Made Some Fire Straws

Guyon

Guyon

Biscuit Whisperer
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Just an FYI...

I used a 1/4" piece of dowel to pack them. Turned out to be the best way to compress the PJ-impregnated cotton in the straws. Tried the Q-tip, but the dowel worked a lot better.

I made mine with big red straws from Sonic. Same size as the McD's straws but a solid red color. I packed a couple of long ones for backpacks and then several shorter ones for survival kits.

Sealing ends seemed to work best when I left about 1/4" of the straw sticking out beyond the grip of the needle nose pliers. I would light it, melt it all the way down to the pliers, and then let it cool for a bit before I released the grip.
 
I still have mine in my minikit from 3 years ago. They last forever and still cost less than a dime!

I tried using a giant pixy stik a few months ago and it was pretty neat. I am not sure it was any better, just different.

The purpose of the Qtip was to clean the PJ before lighting to seal. When I used a dowel I had a few pretty good flare-ups!

JP
 
plattj1 said:
The purpose of the Qtip was to clean the PJ before lighting to seal. When I used a dowel I had a few pretty good flare-ups!

JP
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I had a little flare up, but nothing bad. Always had the straw clamped tight with the pliers so that only a little of the PJ ignited--just the trace amount at the mouth of the straw.
 
Survival straws?

I never thought of that.Do you fill them with saturated cotton?

I have been using saturated cotton soaked in vaseline for about 8 years now but I carry it in 35mm film cannisters.

Packing it in straws would be way more space efficient.
 
Seal the end of a straw, pack it with PJ and cotton, then seal the other end. It can be any length, it's waterproof and cheap. When it comes time to light it, slit lengthwise and fluff. A 3" version will burn for about 2 minutes.
 
sopmodm4 said:
Survival straws? I never thought of that.Do you fill them with saturated cotton?
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For more info on Firestraw construction, follow the links in the posting linked below for info on Fire Straws from Last Confederate, whose description of them was the first exposure I had to them.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3396822&postcount=16

Guyon, Have you done any "test drives" igniting with a spark some of the ones you made??
 
I am pretty sure the first time the term 'firestraw' was mentioned was in an article in the "Backwoodsman" magazine a couple of years ago. After that article the idea flew around the internet for a couple of months, then it settled down. I only mention it to give Charlie Ritchey and "Backwoodsman" a plug, he prints a lot of survival stuff and gives new ideas a chance which is rare in publishing these days. If you are not a reader then look for it, there are lots of good ideas every month.

JP
 
Enough that the cotton is completely saturated but not so much that you cannot fluff the cotton to still catch a spark. I know that is non-exact, but it is the best description I can come up with. Try it and the anount will become evident.

JP
 
Hi all:
I've been making & using these since reading about them here a year or so ago.(THANKS Last Confederate!).
I actually use a small screwdriver to poke the cotton into the straws , my 11 year old daughter likes to do that part. Then instead of melting the ends to seal them I pour a couple of drops of melted candle wax in there. I like to do that part. I tried melting the ends , but didn't have much good luck getting a good seal.
Some of the wax is absorbed into the cotton & the excess will seal the ends.
The wax also adds a little bit to the "burnability", if that's a word , of the things.
I also take the time to put 3 of them onto a piece of clear 2" plastic tape & fold it over on top of itself to seal them all up in that. It just keeps them together & with 3 of them in there it just seems handier to me.
Thanks for reading.
Cliff Nieporte
 
RokJok said:
Guyon, Have you done any "test drives" igniting with a spark some of the ones you made??
Click to expand...
I tried a 2" straw last night with a firesteel. Didn't want to take a spark at first, so I fluffed a little more, and it started right up. Should have timed it more carefully, but it burned between a minute-and-a-half to two minutes.

Cliff Nieporte said:
I tried melting the ends , but didn't have much good luck getting a good seal.
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Cliff, the method I used was as follows, and I had good luck with it. I always left about 3/8" to 1/2" unfilled. Then, I clamped right up next to the packed cotton with the tip of some needle-nosed pliers. That left about 1/4" sticking out past the pliers. I lit the plastic and kept the flame on it till it burned all the way down to the pliers and melted together well. Sometimes, I had to blow out the flame. After just a few seconds of cooling, the straw was fine to put down. No problems with plastic sticking to the pliers.
 
Guyon, you motivated me. I went to 7-11 and got some of their large orange straws (super duper big gulp, or whatever) and made some with your technique. I couldn't stuff them in, had to twist tightly. I made them about 4.5 inches long, and that would hold 2 cotton balls. I ended up using a candle, it was much more convenient. After I was done and the candle was blown out, I decided (on a whim) to dip each end into the liquid candle wax, what Cliff mentioned kind of gave me this idea. Not real sturdy, but if they don't get banged around much, maybe a little better sealing.
 
sodak, take one outside in the wind for a test and see what you think.

You could just light it with a Bic, but I chose to try a fire steel since that method would be my last resort (well, almost my last resort) behind a Bic and waterproof matches.

You might want to do better than me and actually time your burn. Be interested in hearing how long a 4.5" straw's cotton burns.

Oh, and it's not *my* technique. I read it here first. That's just what worked for me.
 
i now add a pinch of powdered pitchwood to my pj balls. (turns it dark brown like bear turds, lol). this increases the pj ball burn time. i found a normal pj ball burns 3-4 minutes or so, these "bear turds" burn 5-7 minutes with less soot. experiment and see how it works for you.

dhawk
 
plattj1 said:
I am pretty sure the first time the term 'firestraw' was mentioned was in an article in the "Backwoodsman" magazine a couple of years ago. After that article the idea flew around the internet for a couple of months, then it settled down. I only mention it to give Charlie Ritchey and "Backwoodsman" a plug, he prints a lot of survival stuff and gives new ideas a chance which is rare in publishing these days. If you are not a reader then look for it, there are lots of good ideas every month.

JP
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I blatantly admit that's where I saw them, ASG also did an article several years ago before it went under. :D

I LOVED that magazine!
 
The Last Confederate said:
I blatantly admit that's where I saw them, ASG also did an article several years ago before it went under. :D

I LOVED that magazine!
Click to expand...

It's no big deal, but if mistakes on the internet go unchallenged then they later become viewed as true. The first time that the term 'firestraw' or the idea of a 'firestraw' was published was in "Backwoodsman" magazine in March/April of 2002.
 
That may be the first time you saw a reference to the idea, but I still have some that are over 5 years old that I made after reading about them, so they had to be known before 2002.
 
Whatever.... you need to do a little more research. I know for a fact that it was an article in "Backwoodsman" but it's no big deal. I was just trying to give a good magazine a plug.
 
Guyon said:
sodak, take one outside in the wind for a test and see what you think.

You could just light it with a Bic, but I chose to try a fire steel since that method would be my last resort (well, almost my last resort) behind a Bic and waterproof matches.

You might want to do better than me and actually time your burn. Be interested in hearing how long a 4.5" straw's cotton burns.

Oh, and it's not *my* technique. I read it here first. That's just what worked for me.
Click to expand...

Guyon,

I probably won't have time for this until the new year, due to the holidays, family, etc., but I will get to it. Do you pull the end out and light it like a candle? I'll try it with a firesteel and then a bic as a last resort, and yes, I'll time it and post the results.

Thanks for the technique clarification. I was actually referring to pinching the end with a pliers and sealing it with a flame v.s. dropping candle wax into the end of the straw. But no worries! I bet superglue would work well too!
 
plattj1 said:
Whatever.... you need to do a little more research. I know for a fact that it was an article in "Backwoodsman" but it's no big deal. I was just trying to give a good magazine a plug.
Click to expand...

My "research" is just fine, I know quite well when I made them.

11 post and the next Ron Hood has arrived. :rolleyes:
 
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