vaseline/cotton balls

I buy those containers with cotton face pads. You can find them in the cheapo section at Target. I coat each with a smear of vaseline and pop them back into the container. Works great!
 
Instead of cotton balls, I use lint form the dryer and I individually wrap them in a 2"X2" aluminum foil square. That way when I go to start a fire, all I have to do is unwrap a foil packet, and use the foil as a base...nice and easy with no mess in the field. I store 4 or 5 of them in a tiny plastic bag...
 
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I like using the straws too.

I melt a couple drops of wax in each end to seal them,them wrap some of them in clear plastic tape to keep them together:

tinder1.jpg

Cliff
 
I have 2 methods.

I open up a ziplock bag, and turn it inside out. I put it on my hand, like a glove, take a scoop out of a large petroleum jelly jar, and then turn it right side out. Then I add cotton balls, burp the air out, seal it up, and knead it. No mess.

The other way for small packs, is to scoop a cotton ball into pj, then put it on duct tape, and seal the duct tape shut. When I need it, I cut an x onto the duct tape, pull some out, and light. The duct tape is nice for keeping it from blowing away, and also burns.
 
I take cotton ribbing cord (found at wally world), cut it into 1" sections, drop them in a ziploc with a dab of vaseline and smear them around. Then I take the pieces and seal them up individually in duct tape. Protects them and when I need to use one I just take my knife and cut a slit in the duct tape, pick out some of the cotton and strike the fire steel. Burns nice and long and the duct tape actually burns nicely too.

I'll see if I can get some pics to post soon.

Charlie
 
sodak said:
I have 2 methods.

I open up a ziplock bag, and turn it inside out. I put it on my hand, like a glove, take a scoop out of a large petroleum jelly jar, and then turn it right side out. Then I add cotton balls, burp the air out, seal it up, and knead it. No mess.

The other way for small packs, is to scoop a cotton ball into pj, then put it on duct tape, and seal the duct tape shut. When I need it, I cut an x onto the duct tape, pull some out, and light. The duct tape is nice for keeping it from blowing away, and also burns.
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That is a great idea.
 
I dump the PB in a freezer bag (a little tougher) throw in the cotton balls put that in a bowl and microwave (keeping an eye on it) in a few seconds the pj liquefies enough to saturate the cotton balls - your done. Does not take long and I watch the entire time, could use warm water to the same effect if the microwave makes you nervous.
 
Am I the only one who uses wax instead of PJ? I've used both, but I seem to get a stronger/longer burn with wax. I usually melt the wax over a sterno stove inside a disposable aluminum tray. Once the wax is melted I either flash dunk them or coat the cotton ball by drizzling wax over it. Once they dry you have a nice hard shell on the outside. To use them, I just crack one open and expose the fluffy inside and strike with a ferro rod. I usually make a bunch and throw them into a ziplock bag or a travel soap container. The big advantage with the PJ however, is that you can rip off small pieces instead of using an entire cotton ball.
 
Wax is a great idea. Another forumite used to combine two with the top having pj, and the bottom wax. He would then wrap them in tin foil, looking like a big Hershey's kiss.
 
I don't bother anymore, but when I did have them in my kit, I packed the cotton balls dry, and had a few packs of "neo-to-go" They are small foil packs of neosporin. If I needed them for a cut, they were there. If I wanted them for fire, I would pull a cotton ball apart, open a neo pack and massage a bit in and POOF! Flamage!
 
myright said:
How long do you guys let them sit in your kit between replacing them or using them? How long will they stay good?
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I've used some that were sealed airtight in a medicine bottle that were 3 years old and they lit just fine.
 
If you're bringing a ferriconium rod along you really don't want to completely saturate the cotton balls. You want the centers to be dry enough to easily take a spark. Just before use you want to turn the balls inside out, so the dry bits are accessable to the spark. They still burn a good long time - certainly long enough to light a fire.

I just put a handfull of jumbo cotton balls in a plastic bag, add a glob of petroleum jelly, close the bag, and then massage it until the balls are covered.
 
I've decided that the easiest thing for me is to give a cotton ball a small squirt of hand sanitizer before I light it. I carry small bottles of the sanitizer anyway and I find using PJ is just messy. Around here though there is so much natural tinder that I rarely use these anyway. Regardless, I carry at least a dozen dry cotton balls with each little fire kit along with some Wet Fire and Tinder Quik just in case I need something else. I also carry one or two broken Coughlin's Fire Sticks as a bit of kindling if needed.
 
Rockywolf said:
I buy those containers with cotton face pads. You can find them in the cheapo section at Target. I coat each with a smear of vaseline and pop them back into the container. Works great!
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I do the same, just made up a few for an ATV ride we're going on tomorrow.
Except all I do is pull each apart (the outer layers sandwich the fluffy core), put a dab of PJ in the center, close 'em back up and package.
When you want to use one, the outer sides are relatively dry so just peel it open again and hit it with the firesteel.
 
I would be the first to admit that I was skeptical at first about pj saturated cotton balls, but in my experiments, you really can't have too much pj in the cotton ball. Even after several tests, I still have a hard time believing you really don't need any "dry" cotton to catch a spark.

This is my "recipe" for petroleum jelly cotton jelly. I take a large jar of pj, ignoring the smirks from the checkout girls, and put it in a pan of hot water until the grease completely liquifies. Then I dunk the cotton balls completely into the liquid, pull them out with my fingers, squeeze the excess out of the cotton, and ram it into the pill bottle. I don't work too hard getting the pj squeezed out, because the pj burns very easily and makes the flame last, i.e. more pj equals longer burn-time.

I've also tried the paraffin, but I had a hard time getting the fibers to separate sufficiently to catch the spark. Once the your flame is hot enough to light a paraffin ball, I find they make a good secondary tinder. Maybe someone else can get a wax-cotton blob to catch, but so far I haven't gotten quite that far. I like the wax balls better, because they are less gooey, once they have cooled. I have four or five tucked away, but I can't imagine a situation where the pjcb wouldn't work but where wax-cotton balls would.
 
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PrimitiveMan said:
I don't bother anymore, but when I did have them in my kit, I packed the cotton balls dry, and had a few packs of "neo-to-go" They are small foil packs of neosporin. If I needed them for a cut, they were there. If I wanted them for fire, I would pull a cotton ball apart, open a neo pack and massage a bit in and POOF! Flamage!
Click to expand...

Great idea, double duty. I will probably use that one
 
i use the wax method... my ferro and a couple in the pocket.... the rest in a ziplock in the pack.... u break off as little as u need off the "rock", or just smash it up w a rock.... made sure to soak the pocket gear last time out...(i fell in grins) and everything went from dripping to smash to spark to fire... in heavy wind... i like em a lot...
 
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