PJCB vs Dryer lint vs Fatwood dust

myright

myright

Gold Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2008
Messages
5,178
Alright - I put together an altoids tin worth of fire goodies a few days ago and is now to try out which is the best.

Dryer lint all by itself with some fatwood shavings on top. I threw three sparks at it and it caught. Dryer lint burns VERY fast, actually too fast for me. I feel as if I'd have to use A LOT of lint to get a good flame to catch some small tinder.

Next - Fatwood dust....... It blew away before I could throw a spark at it.:mad: I had it on a small piece of paper in my grill so it would have been better on the ground with no paper underneath... Better luck next time. :D

Lastly was the PJCB - ONE strike on the rod and she was all flames. :thumbup: I threw a few small pieces of fatwood on top then a larger peice and it burned just fine. The cotton ball was not saturated with PJ, just wiped in the container and folded over on itself and stored in a zip-lock.

I want to go round 2 with the fatwood dust because I think it would work great. I just need some patience to make the dust. I was using a LM Juice with a saw and small piece of wood, so it was tough to get a good amount of dust. I also want to try and add some twine in the mix.

I'm still learning so bare with me here. This is my first time ever using PJCB and I was really surprised at how well it worked. I"m not sure I'll keep the lint in the kit.


Here's some pics - enjoy.

019-5.jpg


020-4.jpg


PJCB

021-6.jpg


LINT

022-4.jpg
 
Yep PJCB - pretty much the best stuff on earth for catching a firesteel spark! Catches the spark easily, doesn't blow around that much, and burns a long time.

Also good for chapped lips, skin rashes and protecting your carbon steel blades. I'm told that petroleum jelly has other uses too :D Just don't store it with your condoms in your kit, as it will weaken them and prevent you from carrying a full litre of water in the condom.
 
I was praticing my fire starting out in the backyard today.I used dryer lint although it worked i will agree that it burned up fast.I will have to try the cottonballs next time.
 
i'm not a fan of dryer lint...i agree that it burns too fast. you also have to try avoid loads with large amounts of synthetic fabrics, as the lint won't burn as well as with a load of cotton.

i'm a huge fan of PJCB, but i like fatwood even more, mostly because its less messy.

i filled up an altoids tin with fatwood shavings. i made the shavings by using my firesteel scraper and a fatwood stick and just sitting down and scraping and scraping until the stick was gone and the tin was full. took about 10 minutes. this makes almost ribbon-y types of scrapings, which catch a spark well. you can also just carry a stick of fatwood and make scrapings, toothpicks to catch a flame, and larger chunks to really get the fire going, all out of one piece with no mess in your pocket. its also replenishable "in the field" in many areas.

i would suggest replacing the printer paper with some waxed paper, i like that stuff alot too.

i demonstrate waxed paper and fatwood in this video, if you are interested.
 
myright said:
Next - Fatwood dust....... It blew away before I could throw a spark at it.:mad:

I want to go round 2 with the fatwood dust because I think it would work great. I just need some patience to make the dust. I was using a LM Juice with a saw and small piece of wood, so it was tough to get a good amount of dust.
Click to expand...

I don't mean to sound rude, but your problems with the fatwood are because you are doing it wrong. You want scrapings, not sawdust. The scrapings are larger, heavier, kind of lock together, and are more resistant to blowing away. They are also faster to make. (About 10 seconds.) Also, they have more surface area, and thus catch sparks more easily. Also, they combust more fully, because they allow for a better flow of oxygen.

Look at this, at the part that says "4) tinder preparation", about halfway down the page:

http://www.mikespinak.com/articles/Essays/e994firesteelhowto.html
 
I just carry a small tube of the Vaseline Intensive Therapy instead of premixing the cottonballs. Squirt a noodle of it on the cotton, no muss-no fuss, works great. Fatwood shavings and curlycues and #0000 steel wool, all good stuff...
 
Fatwood dust works better if you sprinkle it on a square of duct tape.

PJ balls are awesome, dryer lint is ok, however it is very low on my list of tinders due to its fast burn time.
 
I like Don's idea of carrying a tube of Vaseline. I do the same thing but with Purell. Vaseline will burn longer, I believe and I really should add a tube to each pack as I'd prefer to keep the Purell for my hands.

I hate dryer lint because it often has hair in it and burns too quickly. It would be a real mess with pj. Haven't tried fatwood.
 
I like both the fatwood and PJCBs. They work great and are pretty water resistant as well. The dryer lint has to be kept dry or it won't work well in my experience. I've used char cloth before with good results, but again it must be kept dry.
 
Evolute said:
I don't mean to sound rude, but your problems with the fatwood are because you are doing it wrong. You want scrapings, not sawdust. The scrapings are larger, heavier, kind of lock together, and are more resistant to blowing away. They are also faster to make. (About 10 seconds.) Also, they have more surface area, and thus catch sparks more easily. Also, they combust more fully, because they allow for a better flow of oxygen.

Look at this, at the part that says "4) tinder preparation", about halfway down the page:

http://www.mikespinak.com/articles/Essays/e994firesteelhowto.html
Click to expand...

Nah, bro. you don't sound rude at all. That's actually very helpful. Thanks a lot. I figured sawdust would be pretty similar to scrapings and hadn't stopped to realized the slight size difference would make that much of a difference.
 
I was a dryer lint guy, and kinda still am, I have too many bags of the stuff.:O

I do however use cotton twined together that I got from bushman, fluff it up a little and Im good to go.
I never was too worried about how fast it burned, I've usually got stuff prepared before hand. I see 4 steps in my fire making.

Ignitor (lint, cotton)
Shavings
Pencil sized splits
then about double the size.

After that its what ever I can find to put on it, with in reason of course.
 
Fonly said:
I was a dryer lint guy, and kinda still am, I have too many bags of the stuff.:O

I do however use cotton twined together that I got from bushman, fluff it up a little and Im good to go.
I never was too worried about how fast it burned, I've usually got stuff prepared before hand. I see 4 steps in my fire making.

Ignitor (lint, cotton)
Shavings
Pencil sized splits
then about double the size.

After that its what ever I can find to put on it, with in reason of course.
Click to expand...

Yup, what he said. :thumbup:
 
Thanks for the comparison! I have had pretty much the same troubles as everyone here with dryer lint. It lights quick but lasts all of what, 5 seconds? I have made and tested some PJCB and they last 1000 times longer than dryer lint. They're a little messy to make but their ability to take a spark and stay lit for a minute or two make them a lot more effective.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top