Best homemade tinder to bring

I've been using cotton string soaked in wax. I made a big batch, but it's running out. I have heard of using Vaseline soaked cotton balls too. What do you use that will catch easily, even with a spark?
 
Bill Siegle

Bill Siegle

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 3, 2000
Messages
6,760
I use the vaseline cotton balls all the time. They catch even when its wet and pack easily as you can cruch them into any small space. Cost to make them is negligable and they're dual purpose as they can be used a lotion in extreme weather for chapped lips or sunburns.
 
Thumbs up for the Vas-gauze/cotton balls. Works like a charm
smile.gif


Dan

------------------
Go Get 'em Gear
 
Here's one trick that I have heard of, but have never tried. Put an emergency roadside flare under the wood (even damp), and light that. Supposedly it burns hot and long enough to start a good fire, even in adverse conditions.

I don't know why, but it seems like cheating...
 
Vaseline and cotton is the easiest for home made, and it works like a charm. Use absorbent cotton, either in balls, or in batting. I think the individual balls are a little too small, so I like the batting. I grab a fluffy cubic inch or so and knead for a minute with lots of vaseline until the whole thing is distinctly greasy to the touch. I pack them in a 35mm plastic film can. Can get enough in there for a half dozen or more fires in good weather, and at least 2 or 3 in inclement weather.

Then there's <a href="http://www.sonic.net/~quine/tinder.html" target="_blank">char cloth</a> which is pretty easy to make, and for a buy-it/take-it item, I like trioxane bars.



[This message has been edited by matthew rapaport (edited 02-25-2001).]
 
I make my own mix of about half and half vasoline and wax for cotton balls. Works great! Each ball is try to the touch, pliable, catches on the slightest spark once "prepared" (ripped in half) and they burn for between 3-5 minutes each. Plenty long enough to start most fires.
 
I don't buy cotton balls, so I use drier lint dipped in vaseline. Same/same, but drier lint is free.

------------------
It's not the pace of life that concerns me, It's the sudden stop at the end.
 
I too use the cotton ball trick. Also if you want something that will burn a little longer, take some sawdust, mix it with melted parafin wax, let it cool and harden, then cut it into small pieces. They will burn for several minutes and can be used to dry out wood. This is really the same as the Colman 'fire sticks' (I think thats what they are called).

Also does anyone use the ESBIT fuel cubes as heavy-duty fire starter? I just though they might work well in bad weather situations.
 
If you are traveling in wooded areas in the Southern part of the US or anywhere there are pine trees, you can leave your tinder at home. There are always dead pine stumps in these parts of the wilds that make great tinder. The heart wood, also known as lighter pine or pine knots, are pure sap wood. Once you locate a piece (easy to know by the smell of turpentine and the sticky feel after it's cut) just make a fuzz stick from the sap enriched stick and use your ferrocium rod to get an instant blaze. This stuff burns regardless of the weather conditions and lasts a long time.

Another thing we look for are bird or animal nests since there will be dry material even in wet conditions. Ferroicum rods will blaze this stuff quickly.

The scaly bark from Cedar trees works well also. Just ball it up in your hand and shred it into fine pieces and strike your rod into it. Cedar bark bundles are what we use a lot to nest coals from bow drills or char cloth from true flint and steel.

Regardless of what anyone will tell you, I haven't found any material in it's NATURAL state that will catch a spark from TRUE flint and steel methods. Even cotton balls whether dry or soaked in vaseline will not catch and hold a spark from a piece of flint found on the ground and a piece of striking steel such as the back of your knife or C-steel.

Ferrocium rod sparks will start a blaze in a lot of tinder materials since the sparks are so much hotter, but true flint and steel needs charred material to hold a spark. The only exception to this is a tinder fungus that we have used but difficult to find. I'm sure there may be others that are not common to our neck of the woods also.

As a side note, if you are interested in true flint and steel, then cotton char cloth is not the best method for this from what we have found. We use charred punk wood since it will hold a coal much longer and catches a spark just as quick - and in the woods there's a ton of punk wood to be found from rotting trees.

Bottom line is if you have a ferrocium rod, cigarette lighter, flame thrower, etc. then you should be able to start a fire in the woods under any condition without any tinder brought in. Forget about true flint and steel though unless you have charred something previously. Even good char cloth will fail you under high humidity. You will have better luck with friction fire if you have nothing but a knife.

Getting a blaze is actually the easiest part of the fire building process. The problem with most fire builders is not knowing how to build a fire after the initial blaze. Gathering proper materials and processing them before the blaze makes success every time. Trust me...I'm a pyromaniac
smile.gif


Jeff

------------------
Randall's Adventure & Training
jeff@jungletraining.com
 
I'm a bit of a pyro myself, I must admit! I also tend to build bigger fires than I need too. But I also like using alternative methods to lighters or matches. I like the magnesium block with embedded sparking rod alot. I actually burned a clean hole through an aluminum mess kit pan with that stuff! Burns VERY hot, and will even catch damp tinder. These are pretty hard on my knife's edge though. I ended up cutting a 3" section from an old hacksaw blade, and attaching it with cord. The saw blade seems to scrape the magnesium more quickly, and throws a good spark from the rod. When it gets too beat up, I'll add a new piece. I have yet to make more than just smoke with a bow and drill. I get frustrated very quickly and don't practice it too much though.
 
For car camping and hunting camp, I make firestarters by filling an egg carton full of lint and then pouring melted wax over it. Each little "egg" makes a dandy firestarter that will burn for quite a long time. For in the field, I take vaseline soaked cotton balls and charred cloth. This summer, I plan to find as much birch fungus as I can. Never tried it but it's supposed to be great stuff. I want to see if I can light it in my firepiston.

------------------
Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM
 
I know that many here are more experienced than I, so I have to ask when I see a statement like "if you have a lighter...you should be able to make fire under any conditions without bring tinder along".

In dry conditions I have no problem with this idea. Self contained tinder still makes the job easier, but in general, and given either a lighter or a ferrocium rod, I can make fire under most DRY conditions. My problems start in rain or high wind, and of course both together just make things worse.

I've been in situations where I could not keep a fire going even with tinder (like my vasiline soaked cotton), because I could not find enough dry stuff in the very small kindling range to take advantage of the small fire produced by the cotton balls. I've had a small fire started, only to have it be put out by rain dripping off my hat, or because someone (or the wind) moves the tarp I'm using to shield the start up fire, and the rain gets in wets my tinder, etc. Got magnesium? Me too, but this stuff blows away all to easily in wind, so you have to find a way to shield it almost 100%.

Now I'll be the first to admit that I don't practice enough in inclement weather (though I've done it a few times), but I'm just trying to point out that having a simple tinder like vasiline soaked cotton or char cloth does not automatically mean you will be successful under inclement conditions. About the only thing that "always works" for me is the trioxane bar, or some of those fire sticks you buy at camping stores (great idea about making own with sawdust and wax, will try that). Practice makes perfect.

 
Matthew, I will agree on the trioxane bars. Used them many times and they work great. Gasoline mixed with Diesel fuel works even better.

I've been in some seriously wet weather for weeks at a time but always managed to find something dry enough to burn. A lot of times it takes patience and a tiring onery desire of not giving up but it is there. Animal nests, dry inner bark, insides of dead wood on the ground, etc. If you really want to make fire building in wet weather easier find a standing dead tree and use the inner wood from it since it will not be near as wet as dead wood on the ground. But like I said previously, getting the initial flame is the easiest part of fire building. Keeping it going is a different story. You have to process your fuel parts to proper size until you generate enough heat to get bigger and bigger.

Another trick is to build a quick fire shelter to keep pouring rain and wind from hindering your efforts until you have a good blaze going. The South American indians use a single palm leaf stood in the ground to make a squirrel's tail shelter for their fires.

Someone mentioned road flares. This is a perfect fire starter for damp conditions but I think anyone interested in wilderness skills should always practice with the basics. If you learn this it makes the modern methods even easier. Thats why I like true flint and steel and bow drills. They work your ass off and can really piss you off but it teaches true skill at the most basic level. In other words, you have to have all the hard preparation right before you are successful. But it is really rewarding to warm against a fire built in this manner.

Jeff

------------------
Randall's Adventure & Training
jeff@jungletraining.com
 
I generally just bring a butane lighter and don't worry about it. If I'm heading out into the frozen waste and want insurance I bring an auto flare.

One handy material my old hunting buddy would often carry is pieces of waxed cardboard (about the size of poker cards) cut out of milk cartons. A half-dozen of these fit nice in your back pocket.
 
Hi Jeff... You said...

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">
I've been in some seriously wet weather for weeks at a time but always managed to find something dry enough to burn.
</font>
Click to expand...

To burn, yes, but to use as tinder was and is my particular problem. I can't always find something that will catch a spark and give me enough fire to get something else going in inclement weather.

Sliced up milk cartons? I used to burn those as a kid. I completely forgot about that. Great idea!
 
I use dryer lint with paraffin. Melt the paraffin in a pan and lay in the the lint. Then cut into strips like chewing gum. It keeps my kit small and flat.
 
While in Boy Scouts we took newspaper, wrapped it up tightly,held it with rubberbands and cut it to a length of 1.5 to 2 inches long. We then pulled 2 or 3 sheets loose and dipped the whole thing in melted parraffin until completely soaked. I never tried a fire under adverse conditions but they have always worked in a fireplace. It will take a match or lighter to get it started. Jeff when will you have the Laasestrike in stock?

Bob
 
can you light the trioxane bars just by hitting it with the magnesium firestarter,or do you need to get a small flame going fisrt?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top