Fire ribbon

J

jscalia

Joined
Dec 11, 2006
Messages
126
What are your opinions of fire ribbon as a emergency fire starter. If you are not familiar with it, comes as a clear (petroleum jelly like) ointment contained in a toothpaste style squeeze tube which you put on wood to help start a fire. They claim that you can even start a green or wet piece of wood...a claim which I have not been able to substantiate. It costs about 3 dollars a tube and seems to be more expensive than petroleum jelly.
 
Never tried it, but it sounds like it might be somewhat similar to alcohol based hand sanitizer gel. I have started fires with hand sanitizer and it works wonders. I haven't tied petroleum jelly yet, so I don't know how it compares either. I have hand sanitizer with me when I hike or camp anyway, so I'll probably just keep on using that if I need a little extra combustibility to get a fire going in wet conditions or if I need to get it going quickly.
 
All of the above work well. Petroleum jelly in a small squeeze tube is useful for a variety of things besides starting fires, but smearing some on your tinder really helps make a good fire quickly. It's safe, cheap, and readily available, too. One of the best and most easily obtained accelerants is cigarette lighter fluid, also known as "boy scout juice." The Ronsonol Lighter Fuel I'm looking at now comes in a 5 oz. yellow plastic bottle with a flip-up spout that seals pretty well. It's not totally leak proof, but it comes close. It has a good shelf life and doesn't cost much. I buy mine at the grocery store. WARNING: This stuff is naphtha, which is a strong irritant if you get some on your skin and don't wash it off fairly soon. If you overfill a good old Zippo lighter and it seeps out in your pants pocket you will have a chemical burn in a couple of hours. Been there, done that. And, no, I have never smoked.
 
My buddy and I carried Fire Ribbon when we backpacked. We carried it only for emergency, as I liked to get our fires started with my mag stick. It works, but now I prefer the vasoline cotton ball thing. Only because its easy and cheap.
 
I use Fire Ribbon to prime my camp stove in the winter although I have never used it as a wood fire starter. Petro Jelly will leave a residue on the burner, the Fire Ribbon just turns to ash that is easily removed from the stove burner when pack up time comes. There are cheaper ways to start a fire as the other posts have stated, as a stove primer, it works great.
 
Dr. Mudd said:
If you overfill a good old Zippo lighter and it seeps out in your pants pocket you will have a chemical burn in a couple of hours. Been there, done that. And, no, I have never smoked.
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Darn right. I've had the same bottle of Ronsol fluid for 15-16 years and it's still good.(Stopped carrying my Zippo for a number of years and started carrying it again last year.) Now I've started using the Z-Plus butane insert. Much safer. ;)
 
IUKE12 said:
I use Fire Ribbon to prime my camp stove in the winter although I have never used it as a wood fire starter. Petro Jelly will leave a residue on the burner, the Fire Ribbon just turns to ash that is easily removed from the stove burner when pack up time comes. There are cheaper ways to start a fire as the other posts have stated, as a stove primer, it works great.
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That's a good tip. Thanks IUKE12!

I personally haven'y used Fire Ribbon before, but I think I'll pick up a tube to try out. My neighbor used Fire Ribbon last summer to start a fire in an outdoor fireplace. it worked very well for that, but i think he used far more than he needed.
 
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