What fire starter?

RallySquirrel

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Aug 29, 2015
Messages
180
Location
quincy, il
I was thinking about experimenting with some ideas for new homemade emergency fire starter. I have read that dryer lint and vasoline works well or maybe a variation of cotton balls and petroleum jelly. I also know they have those little starter sticks you can buy at walmart or wherever. Even saw where people dip cardboard in wax but I didn't quite fully grasp how that one would work? I would like these to double as both my camp fire starter and emergency starter for our pack in this year so light would be awesome.

What do you use rocksliders?
 
Joined
Apr 29, 2015
Messages
2,814
Location
Littleton, CO
I have read that dryer lint and vasoline works well

Drier lint is awesome IF AND ONLY IF you do a load of primarily cotton. Most of my clothes are synthetics and have found that the lint that comes from my drier is worthless.

As far as what I use, I keep a WetFire in my first aid kit for an emergency. They are awesome, work very well, individually packaged and are light however quite expensive. After hearing Aron talk about it on GB I picked up some Trioxane at the army surplus store for $1 a bar which is easily big enough for at least 3 fires. It works just as good as wetfire at more than half the price, although heavier. If you rally were careful though you could probably start 6 or more fires with a single bar.

Wetfire: 6g
Trioxane Bar: 30g
Small Trioxane Bar: 15g (harder to find)

Fuel, Compressed, Trioxane, Ration Heating
 

Gumbo

WKR
Joined
Apr 26, 2015
Messages
1,298
Location
Montana
Vaseline and cotton balls works great. Heat up the vaseline slowly on the stove until it liquifies and soak your cotton balls. Pull them out and let them cool them stuff them in a small wide-top plastic bottle.
 
Joined
Apr 5, 2015
Messages
5,824
Vaseline soaked cotton balls

I use these. Cheap and reliable. Lights with matches, sparker or a lighter very easy.

Trioxiane and hexamine both work but throw off some nasty fumes and are not specifically advertised for lighting when wet like wet fire. Both will crumble if crushed in storage. Doesn't hurt performance but not as easy to place on an uneven surface.

I know a couple of bushcraft survival types that are fans of ranger bands or slices of bike inner tube. They do double duty as retaining bands in kit and fire tinder.
 
Joined
Nov 13, 2014
Messages
2,398
Trioxane for emergency and Coleman Strike a fire for camp. I break those strike a fires into four pieces. The coleman ones are half the weight of trioxane.
 

AdamW

WKR
Joined
Oct 27, 2015
Messages
820
Vaseline and 100% cotton balls. You don't have to saturate them or go crazy, just dab the balls around in the vaseline and kind of "knead" it in to them a bit. The only down side to them is if they get hot and aren't in a sealed container you can lube up all your gear. :D Additinal tip - if you wrap a couple in foil and just tear the foil open on the top and use it as a base for the cotton ball, it helps increase the burn time even longer. These work better than a lot of commercial fire starters in my experience. Lots of friends and I have been using them for years. Make sure you test them beforehand just like any important gear. I've seen guys pull out a huge blob of vaseline with a cotton ball in it. You don't have to go overboard with the grease.

These paired with a small ferro rod and a bic lighter are a pretty bombproof fire system in my experience.
 

Cgeb

WKR
Joined
Jan 28, 2016
Messages
376
Ok, here is what I do. I made up mini fire starter kits. I made up Vaseline cotton balls and put them in with some wooden strike anywhere matches and a lighter. Then vacuum sealed them in the vac bags with my food vacuum sealer. So I probably made up a dozen, threw a couple in each of my backpacks and put a couple in the glove box of my cars/trucks.

I usually have a Ferro Rod (on a knife sheath) and a lighter with me in the woods. I'll use those when conditions are good. The vac sealed bags are for when conditions are wet and crappy.
 

5MilesBack

"DADDY"
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Messages
15,525
Location
Colorado Springs
When I used to rifle hunt, I'd carry a road flare in my pack to start a fire. For archery season I don't need a fire, but have trioxane in my pack just in case.
 
Joined
Dec 27, 2012
Messages
4,807
Location
Colorado
I carry Trioxane and a pill bottle with matches and a wet fire. Couple extra bic lighters. Being an archery guy, I rarely need a fire.
 

FreeRange

WKR
Joined
Aug 11, 2014
Messages
433
Location
N. ID
For the vaseline cotton balls, which work great, I store them individually in small sections of straws with the ends crimped over with a heated up set of needlenose pliers. I do the same with a few matches. Totally waterproof, small, light and packaged for individual use. I'm sure I learned this trick on here.
 

KMT

WKR
Joined
Aug 3, 2012
Messages
609
Vaseline and cotton balls. Two Bic lighters. Although I have never had one fail.
 
Joined
Apr 3, 2013
Messages
2,448
Location
Somewhere between here and there
I carry cotton balls also, but I carry a couple of wet weather fire starters also.

Take dryer lint and pack it into egg carton cups. I put a piece of cotton string in the cup for a wick, but you don't need to. Melt paraffin wax and fill the cup to the top of the lint. Cut the cups into individual pieces. These are a little heavier, but I've used these to get a fire going when dry tinder was pretty tough to come by. Burn time is about 10-15 minutes.
 

MattB

WKR
Joined
Sep 29, 2012
Messages
5,410
For the vaseline cotton balls, which work great, I store them individually in small sections of straws with the ends crimped over with a heated up set of needlenose pliers. I do the same with a few matches. Totally waterproof, small, light and packaged for individual use. I'm sure I learned this trick on here.

That is a great tip - which I likewise picked up here.
 

robtattoo

WKR
Joined
Mar 22, 2014
Messages
3,294
Location
Tullahoma, TN
I always carry 3 methods of starting a fire: Bic, ferro rod & primitive flint & steel (with char cloth). For fire lighters, a pill bottle full of Vaseline cotton balls is pretty much the gold standard.

It goes without saying, but I never keep all 3 lighters in the same place either. Bic in my pocket, ferro around my neck & flint in my day pack. I also have a couple of treated cotton balls in a tiny vacuum sealed pouch that's always in my pocket. You only need 1 cold, wet night in the middle of nowhere before you realise how important being able to quickly & reliably start a fire really is. I learnt the hard way, so I probably go a little overboard nowadays!

Also goes without saying, but practice lighting a fire in crappy conditions. Nobody needs one when it's 70°, dry & windless, so practice in a howling storm, at night while wearing light clothing (at home, obviously!) Get your hands cold & wet & see how effective your Bic is.....
 

yak

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 9, 2014
Messages
226
Location
Windsor, CO
A couple small bic lighters and some trioxaine or wetfire. This is all you should need for most western states. I have a few waterproof strike anywhere matches in my survival kit as well. Some bring a ferro rod as backup, but I choose to leave it behind. Hope this helps.
 
Top