Jute/wax/leather/ferro/fatwood & a blade!

[sodak]

If you want to save them, intact, wrap securely with aluminum foil. The one I posted to show it as a slow match has probably been in the back room for 4 years.

If your wife liberates them for decorative purposes, tell her to spray them with hair spray to prevent a 'fuzz storm'.

Doc

Will do, Doc, thanks for the tip!

I haven't tried jute. Where does one find jute? String? twine? Does it matter?

Thanks in advance.

I got mine at Home Depot, probably any hardware store has it. I got the twine, works great!

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Try the dollar stores. Every one around here carries jute.

Doc

 

[peripatew]

B5, try pounding on one end with a small rock. That REALLY fluffs them up! You might not need the fatwood after that.

I tried soaking some cotton balls in bee's wax and let them harden. Couldn't use them at all until I crushed them a lot! A couple of smart hits with a stone, turning them as I hit, and I had a very furry, waxy, fire bomb. Took a spark from a flint & steel kit without using char cloth.

Stitchawl

How long would you say the WCB lasted compared to a PJCB?

 

[DOC-CANADA]

B5, you just gave me a great idea (I think). Since I have never taken bits of cordage for granted, ever since I learned how to make cordage from plant materials, I have a ton of pieces of jute around from making nets, pouches, bags, etc. that I have joined together in a 'string ball'. You older types will know what I mean.

I always thought that someday, I could find a use for it. I have given some balls away to gardeners, who didn't care about the much-knotted cordage but this may even be better.

Your wax-impregnated jute bundles are a great idea, especially when you need a lot of sustained flame to start a fire in less-than-optimal conditions. So I propose to carry it one step further and include wooden matches in the bundle much like these fire starters:

The advantage to doing this is it would make lighting the bundle much easier, especially when cold and your fine motor skills are lacking. A great resource for canoeing, if you dump in cold weather. Also, there is no need to look for a source of ignition.

I'll post some pictures when I do them.

Thanks B5.

Doc

 

[KuRUpTD]

I'm liking that idea ... are those strike anywhere matches ?

 

[DOC-CANADA]

I'm liking that idea ... are those strike anywhere matches ?

Yes.

Doc

 

[go2ndAmend]

Why the double boiler? I just use an old soup can with wax in it and heat it on low on the stove. Am I missing something?

 

[stitchawl]

How long would you say the WCB lasted compared to a PJCB?

The bee's wax cotton balls rate of burn can be controlled depending upon how much you fluff it up before you light it. A completely crushed one burned completely in about 5 minutes with a large flame, but one that I only fluffed up one small corner burned like a candle and lasted quite a while... say, 20-25 minutes. In comparison, I couldn't control the rate of burn at all with PJCB .

I think my most important reason for preferring wax over PJ is that it's less messy. They both burn well. I wish I had a way of measuring the burning temperature of each. That might be an important consideration.

Stitchawl

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Why the double boiler? I just use an old soup can with wax in it and heat it on low on the stove. Am I missing something?

Wax has a flash point (maybe somebody else knows what it is) so if you exceed it, it bursts into flames. With a double boiler, the temperature can't exceed 212 degrees (approximate, depending on where you live), so therefore is safer.

BTW, I made some jute bundles with inserted strike-anywhere matches. Once I test them, I'll give you a report. Besides the matches, I tied what was left of the suspension (in the wax) cord around the body and fluffed it up, so if for whatever reason, the matches wouldn't light, it would be easy to spark it up with a ferro rod.

 

[peripatew]

The bee's wax cotton balls rate of burn can be controlled depending upon how much you fluff it up before you light it. A completely crushed one burned completely in about 5 minutes with a large flame, but one that I only fluffed up one small corner burned like a candle and lasted quite a while... say, 20-25 minutes. In comparison, I couldn't control the rate of burn at all with PJCB .

I think my most important reason for preferring wax over PJ is that it's less messy. They both burn well. I wish I had a way of measuring the burning temperature of each. That might be an important consideration.

Stitchawl

Hum, interesting point on heat output.

 

[peripatew]

BTW, I made some jute bundles with inserted strike-anywhere matches. Once I test them, I'll give you a report. Besides the matches, I tied what was left of the suspension (in the wax) cord around the body and fluffed it up, so if for whatever reason, the matches wouldn't light, it would be easy to spark it up with a ferro rod.

Those look wicked! I'm wonder if NATO/REI storm matches would work any better? Seems having the tips not to exposed is a good thing, wouldn't want them to break off.

 

[go2ndAmend]

Thanks Doc. Learn something new everyday. This is a great thread. I'm looking forward to the results of the match impregnated fire-bombs.

 

[Rotte]

Well this Jute concept seized me, and while I was out and about I found some jute twine at Lowe's. Made some little bundles and soaked 'em in hot paraffin wax.

Of course I had to test 'em out, so outside with the fire steel I went. Windy evening. Mashed one end until it was a soft waxy fluff. A few sparks and...FIRE!

My significant other comes home, pulls into the drive way, sees me playing with my little fire, and says "you are weird."

Without hesitation I retort, "No, I'm a WSS member."

Great idea guys, thanks for sharing, worked like a champ. Sorry for the lame pictures, my auto-focus isn't working consistently, but I figured that without pictures it didn't happen....

 

[mtnfolk mike]

Well this Jute concept seized me, and while I was out and about I found some jute twine at Lowe's. Made some little bundles and soaked 'em in hot paraffin wax.

Of course I had to test 'em out, so outside with the fire steel I went. Windy evening. Mashed one end until it was a soft waxy fluff. A few sparks and...FIRE!

My significant other comes home, pulls into the drive way, sees me playing with my little fire, and says "you are weird."

Without hesitation I retort, "No, I'm a WSS member."

Great idea guys, thanks for sharing, worked like a champ. Sorry for the lame pictures, my auto-focus isn't working consistently, but I figured that without pictures it didn't happen....

great stuff rotte...:thumbup: i'm going to have to give em' a try... we have tons of jute twine laying around..

as for the misses, you're definately not alone bro, my wife think i'm wierd too... i'm sure plenty of others are in the same boat...

cheers.. mike

 

[go2ndAmend]

Just a thought. How about instead of, or inadditon to, strike anywhere matches, wrapping the firebomb with waterproof cannon fuse. I believe this would ensure ignition of the firebomb under extreme conditions. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Well, I said I would give you a report about how well the match-inserted jute/wax fire starters worked - they didn't!!!

Like the other thread about wax-dipped matches is saying, the wax is deleteriously affecting the matches. The thing that puzzles me is they used to work fine!

I tried 2 of them (3 matches at each end) and neither one of them lit.

When I struck the matches, all that happened is the white stuff on the matches chipped off. So I thought, maybe striking on a rock is just too rough on the matches, so the last 3 I struck on my Vic Spirit file - same result.
I think what I am going to try next is to coat the matches with nail polish and drill a hole in the jute bundle in which to insert the matches. If and when I do, I'll report.

The bundles, themselves, worked fine though, when lit with a lighter.

 

[peripatew]

Thanks for testing it out Doc.

 

[tholiver]

The jute firestarters look cool!
:thumbup:

Doc what brand strike anywhere matches are you using? probably the same ones they sell here.
Down here i have never found a brand of strike-anywhere matches that are worth a d*mn.
With the ones around here the only way to get them to flame is to strike them against the side of the box or strike one match head off another match head.
And even striking one off another doesn't always work as the white tips break off really easy.
And coating them in wax makes them worse.
I stopped buying them altogether and went back to regular matches.
Actually nowadays i use those big Touch brand wooden kitchen matches that Canadian tire sells.

Can anybody recommend a good brand of strike anywheres?
Ones that work as good as they do in the old Clint Eastwood Spaghetti westerns?

 

[1_BIG_BUNKER]

I have done more tests on this subject than I can remember. I will give you a basic outline of what I have come up with.

First I decided how long did I actually want matches to hold up to being under water or exposed to water, and still be able to start a fire with at least 90% of them working.

Long story short, I have found that nail strengthener works better than the polish or anything else with a single coating. I have coated them with several coats and then they truly are waterproof, but they almost always failed to produce a flame when struck. They would just fizzle like fuze and never produced a flame to start a fire. The head just could not burn through the coating and start a flame.

I have found that anything past about three coats of whatever you are using tends to increase match failure of producing a flame without any real gain in waterproofness at all. I have never had any luck at all with wax covered matches. I just don't do it.

For myself, I have come to the conclusion that one coat of nail strengthener is all you really need to make the match water resistant if I am going into an area where high moisture is a concern. Otherwise, a good match safe with plain old matches is what I use. Nothing coated or fantsy at all. I spend more time vacuum sealing a Bic lighter for emergencies than coating matches.

 

[kgd]

Darn Doc - you had me all fired up (pun) there. Great idea that looks like it needs a bit of fine tuning. Kind of like a handy-man's version of a road flare. Anxious to hear if simple mods to your original design work like incorporating Big Bunker's nail strengthener and taking care to keep the wax away from the match heads.

BTW - how did the match stuck in a Coglan firestick work out? That looks like a design that could work well with BigBunker's nail strengthener technique.