Easiest and most reliable fire source

Another old standby and very cheap - matches n' wax. For those that have never heard of this, just do the following. Take a piece of corrugated cardboard and cut it as wide as some common "strike anywhere" matches. Fill several of the corrugated cavities with some of the above matches. Soak the cardboard and matches in paraffin. Voila! Waterproof matches and wax-covered tinder. Cut the cardboard to fit in your shirt or jacket pocket. This recipe has saved me on more than one or two occasions.

Fox

[This message has been edited by Fox (edited 02-22-2000).]
 
Fox, Cool idea.

I made some dryer lint/paraffin starters for my girlfried's sister, she can't start a fire to save her life.

I took an egg carton poured wax in, put the dryer lint on top of that, then more paraffin on top. The paraffin is for canning, $1.5 for enough to make 24 fire staters. Then after it cooled I cut the egg cartons into the separate parts.

Burns really well, though if you are going to make these and want to start them with a metal match, remember to leave some of the lint free of wax.

To the man who mentioned Zippos.... Note- Naptha aka oil fuel is an aromatic hydrobarbon, if will evaporate away, so if you do not maintain your fuel level, you will have no fuel. Though you probably know that already.

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Thank you,
Marion David Poff aka Eye, Cd'A ID, USA mdpoff@hotmail.com

Talonite Information and Resource Page, including other cobalt materials.

"We will either find a way, or make one." Hannibal, 210 B.C.
 
MDP,
That was one of the reasons I quit carrying a zippo, it would dry up if I didn't check on it every few days. It was also prone to leaking fuel through my pocket onto my skin and gave me a rash several times before I got fed up with it.
I was wondering if anyone with one of the Metal Matches from Gregs site and a digital camera could post a nice close up of it for me. Thanks!
 
Let me join Marion and Sesoku in reminding to the weaknesses of Zippos.
In my opinion, they are heavy, they leak fuel, far from waterproof (they even soak water). On the good side, they seem to be windproof, undestructible and simple. On the top of it, Zippo came out with the "Outdoor Series" marketted in outdoor stores as a weatherproof lighter. I also got a nice brochure about it stating the improved weatherproofness of the lighters. When I called the company, it turned out that they are not different from any old Zippo. That was pretty much enough for me to lose interest. Since then, I only carry it for short hikes or for the "cool factor".
I hope I did not badmouth too much, and if I overlooked something, let me know.
Best to All,

HM
 
to look at a picture of the metal match...go to my web page... listed below... and then into the survival store... you'll find a picture there...

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Greg Davenport
http://www.ssurvival.com
Are You Ready For The Challenge?
Are You Ready To Learn The Art Of Wilderness Survival?

 
Yeah, I've noticed the fuel leakage problem with a Zippo. I don't smoke, so the one I keep in my outdoor kit can go quite some time without being used. I found out one day that I needed to top it off before going into the field. I went to use it. Bone dry. But, as has been mentioned, they're great in the wind. But I would never carry it as my only fire source.
 
Several people mentioned using steel wool with a battery as a ingition source, but it (the fine stuff, at least) can be used without the battery, as tinder. As an example (not a serious way of starting fires in the woods), Mr. Wizard (remember when learnign was fun?) unrolled a piece of steel wool and sprinkled in some oxidizing powder (make it out of the bars/tabs), then re-rolled it. When lit, it burned so hot that it left a big glowing lake of liquid steel. I'll bet that would get wet wood going pretty quickly!

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e_utopia@hotmail.com
 
So the $64,000 question is what did he use for oxidizing powder and where can we get some?
 
Aluminum powder, I believe. Though there may be other things that work well too. The reaction talked about is thermite, and has been discussed around here before.

I'd prefer just to use it as tinder...

Stryver
 
The comments about "Zippo" are dead on -and I use one daily ( pipe smoker) but don't depend on it for a source of ignition in an emergency - Bic and butanes are a potential problem where I live too- Cold weather makes them less effective -you have to "warm" the lighter to get it to light! == but inspite of petroleum "burns"
eek.gif
from a freshly filled Zippo - I'll still carry it gladly!

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Sesoku, let me take a wild guess with the $64 K question...
That would need a reactive oxidizer agent. Using the remains of my Chemistry I would put my bet on one of the following:
-sodium or potassiom chlorate (NaClO3, KClO3); very agressive and therefore more dangerous
-sodium or potassiom perchlorate (NaClO4, KClO4); less reactive than chlorates
-potassium permanganate (KMnO4); used as desinfectant (?)
Hint: sodium chlorate has been used (still?) as weed killer!!!!
Therefore, I suspect that sodium chlorate was used in the demonstration.

HM
 
The demonstration in question used lycopodeum powder. It is available from chemical supply houses, but I left it open in my post because there are so many oxidizers available. This isn't the thermite reaction, which consists of powdered (red) iron rust (Fe2O3) and aluminum powder, yielding pure iron and aluminum oxide and lots of heat (originally used to weld individual sections of railroad track end-to-end, with a clamp-on mold that covered the sides of the track, and a cone full of thermite on top. when the thermite is ignitied, it melts and fills the small space between the tracks, making them one piece of continuous iron. the aluminum oxide stays on the surface, and helps to prevent rusting of the iron).

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e_utopia@hotmail.com
 
Hi e_utopia,

Thanks for revealing the solution to us. However, I am still puzzled by the chemical nature of the "Lycopodium powder".
When I tried to look it up, all I found was that it is -interestingly- a natural substance; the spore of the club-moss (Lycopodiaceae, L. clavatum, L. annotinum, L. anceps) (whatever it is). Habitant of N. America, Eu, Asia. 'Very fine powder which is highly flammable' (does not sound exactly as an oxidizing agent, but rather a reducing one). BTW, many VERY FINE starchy or cellulose powders catch fire badly if high temperature and oxidizer are present (explosions in mills and saw mills) due to the enormous reactive relative surface.
The spores contain selagnine (?). It has been used to cover pills, as an absorbent. Moreover, in EXPLOSIVES and in PYROTECHNICS (here we go...).
I am still not sure, whether it was the oxidizer or it -itself- just oxidized with oxygene from air and that initiated the flaming of the steel wool.

Please let me know how it worked.
Thanks and best,

HM
 
I do not know the exact composition of lycopodium, but as a biological material, it contains many different compounds. It is primarily an oxidizer, but does contain a bit of 'fuel' as well. The flame from pure lycopodeum is light yellow, very cool, since there isn't much to fuel for it. When combined with a metal with high surface area (such as the wired that steel wool is made of), the reaction is quick and hot. Don't even think about playing with any powdered metals unless you really know what you're doing (he who knows knows he knows not), as the energy released in such a short time is enormous (the booster rockets on the shuttle are fueled by aluminum powder combined with an oxidizer in a bonding agent to "glue" the powder into solid form).

--JB

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e_utopia@hotmail.com
 
As I read the last few posts I remembered a trick from my childhood. There was this old timer known as Harry Trafford and came to schools and taught old timer outdoor tricks. As part of his presentation he asked the kids to light wet wood with matches....obviously none of the 10 yr olds could. Harry reaches into his bag and pulls out a bottle of Potassium Permanganate. Sprinkles some onto the wood, puts a few drops of "eye drops" into the purple powder, stirs it with a nail and in a jiffy it burst into flames and if I recall it even started to melt the nail.

I had completely forgotten about this method. Anybody else ever see or hear about this?

My Two Cents
 
Originally posted by Diligence:
As I read the last few posts I remembered a trick from my childhood. There was this old timer known as Harry Trafford and came to schools and taught old timer outdoor tricks. As part of his presentation he asked the kids to light wet wood with matches....obviously none of the 10 yr olds could. Harry reaches into his bag and pulls out a bottle of Potassium Permanganate. Sprinkles some onto the wood, puts a few drops of "eye drops" into the purple powder, stirs it with a nail and in a jiffy it burst into flames and if I recall it even started to melt the nail.

I had completely forgotten about this method. Anybody else ever see or hear about this?

My Two Cents
Click to expand...

There is a nifty book that tells you how to do tricks similar to this. It's called Chemical Magic by Leonard A. Ford. It was published back in 1959 but is still in print in a Dover edition, copyright 1993. The orginal was revised by E. Winston Grundmeier.


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Hoodoo

The low, hoarse purr of the whirling stone—the light-press’d blade,
Diffusing, dropping, sideways-darting, in tiny showers of gold,
Sparkles from the wheel.

Walt Whitman
 
Just got Greg's 4" metal match. First strike it ignited an untreated cotton ball. Matches?
...Matches?...We don't need no stinkin' matches.
 
Hi all,
instead of cotton balls as tinder i prefer feminine tampons for two reasons:
1) they are compressed cotton and can be used as tinder when fluffed, but still don´t take up mauch volume
2) they have at least one second use. they can be used for bandage, just put them on a cut and fix it with whatever you have (ducttape or similar). Also you can use one or more of them to apply a pressure bandage.
My two pfennings worth
Robert
 
Germangst,
That makes a lot of sense and I have thought about it before. I think the best kind would be the OB brand because it doesn't have an aplicator, it is just the cotton plug. Of course they may work better but who in here wants to go buy them. I guess you could have your wife/girlfriend get them for you though. It would be an interesting comparison to fluff a cotton ball and a tampon as much as possible and compare the maximum surface area of each one. Another interesting thing might be to see if it is possible to presoak them in something without having them expand and take up more room. Another bonus would be that I think they each are individually wrapped which would make them waterproof.
 
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