Altoids Tin Fire Kit

beanbag

beanbag

Joined
Apr 1, 2009
Messages
1,079
This is my current configuration. Stuff gets replaced as it gets used.

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Three ways to light tinder: Firesteel, mini-Bic and a book of matches.

Four types of tinder: Birch bark(pretty waterproof), cottons balls, fatwood(100% waterproof) and jute twine.

Tinder extenders: inner-tube, birch bark and fatwood.

Strikers: Wohlwend PSK (throws incredible sparks and even doubles as a knife) and Light My Fire striker, which will be removed.

Obvious improvements would be water proof matches and PJ cotton balls. Also to save room, replace the handled firesteel with a blank- I wish Light My Fire made blanks because that's my favorite type of firesteel. Finally, put the whole kit in a Ziplock to keep it waterproof.

Whaddya think?

Bean
 
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Very good.

Why not add a fresnel lens; wouldn't take up any extra room (although the sun never shines when you need it to make fire!)?

Also a small "everlasting" birthday candle could be useful; again wouldn't add much bulk.

hth, John
 
you might want to try getting small (jewelry making section) sized baggies and bag the items individually, and then duct-tape around the rim of the can, works great for me. Great idea on keeping a small fixed blade in there, I've gotta get with that. I really feel like there's no such thing as too many edges in the woods (as long as you can carry them all :D)

Here is a fairly recent pic of my altoids-sized fire kit... though I gave up on the candles and usually also pocket a small blade and lighter. the waterproofish match box rides in another part of my kit, but is with me. The magnesium/tiny firesteel combo comes in handy in the damp, but I prefer the larger one for general purpose firestarting.


just some food for thought. hope it's helpful

edit:
I know a lot of folks that swear by fire straws. Haven't got around to trying them myself, but I hear nothing but good things.
 
Looks pretty good. If I were to nit-pick I'd get rid of the book of matches and get some strike anywhere and some storm proof ones in there. I'd also mix some PJ in with the cotton balls and put them in a small bag. I'd also add some birthday candles and maybe some char cloth.

Just re-read the post and see you already made some of those suggestions !:thumbup:
 
For my taste I see a lot of dead air / wasted volume.

I'm with you on the handle of that fire rod. As a minimum I'd be taking to that handle with a hacksaw to make it more streamline but still have a bit on the end to pinch.

I've got not patience for matches unless they are the proper lifeboat matches – the ones that once lit will stay lit 'till they are exhausted even if you dunk them in a cup of water during the process. I find all other matches inefficient even compared to a mini-Clipper or a mini-Bic like you have there.

Fatwood – I suspect this is going to be unpopular but here it is: I think it is rated way to highly in general. True it is an excellent thing to come across outdoors in lieu of other things, but other than perhaps a novelty key fob that can be pressed into service, I consider it bloat. Volume for volume I think it is inferior to saturated PJ balls. Volume for volume against a combination of PJ balls and night light candles there's no contest. I can get more fires lit, more flame burning for longer, and with less effort with the combination of PJ balls and candles than I can with a bit of fatwood that takes the same space. Plus PJ cotton wool is lovely and compliant for packing round other stuff reducing dead air.

My smallest kit isn't much bigger than your mini-Bic and lives in the pouch from an old Leatherman cross cut. I can get a hell of a lot of fires lit with it but I don't usually notice I've even got it as it often just lives on a camera strap out the way. In it is a couple of cake decorating candles, a little bit of hairy string wrapped in cling film, a little fire rod, a bit of hacksaw, a little tuft of wire wool, and as much PJ ball to fill the dead space as I could cram in. Around the outside is a tredder tube rubber band. Dunk the whole lot in a bucket for hours, fish it out, it will work. Whilst it is tiny I can get so much fire flame from it for so long it is still quite possibly overkill.

If I were to scale up to an Altoids tin [which I sometimes so, as an addition 'cos the first one is so small I regard it as a last resort to forget about rather like those zipper pulls that are also a whistle], I swap out the candles for night lights and stick in a lot more PJ ball in the dead air space. Perhaps a bit of KMnO4 if I have any left too. That's it. No room at all for matches, fatwood, fancy strikers, or anything else, just simple stuff that lights easily and burns for ages no matter what I do to it apart from burn it.
 
baldtaco-II said:
For my taste I see a lot of dead air / wasted volume.

I'm with you on the handle of that fire rod. As a minimum I'd be taking to that handle with a hacksaw to make it more streamline but still have a bit on the end to pinch.

I've got not patience for matches unless they are the proper lifeboat matches – the ones that once lit will stay lit 'till they are exhausted even if you dunk them in a cup of water during the process. I find all other matches inefficient even compared to a mini-Clipper or a mini-Bic like you have there.

Fatwood – I suspect this is going to be unpopular but here it is: I think it is rated way to highly in general. True it is an excellent thing to come across outdoors in lieu of other things, but other than perhaps a novelty key fob that can be pressed into service, I consider it bloat. Volume for volume I think it is inferior to saturated PJ balls. Volume for volume against a combination of PJ balls and night light candles there's no contest. I can get more fires lit, more flame burning for longer, and with less effort with the combination of PJ balls and candles than I can with a bit of fatwood that takes the same space. Plus PJ cotton wool is lovely and compliant for packing round other stuff reducing dead air.

My smallest kit isn't much bigger than your mini-Bic and lives in the pouch from an old Leatherman cross cut. I can get a hell of a lot of fires lit with it but I don't usually notice I've even got it as it often just lives on a camera strap out the way. In it is a couple of cake decorating candles, a little bit of hairy string wrapped in cling film, a little fire rod, a bit of hacksaw, a little tuft of wire wool, and as much PJ ball to fill the dead space as I could cram in. Around the outside is a tredder tube rubber band. Dunk the whole lot in a bucket for hours, fish it out, it will work. Whilst it is tiny I can get so much fire flame from it for so long it is still quite possibly overkill.

If I were to scale up to an Altoids tin [which I sometimes so, as an addition 'cos the first one is so small I regard it as a last resort to forget about rather like those zipper pulls that are also a whistle], I swap out the candles for night lights and stick in a lot more PJ ball in the dead air space. Perhaps a bit of KMnO4 if I have any left too. That's it. No room at all for matches, fatwood, fancy strikers, or anything else, just simple stuff that lights easily and burns for ages no matter what I do to it apart from burn it.
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Some good points but I have to disagree with the Fatwood comment. I rarely carry fatwood in my kits as I can find it very easily but regards comparing it to PJB's....I have lit fires in heavy downpours using fatwood but once the PJB's become soaked there is no way they will take a spark !
 
pitdog said:
Some good points but I have to disagree with the Fatwood comment. I rarely carry fatwood in my kits as I can find it very easily but regards comparing it to PJB's....I have lit fires in heavy downpours using fatwood but once the PJB's become soaked there is no way they will take a spark !
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The vital thing is to preclude the possibility of moisture entering the cotton by beating it to the punch by using sufficient PJ to saturate it first. I posted images of an immersion test doing exactly that in a thread on this forum either last year or the year before. I had a bit of ball about the size of a pea on the point of a knife and dunked it into a cup of water. It still lit. The thread generally rambled on about the optimum amount of PJ to cotton wool. There was one camp that held that some dry cotton wool was required to allow easy ignition. I called BS on that citing the distinct advantages of not doing that were twofold: A] more available fuel, B] precluding moisture. I went on to elaborate to those that found lighting saturated PJ difficult by demonstrating another advantage of using a bit of hacksaw as a striker – even when there is so much PJ to wool that you have a slimy goopy mess the saw side of the blade excels at catching the cotton fibers and teasing them out in a manner that makes it extremely easy to ignite. Essentially the only way you are getting damp into that kind of PJ mix is to whip is together as some sort of emulsion. If your balls are getting damp more PJ is the solution.
 
baldtaco-II said:
For my taste I see a lot of dead air / wasted volume.

Agreed.

I find all other matches inefficient even compared to a mini-Clipper or a mini-Bic like you have there.

What is a mini-clipper?

Fatwood – I suspect this is going to be unpopular but here it is: I think it is rated way to highly in general.

I like it. I think Coghlan's fire sticks work pretty well too.

Volume for volume I think it is inferior to saturated PJ balls. Volume for volume against a combination of PJ balls and night light candles there's no contest.

I guess I'll add some balls.

No room at all fancy strikers.

Actually I bought it as a knife. Just so happens it's a kick a$$ striker, probably by design.
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baldtaco-II said:
If your balls are getting damp more PJ is the solution.
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Really? I find Gold Bond powder to be far more effective on my damp balls.:D
 
beanbag said:
Really? I find Gold Bond powder to be far more effective on my damp balls.:D
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The first time I heard that “drier balls” involved hard plastic knobbly things my toes curled. :)Clippers have been the de facto standard chuck away lighter here for several decades. The yellow one is the mini. I prefer them as stow everywhere lighters for a few reasons. Unlike Bics they can be refilled. If you're lucky you can find variable flame ones [although this is becoming harder – someone told me that's because of EU blah, but I've taken that with a pinch of salt 'cos keepers don't suffer the impediment]. Flints can be refitted. They can be taken apart to dry out. And the flint gubbins can easily function independently rather like DOC-CANADA has with his lamp lighter doodads, only in plastic rather than brass. The Bics available to me have none of those merits and cost the same, so make no sense.
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My kit is very similar to yours..... Keep a bit remora in my case...... every thing else is the same.... thanks Mike
 
Nice kit, I would replace the matches with either one of those plastic "forever match" that uses lighter fluid or a peanut lighter Like in the bottom of Baldtaco-II's picture.
 
drop the regular matches and invest in some storm proof matches with small strike pad. i forgot to take pics of my altoids fire kit. i think you guys would be proud lol.
 
Minibear464 said:
Innertubes burn?
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'Tubes burn great. It's a black noxious smoke kinda great, but when you offset that against the immediacy when hit with a lighter and their waterproof nature they are not to be overlooked if you're not just playing at it. You've also got some darn fine rubber band / added grip potential to exploit too. If you haven't got a 'tube handy take to a washing up glove with a pair of scissors. That stuff catches very easily too and bits can be safety pinned inside the lid of a bag or something if you choose not to cut bands, 'cos bands from those are a bit feeble.
 
I'm no fire making expert, but I play one on the internet, and your kit looks good to me.

The fire straws have PJ cotton balls in them, right?
 
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