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Comment by Eric W. Heauser on July 8, 2011 at 5:28pm

Just like cotton balls, you can add Vaseline.  This will make it water resistant and extend burn time.

 

Comment by Sandra on July 8, 2011 at 3:15pm

One thing I've learned is that plain old dryer lint is an excellent fire starter.  Just put some in a zip-loc bag to keep it dry and try using that the next time you start a fire.  Like cotton balls, dryer lint will burn up quickly, so make sure you feed the fire quickly with other flammable material - dry grasses, very small dry twigs, and so on.

Comment by Sandra on January 2, 2011 at 10:34pm

My "Year of the Fire" is coming to a close.  I've tried quite a number of ways to make fire including different varities of matches.  Storm matches, for example, are the match equivalent of a concentrated, intense firework on a short stick.  No way can this thing blow out or burn out under any conditions.

The one fire lighter that has become my favorite is the Sparkie Fire Starter which can be used one handed if necessary.  This one has the flint end exposed, but there is also one that has an attached cap that covers the flint end.  It's called a Blast Match.  Both are made by Ultimate Survival Technologies, which makes a number of high quality products.

This next year I want to concentrate on learning more about medicinal herbs, roots, bark, etc. in the back country.  My first "mission" is to figure out way to treat burns - pain, infection, and healing.  

I will post what I find out about treating burns, cuts, etc. with naturally growing plants in the Wild Edibles & Medicinals Group.  I prefer to treat things with regular OTC products, but you never know when you'll be somewhere and not have those pre-packaged products handy and available.  Must be a hold-over from my Girl Scout days: Be Prepared!

Comment by Sandra on December 27, 2010 at 9:48pm

Yup, I figured out that one the hard way lol.  Tinder tabs are the same way.  I just wonder how people do in a survival situation who have never tried out their survival pack in advance and figured out the little quirks of it.

Comment by Eric W. Heauser on July 20, 2010 at 9:55pm

Be Aware...
To light those, Especially with Vasaline worked into them, to make waterproof, There is a proper way to make them "Ignitable" You MUST expose as many little fiber edges as possible, in order for the spark to catch and ignite !! Failure to do so, may cost you a lot of time and aggravation. It only takes a few seconds, but will GREATLY improve your chances at a quick , long lasting fire.

Comment by Sandra on July 20, 2010 at 3:45pm

A good fire starter is simply the lint from the dryer. It catches quickly and easily. Another good fire starter is to soak some cotton balls in petroleum jelly (Vaseline) -- they will catch fire even in damp weather.

Comment by Jon Slagter on January 7, 2010 at 12:26am

In our scout troop we were playing (experimenting) with a few different ways to start fire. One interesting method we tried used the parabolic reflector from an old 6 volt lantern. This was about a 4 in polished reflector with a hole in the center for the bulb (removed).
We stuffed some dry grass and other tinder through the center hole and raised it to the focal point of the reflector. When held at the corret angle to the sun it got us a fire quite quickly with almost no effort.

Comment by Sandra on October 6, 2009 at 2:52am

Check out our most recent entries under "Fire Starters / Tinder" and add your ideas, too.

Comment by Eric W. Heauser on August 13, 2009 at 9:37pm

Infineon is "down the road" from me (about 10 minutes) I may go - haven't decided yet. I will be going to Dillon Beach in Sept. I haven't been there in a long time.

Comment by Sandra on August 13, 2009 at 3:15pm

Plz let us know about that video, Jim -- I for one would love to see it.

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