Tinder for Survival Kit?

[DancesWithKnives]

We used to have a really great thread on this but it's been lost. For the benefit of newcomers, perhaps we can do another? I'll start with a short list of some traditional favorites:

(1) Fatwood;

(2) Birch bark;

(3) Cotton balls in vaseline;

(4) 0000 fine steel wool;

(5) Synthetic rubber strips;

(6) Dryer lint.

There were about 30 others in the old thread so feel free to add some unusual combustibles!

DWK

[DancesWithKnives]

One HA member used to carry a bunch of Fritos in a ziploc. He said that if you touch a match to a few, they burn hot and long enough to ignite kindling. And best yet, you can eat whatever you don't use for firestarter. Can't do that with the stuff listed above!:D

DWK

[DancesWithKnives]

Some guys like to pack a small caterer's candle---those little flat ones in the tin cups. When my late mother passed away she had a bag of about a hundred in her kitchen. So I'm pretty much set for life on those.

DWK

[Altjaeger]

If I was building a kit I would pay a buck for one of those wax and sawdust blocks that would easily cut into 6-8 small blocks.

[DancesWithKnives]

I used one of those (from Coughlin's) to start a fire while boning out my buck at dusk on top of a cold Montana mountain last year. It seemed to burn around 6-8 minutes, which was long enough to ignite the small twigs I had arranged over it. I was pleased with the performance.

Thanks for the excellent suggestion,

DWK

[ncboman]

I use a piece broken off one of those wax blocks to start my wood heater. I ignite it with my fire starting device, a bic lighter. :D

ncboman

[Bill Gunn]

If I was building a kit I would pay a buck for one of those wax and sawdust blocks that would easily cut into 6-8 small blocks.

You can easily make those...

http://www.myoutdoortv.com/video/video.php?v=uxiU71UHX_phyEj5RB68dLtPtfjd4Poj

[ncboman]

We're gonna HAVE to make em from now on.

First, they are getting difficult to find and when you do find em, the price alone will heat you up. :eek:

ncboman

[Altjaeger]

Finding an egg carton of cardboard would be difficult here. I still pick up a block for about a buck at Walmart. That provides about 6 fires per block breaking them. If actually cut in advance I an sure 8 would be easy. If I still smoked now that cigarettes are running over $5.00 a pack the 12-16 cents a fire would seem cheap.

[tjhuels]

I use strips of cardboard soaked in paraffin or candle wax.

About 1" X 4". A Dozen will take very little space.

Nick one corner and light it with your match or lighter.

Easy to make; easy to carry
TH

[DancesWithKnives]

I've been doing a few different things since I originally started this thread. First, I had a bad experience with some of the drier lint I was carrying. Must have come off asbestos shorts because it just didn't want to burn---even with a lighter held to it. Maybe it was moist---unbeknownst to me. I don't know.

I recently started practicing more with a traditional flint and steel and a fire piston. The flint and steel are the old Mountain Man style, not the newer ferroceum and mischmetal rods. Also been playing with fire drills---both hand and bow powered.

For the primitive fire starting tools, it is really handy to have some of the charcloth that the old timers used to hold a spark. Without it, a flint and steel fire can be a very tricky proposition. It is easy to make with a cookie tin and some old 100% cotton cloth.

I also bought a roll of jute twine. If you fray it into individual fibers, it makes a pretty good Mountain Man-style tinder bundle. You get your charcloth burning, then drop it into a little nest of fine jute fibers. Converts an ember to a flame pretty easily.

Fire drills are another story. Maybe a separate thread on those when I return from a hunting trip on which I'm leaving tomorrow.

[swamp]

dryer lint just doesnt burn... for the do it yourselfer birch bark is hard to beat... there are some good products on the commercial market..

[Altjaeger]

dryer lint just doesnt burn... for the do it yourselfer birch bark is hard to beat... there are some good products on the commercial market..

Camping I usually use fire starter block of wood chips and parafin picked up cheaply. One block easily starts half a dozen fires when broken off in small pieces and lasts for years.

[MOGC]

I really don't know how to beat vasoline soaked cotton balls.

[ncboman]

I really don't know how to beat vasoline soaked cotton balls.

a bag of Fritos beats em all. One chip burns like gas for a good while and if you're hungry, you can eat your tinder. :cool:

[Sidekick]

I've tried Fritos and they work. Whenever I light my woodstove I use whatever potato chips I have on hand and they work well. Cottonballs and vaseline are pretty good too. Go outside and light some chips on the sidewalk sometime. You'll be surprised.

[Greywolf]

I would add: Pine pitch balled up in waxed paper keeps quite a ling time



We're gonna HAVE to make em from now on.

First, they are getting difficult to find and when you do find em, the price alone will heat you up. :eek:

ncboman

Find em quite often on ebay.in hikers stoves etc.


.

[Rock Chuck]

Fritos are terrible firestarters. I never have any left when I need them and they're fattening besides. I'm addicted to those dang things.

[Altjaeger]

Fritos are terrible firestarters. I never have any left when I need them and they're fattening besides. I'm addicted to those dang things.

:DHow true, how true!!!

[DancesWithKnives]

I was hoping someone would talk about Fritos. They were one of the most entertaining suggestions from the prior tinder thread!

Thanks,

[GF.]

On my Elk trip last fall, we got about 8" of snow. Really put a damper o things.... ba-dump-bum...

I've used a flint and birchbark for a lotta years, and it's agood solution, mainly. But on that last trip, one afternoon I stopped in at the neighbor's tipi up on the hill to collect some gear, and I thought I'd fire up the stove and warm up for a few minutes while I was there.

And without resorting to taking a hatchet to some dead branches (which I did not take the time to do), I just couldn't get a fire started. Everything was just too damp. Which is why the neighbor in question swears by trioxane tabs.

All of the solutions above are good, and they're great fun to mess with. But you can't beat the marvels of modern science.... And if my butt were really on the line, that's what's I'd want in my kit.

[DancesWithKnives]

I agree that some of the modern stuff is very effective. I bought a pack of those white firestarter cubes that look like marshmallows. Even a quarter of one will ignite and develop a dry tinder fire. A whole cube will get wet pine needles dry and burning.

I keep some road flares in my 4WD truck in case I'm in a very wet situation and just don't feel like screwing around at all.

DancesWithKnives

[Greybeard]

Modern chemical fire starters are hard too beat and not that expensive. But somehow we always look for stuff for starting a fire while hunting: fine dead twigs still up in the air (especially mountain mahogany), dried out sage brush, rabbit brush, etc. Stuff on the ground usually isn't very good. Tree pitch that has oozed out of a tree wound and hardened up with time ends up being the best natural fire starter. If hard, it will not be sticky and it really burns hot and long. Just chip some of it off with your pocket knife. Greybeard/

[DancesWithKnives]

Good point. And even if you can't find pure dried pitch, the resin-impregnated fatwood can be shaved down to very effective tinder.

DWK

[DancesWithKnives]

http://outdoors.free.fr/OM-PDF/Gear/Fire-Piston-Review.pdf

I recently got this fire piston kit from EB Primitives but have not yet done much testing. However, several friends who have the kit really like the tinder box depicted in this article. They say the little tin works quite well.

This fellow sells on eBay if you ever want one.

DWK