Fire Starter

[Clarktar]

So I pack around the cotton balls... but I was wondering what people were using to light them. Steel rod? Lighter? Matches?

 

[larryschwartz]

Any or all of the above will work.

 

[Ray]

I carry a mini fire stick and a bic. I prefer to use the stick for greased cotton balls.

 

[Sam Millard]

Storm proof matches and a bic...with a couple bars of trioxane.

 

[mtswampfox]

whatever happened to dryer lint and paraffin wax???

 

[Larry Bartlett]

hey guys, i tought Arctic Survival at the University of Alaska Fairbanks for 6 years, and students always walked away feeling confident in fire starting.

And I've relied on the following firs starting tools for numerous real-world survival moments, from accidental swims in arctic rivers, to raft disasters resulting in loss of survival gear, etc.

Try Steel Wool (size 0000) and anything that produces a spark. I've used headlamps, flashlights, strikers, 9-volt batteries, sat phone bats, cell phone bats...literally anything with electric terminals or a simple striker. That'll produce a flame that gives you the juice to get a fire started in ANY scenario.

So, I always go afield with 2 oz of steel wool (enough for 12 days of fires) and a striker, but I use my batteries from gadgets as back up ignition source. As tinder in the arctic or rain forests, I also take along a small ziploc bag filled with birch bark, which produces a flame even if soaking wet...the oils in birch bark are the oldest tinder source on earth.

Try it and you'll never rely on lighters or matches again, promise.

larry

 

[Browtine]

Ill carry a bic to light a cigar, but my fire steel lights everything else...trioxane for K stove, Butane stoves and cotton balls in my survival kit.

 

[Tag stew]

This year for fun we tried using purell hand sanitizer, and it worked great! I always have a small travel bottle in my pack anyways.

 

[Ridge Ghost]

Bic lighter, a few waterproof matches, and cottonballs rubbed in vasoline are what's in my fire starter kit. I like the ideas Larry brought up, though.

 

[SDHNTR]

Dryer lint with vaseline in a film capsule. Steel and flint.

 

[fair-chase]

Bic lighter (full size because the minis are impossible to use when your hands are cold) and a magnesium striker.