petroleum jelly and cotton balls question

[biggun3006]

Best to heat up the PJ. Be careful doing this. Dip in PJ and wring as much as possible out. If you leave it heavily saturated they are difficult to light.

 

[fixer]

this reminds me of an old joke-

Vaseline: one thousand and one uses, and you know what the one is!

umm, firestarting?

 

[hung-solo]

I like to get my cotton balls thoroughly saturated with PJ. I stuff mine into my RAT/ESEE fire kit and keep a small Vic SAK attached. It works great as a striker and the tweezers are useful for pulling out strands of the PJCBs.

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

exactly how i do it.. works well

 

[kvaughn]

flatten the soaked cotton on a piece of foil and fold/seal

cut an x in the foil fluff and light

can burn by itself for a good while like a candle

What he said but use duct tape instead of foil. The tape burns like crazy.--KV

 

[mtwarden]

Don't forget the ever popular "fire straws" method also.

that's how I carry mine- fit perfectly in a match safe and one is just the right size to get a fire going

 

[knivian]

It is important to make sure that you have cotton balls that are, in fact, 100% cotton. Some are made of some kind of synthetic that is tough to light.

 

[p moore]

PB and CBs work great. I found one other thing that works well also. Never Dull. I use it in the shop, and stuff the used pieces into a small container. Burns like kerosene.

Paul

 

[HandofCod]

My fav way to prepare cotton balls is to pull them apart a little, they usually split in half but not all the way, and butter the inside with pj. Press the two halves back together and work the pj into the cotton a bit. Done!

I store them in lightweight aluminium tubes and line the bottom and sides with a thick strip of paper to draw the cotton balls out when I can't reach with my fingers.

 

[j williams]

Lots of good advise here.

PJ cotton is a great firestarter. Packs down small, and foolproof to use once you get the hang of it.

It isnt all about the tinder though....make sure you have good technique with your ferro rod be it LMF or misch.

Another thing I urge you to do is practice with natural tinders. Thistles, cedar bark, cat tail fluff, the inner fluff from milkweed pods, dry grass, heartwood scrapings, or even fatwood or birch bark if its in your area. It will improve your technique, and it will familiarize you with what you have in your area. I pack a small tin of pj cotton in my PSK, but I hardly ever use it.

 

[rnr]

I make a variation of this that works pretty well.

Melt parafin wax and mix the PJ to about a 60/40 split (wax/PJ). Dip the pure cotton balls in the mixture to about 1/2 way. This leaves cotton exposed to light. This gives a ball that is easier to handle with out the messy sticky mess that you'd get w/ only PJ.

When lit, the ball will burn for a good 10-15 minutes because of the cotton/wax mixture acts like a candle. The PJ makes it easy to start and keeps it burning when it might blow out.

I keep them in a snack size ziplock bag.