Daily Carry Firestarters/Tinder

B

bill2054

Joined
Sep 4, 2000
Messages
53

What type of tinder or firestarter to you actually carry on you, in your pockets, etc, on a daily basis? If you actually carry your mini/micro kit daily, then the items in it would count.

I thought about this because I started carrying a Swedish Firesteel ferro rod in my pocket every day. I then realized I didn’t have a firestarter actually in my pockets that I could light with a ferro rod. Had all sorts of things when I was in a vehicle or had my mini kit with me, but not within arm’s reach, all the time. Yes, I have a mini kit, but I confess I don’t carry it all the time. I started experimenting after that. Here are some ideas for daily carry tinder, outside the micro kit, to get the ball rolling (no I don’t carry ALL of these- they’re just ideas):

piece of wax paper, folded up and stored in wallet. Won’t light with a ferro rod.

3 or 4 inch piece of kerosene lamp wick (new- never been in kerosene) that’s been soaked in melted wax to make basically a flat candle - carry in wallet (can be wrapped in plastic wrap or wax paper). It has to be lit with a match or lighter, but once it’s going it burns very well. Also it’s reusable- use it to get your fire going, then put it out and save it for the next time. (Thanks to Canadian author Alan Fry for this one- his book, Wilderness Survival Handbook, is the only place I’ve ever seen this firestarter.)

The wax paper and lamp wick will not light with a Firesteel sparker/ ferro rod, which is a definite disadvantage.

keychain fob made of fatwood aka Maya wood (thanks to Bagheera for this one!)

Vaseline & cottonballs (VCB), stored in small plastic Tic Tac brand breath mint box and sealed with duct tape. I have been carrying this as an experiment, however the plastic cracked, hence the duct tape reinforcement.

Variation- vaseline/cotton in plastic box that held a single micro cassette tape. This box is about the size of a Zippo lighter, and is much sturdier than the Tic Tac container.

Have thought about putting VCB firestarters in the housing of an old Zippo lighter and sealing it with duct tape for a really bombproof container.

(I’m a little concerned about hypothermia or injury to one hand/arm, resulting in difficulty in opening the duct tape sealing the packet of firestarter. Any ideas? Could smash it open with my heel or a rock, I guess)

rubber band, wrapped around some article in pocket or stored in wallet

piece of bicycle inner tube, either a flat piece or a piece cut like a large rubber band (known as a Ranger band, I believe)- keep in wallet, or wrap around some article in your pocket for a non-slip grip, then burn if needed.

0000 (extra fine) steel wool, cut to fit and then compressed and stored in miniature Altoids or Extreme brand breath mint tin, and kept closed with a rubber band or duct tape

Tinder Quick brand firestarters- 7 of these will fit in a micro cassette tape box. These are the little firestarters that come with a Spark Lite one handed firestarting tool.

By the way, I found a site that sells the Tinder Quick firestarters in bulk:

http://www.merchantstuff.com/fdshops/escape-co/ (click on stoves and stuff)

Haven’t ordered from them so can’t comment on their service.

I carry a Zippo but it has a bad habit of conking out without warning. There should be some residual fuel still in the cotton stuffing in the fuel chamber, even when the lighter won’t light. I’ve wondered about taking this cotton out in an emergency situation and lighting it with my Firesteel, or even using the much weaker spark from the Zippo. Anyone ever tried this or have any thoughts on it? I haven’t tried it because I didn’t want to tear up my Zippo. I back up the Zippo with a mini Bic in another pocket, by the way.

Would like to hear from others on what you carry on a day to day basis.


 
I have a small round polyethylene tube about the size of your pinky that holds 4 vaseline-soaked cotton balls. Works great and fits in you watchpocket, shirt pocket or whatever.

Vaseline-soaked cotton balls are hard to beat. You can make a ton of them in just a few minutes by melting the vaseline in a small tin can and dumping in a bunch of cotton balls. I use large forceps to squeeze out the excess fluid. They can be fired up with the tiniest of ferrocium rods.

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Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM
 
If you are willing to carry something as big as a Zippo case I would suggest carrying a Sparklite. It comes with 6 Tinder Tabs and can easily be used with one hand.

Another suggestion is something I have done on occassion which is to carry one of the small tubes of Vaseline that are used for chapped lips. With this you can carry it without making a mess. Put a couple of cottonballs in your wallet and you are all set.

I have also carried the water resistant matches that came with MREs wrapped in waxed paper and sealed with tape for quite a while and they worked well.

Hope this helps.

Rick

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Hoah! (Its an Army thing!)
 
My daily carry is a .25"*1.5" magnesium rod with an attached ferroconium rod. It weighs next to nothing, but would work in a pinch.

cj
s002cjs@yahoo.com
 
I have a section of MFS that is about 3/8" wide. Otherwise, I'd have to find tinder...but cotton clothes, old receipts, etc. is usually on me!
smile.gif



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Plainsman
primitiveguy@hotmail.com
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Plainsman's Cabin Forums</A>
 
I put a vaseline impregnated cotton ball in a small ziplock. After the air is expressed it carries well in my wallet.

A bit torn off the cotton ball will catch a spark easily and help me to light less flamable tinder.
 
I carry the old standby, char cloth. A pellet tin of this stuff will catch a ton of sparks, which can then be transferred to a tinder ball made of shredded Juniper bark or whatever else was in the area in way of natural tinder. I also carry cotton balls coated with melted wax in my vest pocket, while the tin of char cloth is in my pants pocket. I also carry a couple of very small cotton/wax balls in the top of my GI match safe (which has a small piece of ferrocium in the bottom), to keep the matches from rattling and extreme emergencies. I carry around four ferrocium rods as well, mostly fairly small, epoxied to sharpeners. And the usual Bic lighter, of course. And lots of cordage. My main concerns are sharp knives, fire, and cordage, in that order. I carry other stuff as well, but those three are the basics for me.
 
I carry the old standby, char cloth. A pellet tin of this stuff will catch a ton of sparks, which can then be transferred to a tinder ball made of shredded Juniper bark or whatever else was in the area in way of natural tinder. I also carry cotton balls coated with melted wax in my vest pocket, while the tin of char cloth is in my pants pocket. I also carry a couple of very small cotton/wax balls in the top of my GI match safe (which has a small piece of ferrocium in the bottom), to keep the matches from rattling and extreme emergencies. I carry around four ferrocium rods as well, mostly fairly small, epoxied to sharpeners. And the usual Bic lighter, of course. And lots of cordage. My main concerns are sharp knives, fire, and cordage, in that order. I carry other stuff as well, but those three are the basics for me.
 
I do carry a mini-kit with me daily. In that kit; I carry a Spark-Light, Tinder Tabs (6), and a small ferrocium rod among other things. I imagine I could probably dig out a substantial amount of pocket lint too.

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It's not the pace of life that concerns me, It's the sudden stop at the end.
 
Why carry extra firestarters when you have them built into your clothing. I know for sure that this works for jeans but haven't tried many other materials. Take your knive and scrape along your pants, do long strokes as not to wear out a small section. You should get a pile of lint like material that make great firestaters. Best part of all you always got it with you without trying to shove tonnes of stuff in you wallet.
 
Well,

My favorite is this....

Melt canning wax (paraffin) in a pan.

Fold sheets of paper towels into a conveninet size.

Place folded sheets into melted wax, be careful to keep them folded, I use a pair of tongs to hold them under until they stop bubbling.

Remove, let cool, you may want to place something on top of it to keep it folded.

The resulting tinder works very well for me. It is water-proof, non-toxic, clean, and once you rough the surface up, it burns very well.

If you like the idea of recycling, you can fold newspaper up and use it. Or corrugated cardboard.

Someone in an old thread mentioned corrugated cardboard, strike anywhere matches in the channels, soak in hot wax. The matches are protected by the wax, and once you remove the wax from the match head, you have a self-contained fire-starter.

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Thank you,
Marion David Poff aka Eye mdpoff@hotmail.com

My website, guided links, talonite/cobalt alloy info, etc....
http://www.geocities.com/mdpoff

&gt;&gt;---&gt;Bill Siegle Custom Knives&lt;---&lt;&lt;
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"To wait for luck is the same as waiting for death." -Japanese Proverb

"Place you clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark." -Lazarus Long

"We cut things to create things" - James K Mattis
 
I actually don't carry any fire-starter at all but I do have Bic lighters about everywhere (around the house, in the fishing tackle-box, two in my emergency/survival bag, two in my truck, two in the wife's car, and one in my locker at work. There are probably more that I have forgotten (they seem to show up in odd places).

[This message has been edited by allenC (edited 03-14-2001).]
 
It seems to me the trouble with relying on the cotton clothes you happen to be wearing at the time is that they are likely to be soaked when you need them the most.
 
For the sake of experiment I tried the following (note: ideal conditions today, sunny, no wind).

I took an old (made over a year ago) vaseline soaked cotton ball (not quite wet to the touch), and threw it in a film can with some Mg shavings. Shook it around, then pulled it out and shook off any Mg that wasn't decently stuck. I then pulled appart another cotton ball and wrapped that one around the Mg coating the first. It didn't go all the way around, but it made something of a sandwhich.

Put the little package (about a cc in volume altogether)on a piece of rock and hit it with a spark. First spark took, and the thing burned for 4 minutes!
 
Matthew, the cotton ball will light just about as easily without any magnesium. Try that next time and see what happens.

Jeff
 
Hi Jeff... Yes I know they will. I have used them a lot. Still I was looking for some way to produce a hotter flame, at least for a short time, and the Mg should do that for me. Just an experiment. Next thing I want to try when I think of it is to compare vaseline to candle wax and see which lasts longer and produces the hotter flame.
 
Matthew;
I use cotton balls dipped in bees wax and they will burn up to 15 or 20 minutes depending on the amount of wax in the cotton ball

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Ron,
Bremerton, Washington
0071.gif
 
I do not, ay yet, carry any kind of firestarting kit with me on a daily basis, but I am goig to start soon.
I have been apprenticing with a blacksmith for about a month now, learning mostly how to make knives, but today he showed me how to make a flint steel, for striking sparks off of with flint. And gave me a few tips on use, so as soon as I get one of those made, I already have the flint, and get some of his reccomended cotton tinder, I am going to start carrying that stuff in my bag all time. My bag being one of those trendy mens purses, that make great defense tools when loaded full of heavy stuff, and also allow me to carry a myriad of knives and related things.

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Morgan Atwood.
Without the hammer there would be no knife.
 
I don't have the need to carry a firestarter with me on any regular basis, and now that I say this out loud, I hope that I won't.
eek.gif
(If 'ya know what I mean)

But I thought that I'd share this little trick that someone showed me years ago.

Believe it or not, all that you need on your next excursion, assuming that we are talking emergency only, is some steel wool and 1 9V battery.

Make sure to cover the battery posts with duct tape and place the steel wool in a plastic bag and store them at opposite ends of your gear while transporting.
Trust me here!!
wink.gif


When you need some fire, gather up kindling, rip off some of the steel wool and then, while holding the steel wool above the kindling, touch both of the battery posts to the steel wool and let the sparks rain on down.
smile.gif

Actually, you should probably stuff the burning steel wool under the kindling and add some oxygen, via your breath, to fuel the fire once the kindling starts up.

If I hadn't have seen it, yeh....in the rain too, I would not believe it.
But trust me, it works.

Give it a try.

--The Raptor--

 
I still carry the general issue magnesium block fire starter. However, my next one will be just a thick ferrocerium road.
As for tinder: Vaseline soaked cotton balls in a film canister and a rod of Coghlan's pressed wood tinder. On the way I look for and collect natural tinder in a zip-lock (dead wood birch bark, dried pitch clumps and cedar bark).

HM
 
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