Fire Straws... How to?

[Texas Slim]

Made a quick attempt at a fire straw and was less than impressed with my results. Seems like I've seen a thread that had pictures but search isn't cooperating so I'll ask for details here.

I'm guessing I need bigger straws, like Big Gulp size? Also, how many cotton balls will fit in a straw; one, two? And how heavily should I coat the cotton balls with petroleum jelly?

Any advice would be most welcome as I'm putting the finishing touches on my BSA PKS kits for my son's patrol.

 

[Rob_G]

There are a couple of thoughts here.

The more soaked PJCB will be more difficult to light, but will burn longer than drier to bone dry CB. I have been taking two CB, making one juicier than the other, and sticking them into the straw - average to slightly above average sized straw, like from McDonald's.

The PJCB is typically loaded just to the point to where I can tell it is moist with jelly - the juicy one is, well, juicy. By sticking one of each in the straw, the drier one will catch first and ignite the juicy one.

To seal, I cut the straw to length, pinch each end using hemostats and melt together using a lighter. The hemostats go between the very end and the CB, acting as a heat sink and protecting against ignition.

To use, your general options are as follows. If you don't seal the ends, remove some PJCB from each end (remember, one will be dry, the other juicy), fluff somewhat and light. Alternatively, slice the straw open along the length, again fluff and light.

I have had good luck so far with these, they will take a spark from a ferro rod, I have not yet tried with flint and steel, and I have not timed how long a small segment of straw with two PJCB will last. hmmm, perhaps I have something to do this weekend.

It does bear mentioning that you must have 100% pure cotton balls.

HTH!

Rob

 

[kgd]

I have a wife and daughter at home so cotton balls are a plenty. The ones I like the best are the flattened ones for removing makeup. They are round and flat and kind of look like one of those acne pads. You can actually tease them apart into thinner circles by carefully spreading the sides apart at the thin edge.

They are nice, because you can scoop up a little glob of vaseline about a half pencil width thick and role them up like a taco. I then just slide it into the normal sized straw. I seal it by closing the end with a pair of needle nose pliers about 1/8" from the edge and burn with a lighter. You have to test the seal for waterproofness and may not get right it everytime. The easist way is to squeeze the finished project and test for air leaks.

I like to cut my fire straws into sections, making three firest straws from 1 piece of straw. I can cram two of those make-up pad cotton balls into each section.

If you use the firestraws strickly to catch the spark, you can get quite a few fires going provided you are dilagent about pre-preparing tinder from the available fuels you have on hand. For example, you can tease out just a tiny section from the cotton ball pad and just shove the rest of the PJC back into the opened straw for the next fire. Since I carry a leatherman with my, I just reseal the firestraw back up after my fire is going. My estimate is that you can get about 4 fires going from a single fire straw (1/3 of full straw length) with this approach. You can probably do better then this, it just depends on how conservative you are with the fuel.

 

[CanDo]

Here's an alternative firestarter with parrafin and wood shavings by langston302:

http://funditor.110mb.com/wiki/index.php/Fatwood/Wax_Firestarter

 

[kgd]

Those look good for kindling, but I kind of doubt they would catch a spark.

There are plenty of pre-packaged tinder's as well. One widely available (almost any camping store) and useful product I've used in the past is Coghlan's firesticks. They are abour $2 and are basically paraffin + wood shavings. I use them like fatwood, just easier to scrape the side into a powder. They catch a spark really nicely from firesteel!

 

[SpookyPistolero]

I was wondering how well those worked compared to fatwood kgd, thanks for posting that. I may have to give some a try. Are they waterproof?

 

[kgd]

yep - they are waterproof given that they are basically paraffin impregnated sawdust. I had a bag that was open for 2+ years in the garage. Tried it out the other day with the firesteel and it caught no problem. I did get a bunch of fatwood about three weeks ago. I'm still learning to use this stuff. I get it to flame from firesteel but it takes me more effort than the firesticks and PJC does - mainly in getting a little pile of fatwood sawdust.

 

[CanDo]

Those look good for kindling, but I kind of doubt they would catch a spark.

There are plenty of pre-packaged tinder's as well. One widely available (almost any camping store) and useful product I've used in the past is Coghlan's firesticks. They are abour $2 and are basically paraffin + wood shavings. I use them like fatwood, just easier to scrape the side into a powder. They catch a spark really nicely from firesteel!

The firestarters shown in the article are basically the same thing. I bet you could similarly shave some off to catch a spark... If not, a derivative using sawdust almost certainly would.

 

[kgd]

Yeah - replacing the wood shavings with the sawdust would work.

 

[markhait]

Check out this link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lltmcfadden/FireStraws

 

[Diomedes Industries]

Check out this link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lltmcfadden/FireStraws

Great link. I could not figure out this thread. Thanks!

TF

 

[coyotebc]

Parrafin soaked string works well.
melt paraffin wax and soak cotton string in it.
allow to dry and cut to length
experiment with different thickness string to see what works best for you.
I like a double twisted length of laundry string. I cut mine so they fit in an old 35mm film container.
It's basically like a candle wick with very little candle
don't use nylon string though