Best firestarter

Badhammer

Badhammer

Joined
Jun 8, 2009
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I realize that "best" is a pretty subjective term so perhaps "easiest" or "most reliable" would be more appropriate? Be that as it may I'm wondering what device or system I should consider for fire starting? I've seen various devices that you scrape the back of a knife across to produce sparks but I seem to recall that certain blade materials don't work well with these. Other systems have a spark producer and a striker, sorry if that's not the correct terminology.

In addition I suspect that something easily lit by what ever device I decide on is important too. Saw a post someplace the other day that mentioned using cotton balls with vaseline. Do you melt the vaseline and dip the cotton balls in it? How are they actually used?

What I'd really like is to put together a little kit that I can keep in our family vehicles, take hiking, etc, that will provide easy and reliable firestarting whether it be just a bonfire at the beach or stranded in a storm.

TIA
 
With the vasaline +cotton balls - Just take the vas at room temp and work it into cotton balls using your fingers. For storage they compress pretty good. Put a bunch in an old small plastic bottle like a vitamin bottle. The catch fire easily with a spark.
 
PJCB (petroleum jelly cotton balls) are a great tinder- they take a spark readily and have good burn time

you simply take a cotton ball (natural NOT synthetic) and work a little vaseline into it- don't won't soaking w/ it, don't want it dry- somewhere in between, no need to sweat getting and exact mix

to use pull apart creating as much surface area as possible, put a match, lighter, firesteel to it an voila you have the start of a fire (your kindling obviously is already in place and and at the ready)

I like firestraws- which are simply pjcbs that are stuffed into straws (you determine the length) and then sealed at each end (needle pliers and a lighter)

keep a couple of bi or mini bic lighters in your "kit"- these are almost fail safe fire starters- don't take up much room and are light- you can put a small ziptie around the button to prevent the gas from leaking- this is one you don't intend on using frequently

a quality firesteel and a little practice is a nice addition- get lots of sparks/fires out of one- you want a reliable striker as well- carbon hack saw blade does well (squared spine of a knife too)

I find Wetfire tinders to be very reliable (they can be lit in a cup of water!)- a few of these always make into my kits

a fire kit should have some redundancy in both the spark and tinder dept IMO, also take the time to learn about natural tinders in your area

practice- people have this idea that you just strike a match and a roaring firing appears- maybe occasionally, but like any craft practice makes perfect :)
 
PJ cotton is the easiest tinder IMO, easiest firestarter???

in order

1)bic
2)matches
3)firesteel
4)flint and steel
5)fire piston
6)primitive methods (bow drill, hand drill, etc..)
 
Thank you both. A question on the Bic lighters. I've noticed that this winter when I tried to use a Bic style lighter (not actually a Bic) that had been left in my truck overnight it did not want to produce a useable flame until I warned it in my hand. In cold weather situations this could be an issue. Is this common with Bics or just the result of a cheaply made knock off lighter?
 
Badhammer said:
Is this common with Bics or just the result of a cheaply made knock off lighter?
Click to expand...


It is common. I've experienced the same.

I'd agree with j williams order with one change. I'd move everything down one place and put this on top:

bernzomatic_trigger_start_torch_f.jpg


;)
 
Badhammer said:
Thank you both. A question on the Bic lighters. I've noticed that this winter when I tried to use a Bic style lighter (not actually a Bic) that had been left in my truck overnight it did not want to produce a useable flame until I warned it in my hand. In cold weather situations this could be an issue. Is this common with Bics or just the result of a cheaply made knock off lighter?
Click to expand...

I've not had any problems w/ bic lighters in cold weather, but generally the one I'm using is in my pocket

there may be other good disposable lighters out there, but I don't know what they are- Bic's have never let me down

if you want something a little more "industrial" check out the offerings from windmill- very solid lighter (I swear w/ just a little mpre jeat you could weld w/ them :D)
 
The most reliable firestarter would IMO be a firesteel. Like a UST blastmatch or sparkie... If you want to get more advanced than that go with any of the light my fire firesteels or the ESEE firekit ( my personal favorite) or the UST family of firesteels.

then you get into the whole misch metal vs ferro rod debate.

-Gaurdian_A1
 
Bladehammer, For a sure fire fire starter in an emergency, when your hands are cold and you need fire NOW, having one of these handy is just the ticket:

750a.png

Orion Signal Flare/Fire Starter

It's pretty much a mini road flare. 5.25" long, 5 oz. Will burn for five minutes at over 3400 degrees F. It is waterproof. If you can't get a fire going with this, lay down - cause you're already dead.

For nonemergencies, I like to practice with a fire steel (ferrocerium) to produce sparks (ignition). The scraper can be a hunk of old hacksaw blade, the spine of your knife, or anything hard and sharp, such as a piece of broken glass or pottery. (Confusion arises here because people sometimes casually refer to the firesteel as "flint and steel." With a natural flint, the striker must be non-stainless steel.)

Remember, whatever method you use to ignite the fire, that is only one element of firecraft. Proper consideration of tinder, kindeling and fuel should be given as well. (Essentially, progressivly larger combustable material used to nourish the baby spark into a sustainable flame.)

For tinder, I recommend trying several at home or when fire is for fun, not a necessity. PJCBs are excellent, but many beginners are frustrated because they use too much Vaseline and don't know to fluff up the cotton fibers before they try to light them. Commercially available Tinder-Qwik is very similar and is widely available. Once you are comfortable starting fires with prepared tinders, start looking for and testing natural tinders from your environment. Depending where you are, these could include fat wood, birch bark, or the fluff from thistles, or other plants. (One you find soem fatwood, it makes a good carried tinder as well.)

Having a preassembled fire kit with components you are comfortable with is a good idea, but don't put all your eggs in one basket. Consider keeping that extra bic in your pocket instead of in the kit next to its twin.

Have fun. Don't burn down the woods! ;)
 
Has anyone ever tried dryer lint for tinder? It ignites easily by any means and has a pretty good burn time. Of course it's light as well.:)
 
My fire kits are probably the most redundant pieces of gear I have.

Before I got some sense slapped in to me around here, I used to think I was “cheating” toting a Bic around. “Well Bics can leak over time and might not work!” Well true, but if it doesn’t work, throw it away and move on to the next easiest method. I like the misch metal rods that can be found at Going Gear or firesteels.com and the super striker they both sell. Basically a little striker with a black plastic handle. Small, cheap and work great. I have small misch metal rods in and around my mini kits as backups for my backups. :D

One thing I’ve gotten the most serious about is keeping good tinder, especially PJCBs. The nice thing about them is they burn for a good long while so you have plenty of time to get your kindling burning well. Again, I’m not against backups when it comes to something so small. Having a primary stash of PJCBs and then a little backup vial (I like the key fob capsules from GG) stuck in another location is nice. I like things to be organized, but I don’t want my entire fire kit in one little tin that I can lose.

I also have Wetfire and those firestarter sticks that are basically saw dust glued in to a stick. I snap them down short and stick a couple pieces in my fire kit just for kicks.

Anyway, enough rambling. For a small kit, I’d go Bic or Mini Bic, a misch metal rod w/ striker and a few PJCBs for tinder. That’ll start a lot of fires.
 
Dryer lint works great. I set it right under some loose twigs and it lights right up. Just start collecting the lint from the dryer and you'll be surprised how fast your supply builds up.

Also carrying a lighter is a great idea since even if you run out of fluid you can still produce spark....
 
beanbag said:
Has anyone ever tried dryer lint for tinder? It ignites easily by any means and has a pretty good burn time. Of course it's light as well.:)
Click to expand...

Dryer lint can get waxy and not burn that well from the effects laundry detergents have on it. Also, it burns very fast. I would recommend PJCBs far above dryer lint.

Badhammer said:
Thanks again to all. Was wondering if a piece of Never-Dull would work as a tinder type item?

http://www.nevrdull.com/page6.html
Click to expand...

Most anything that will burn would work, some people use CBs dipped in kerosene. To each their own. I’d go to the dollar store, buy a $1 bag of 100% cotton balls and a $3 jar of petroleum jelly and make 100 PJCBs, throw them in a zip lok and fill your other kit containers out of it for the next year or 2.
 
Badhammer said:
Thanks again to all. Was wondering if a piece of Never-Dull would work as a tinder type item?

http://www.nevrdull.com/page6.html
Click to expand...

I like multi-use options. I would suggest:
  1. Look over the MSDS and make sure that burning it wouldn't subject you to toxic smoke.
  2. Hit it with a spark and see if it ignites.
  3. Find a container that will protect contents and won't deteriorate.
Let us know what you find out.
 
Flint, steel and charcloth of course.
wildertools3.jpg


Also, I keep a fusee road flare just in case. They start every time.
flare15.jpg
 
I like fire starter kits...
Mike is made out of pjcb and firesteel with striker... my lighter does not have butane :(

pjcbs work really well...
 
j williams said:
PJ cotton is the easiest tinder IMO, easiest firestarter???

in order

1)bic
2)matches
3)firesteel
4)flint and steel
5)fire piston
6)primitive methods (bow drill, hand drill, etc..)
Click to expand...

You forgot handheld propane torch...see Rick's video lol:D

David

Edited to add: Sorry Rupestris, didn't see your post till after I posted this.
 
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