]

Fire Balls - slow burn Black Powder and Acetone base finger nail polish remover mixed into a putty and kneed into balls - burns at over 2000 degrees for several minutes

or

Heartwood feather boards if you don't want to carry fires starters or be reliant on fire starters

 

[ozyclint]

instead of a film canister stuff some vaseline cotton wool into a 2" long piece of drinking straw. heat the ends and pinch them to seal it water tight. get yourself a mini firesteel or a firesteel buckle and make a belt or incorporate the buckle into a piece of equipment you carry all the time. i used one on my bino harness and sewed a little sleeve on the strap to hold some fire straws. even if i drop my pack i have the means to light a fire.

 

[FreeRange]

instead of a film canister stuff some vaseline cotton wool into a 2" long piece of drinking straw. heat the ends and pinch them to seal it water tight. get yourself a mini firesteel or a firesteel buckle and make a belt or incorporate the buckle into a piece of equipment you carry all the time. i used one on my bino harness and sewed a little sleeve on the strap to hold some fire straws. even if i drop my pack i have the means to light a fire.

I did this for a number of years but now put the vaseline cotton balls in little pouches I make out of freezer paper (the paper that's designed to stick to itself when heated). This keeps the mess down like the straw trick but you also don't have to fuss with opening up the straw, you can just light the pouch itself with your lighter. I use the heat strip on my vac sealer to seal the pouches up.

 

[mfllood3800]

Trioxane
I carry a pack and get many fires out of this. I lit it with flint while it was sitting in a puddle- its on Amazon

 

[mtnrunner260]

Like flood said trioxane. You don't have to worry about making something or if it will make a mess in your pack.
If you have an army surplus store nearby you can find them there usually. They are super cheap and work great.
I carry one along with a mini bic in my pants pocket.

 

[bryan_arnett]

Trioxane. One pack with the wrapper weighs 1.1 oz.

 

[LBFowler]

I've used trioxane for a long time, and it plain works. Now I just carry cut up bands of bike innertube as it is smaller/lighter/less messy. I just keep several pieces wrapped around my EDC bic lighter and the spare Bics in my kit.

 

[beachbunny]

cotton makeup pads soaked in wax,then torn open and sparked.
or take a few inches of an old aluminum arrow,soak some jute twine again in hot wax,cool and run it through the arrow,light the end and stick in you kindling,when that is lit,pull the twine back out,out it out and use it again,I've got a couple of those stashed.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

Trioxane works very well.

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