what do you use as a fire lighter/accelerant?

[justacouch]

I saw this in the Gossamer Gear newsletter. Pretty sure this is a equivalent to the 'if it turns clear it's your window to weight gain' test, but anyway, Doritos are apparently flammable:




More great tips here:

http://siriuslymeg.tumblr.com/post/3373 ... ife-easier

[corvus]

I suspect they might take a match or two for ignition
corvus

[Solohike74]

I use solid firelighters from a store. Leftovers may be donated to a hut emergency stocks.

[Onestepmore]

Not sure how I came across this particular video, but it's outlining the many varied uses for tampons in a survival kit (besides the obvious)
2.27 is relevant to using it as fuel for a fire. As they are basically compressed cotton wool, it's more compact than carrying loose cotton wool balls (and multipurpose it seems)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIpcPlSwCMs

[not sure how they'd go in condoms as emergency gloves, but, whatever rocks your boat baby!]

or (to the person suggesting collecting dryer lint) - why not belly button fluff! At last a use!
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=11180&hilit=belly+button+lint - the conversation degenerated around post number 14

[Moondog55]

Been experimenting.
In an emergency ( which is why we carry firelighters ) the hardest thing I find is getting it started. I got some Potassium Nitrate for my tomatoes a while back. An old toilet roll with a little paper left on it and rolled up tightly and tied with jute string; soaked in a nitrate solution and dried in the sun, then saturated with ordinary candle wax at a low temperature. When I tied the string on I made sure I left some loose strands to catch the flame easily. Lights very easily and burns quite hot. A bit easier to light than the old standby of "Little Lucifers"

[Scottyk]

Small pieces of bicycle inner tube say 50mm x 50mm. These are the ultimate fire lighter. They light when wet, burn for ages. Best of all they have zero chance of leaking all through your pack and making everything smell like kero.
I always carry one or two in the first aid kit, never notice they are there but they can be life savers.

[FatCanyoner]

Small pieces of bicycle inner tube say 50mm x 50mm. These are the ultimate fire lighter. They light when wet, burn for ages. Best of all they have zero chance of leaking all through your pack and making everything smell like kero.
I always carry one or two in the first aid kit, never notice they are there but they can be life savers.

+1 I do the exact same thing, also in my first aid kit. They burn dirty, so I only use them as a last option, but they are the best emergency backup firelighter I've found.

[Onestepmore]

I always laugh when I read this thread

[corvus]

Been experimenting.
In an emergency ( which is why we carry firelighters ) the hardest thing I find is getting it started. I got some Potassium Nitrate for my tomatoes a while back. An old toilet roll with a little paper left on it and rolled up tightly and tied with jute string; soaked in a nitrate solution and dried in the sun, then saturated with ordinary candle wax at a low temperature. When I tied the string on I made sure I left some loose strands to catch the flame easily. Lights very easily and burns quite hot. A bit easier to light than the old standby of "Little Lucifers"

G'day Moondog55,
Mate what did you expect from you tomatoes with the addition of saltpetre(Potassium Nitrate) an explosion of flavour personally I use sulphate of potash to add /increase flavour in my Toms.
Now to add to the conversation yes saltpetre ( as a saturated solution does when soaked with paper (tissue is best) makes for really good touch/fuse for homemade pyrotechnics) however it is now harder to source owing to its bomb making ingredient
corvus

[Moondog55]

Still freely available on ebay and at agricultural stores.
Makes for great pyrotechnics when thrown on the campfire at midnite, especially when mixed with white sugar and powdered aluminium/litesalt/magnesium powder/borax etc
Might make some "Bombs" up for August, I'd make up some touch paper too but my beloved would object to the stink in the kitchen besides the ready hard ingredient to buy now is the concentrated Nitric acid

Adds valuable nitrogen in a soluble form and you use it in combination with Potash 1:10 ---1:120

[Rob A]

... especially when mixed with

And your other job is welding rail and tram lines together?

[corvus]

In my youth we used a sodium chlorate sugar mix for our "bombs" gees if we did it today we would be arrested as possible terrorists
corvus

[Moondog55]

... especially when mixed with

And your other job is welding rail and tram lines together?

Sorry I forgot to mention Iron Oxide, Does Condys crystal work??
This is all stuff we used to muck about with when I was a scout, wowsers have taken all the fun out of being a kid.

[Strider]

If your car camping, I find petrol to work well. If not Pandani's or Huon pine burns quite well.

Are you trying to make some sort of point

I am guessing the point he is trying to make is that fires do not belong in Tasmanian wilderness areas.

[Moondog55]

I can remember tho when an axe was mandated group equipment for walks in Tassie, in the olden days when most of our cooking was done over an open fire and only millionaires had down sleeping bags and fuel stoves [and the epitome of modern was nylon webbing on your Mountain Mule rucksac] and I think there were many more people walking the back country then

[madmacca]

Cotton balls soaked in vaseline. (Need to melt it in the microwave

Airline friendly - although you may want to tell them it is for rubbing pn your feet rather than firelighting.

[lawrence]

Meth from my alcohol stove kit

[icefest]

I almost always take a liquid fuel stove (metho or shellite).
If I have a fire I will often cook on said fire so the fuel that would have gone in the stove gets used to light the fire instead.
Metho works best. Shellite you need to be quick and tall. Oil works but is hardest to light.

-icefest

[BillV]

Cotton wool balls and elastic bands... I tie a few elastic bands together into a knot and place on the Cotton wool that has been pulled apart a little to make a small mat....

[Tortoise]

(Need to melt it in the microwave)

Thanks for that tip, Macca. It does work otherwise, but not nearly as effective, I'm sure.

[mrpotter]

Aeroguard is flammable. So are spirits. Always bring scotch but try to avoid lighting fires with it.

Strangely clothes dryer lint always smells like burning hair (I have a well pampered dog and cats), and mine doesn't burn that well probably for that reason.

Most detergents are supposed to be flammable, except the "green" and "organic" variants generally aren't and I buy that kind of junk thinking its helping the environment.

Why do people even take hand sanitiser into the bush? KFC refresher towelettes all the way. They're also flammable. And they're free. And it means I may as well enjoy some KFC while obtaining some.

Vaseline and cotton buds is probably a good trick. I must try that. To be honest I haven't really used any assistants when lighting a fire, I just use what the land provides me and a BIC lighter. I seem to manage even in the rain.

[Strider]

KFC refresher towlettes are not antibacterial.

[mrpotter]

True but I also use dish washing detergent

[Strider]

What for?

[Gadgetgeek]

Another older post brought back to life. A couple of things I've learned:
Test your lint. If you own mostly synthetics, they are full of flame retardant, so you might be left with fire-proof tinder.
If your hand gel is one of the ones with aloe-vera, it might not burn well either, so test that. Even age can matter, as the gel absorbs water from the air.
There is a balance between cotton-fuel that is important. loading the cotton with wax will keep it going a long time, but makes it harder to catch a spark. Not a problem if you have a lighter (different debate)

I'm a fan of big ugly fire-starters. lots of fuel, lots of wick. the idea being that if I've gotten to a point where I need a fire, that thing has to keep burning long enough to cover any possibility that the wood around me is wet, or that I can't break it down as much. I've used wetfire, and it works well, but its not great for long term storeage. So it does need to be replaced every couple years to ensure its still fresh.
Having lit a lot of fires with an assortment of accelerants, my favorite is the old "scout stove" wax and cardboard. It won't leak, gives a nice slow, long burn. If you are careful, it can even be snuffed and used again. Sure there is a bit of a weight cost of the tin can, but there is as well with a little flask of emergency kero, and that is much less reliable in my experience.

[Moondog55]

The wax being hard to light can be fixed, one way is to use two parts paraffin candle wax to one part petroleum jelly the other is to use an oxidising agent in a fibrous wick [ and of course I tend to do both] the coarse and hairy jute string, soaked in the potassium nitrate and allowed to dry lights very easily if kept bone dry, wrapped around the tinder and the whole saturated with the wax mixture is the second most reliable firelighter I know.
The most reliable are store bought "Little Lucifers"
At the moment I am making up my firelighters using toilet roll centres, I think they qualify as 'big and ugly'

[Gadgetgeek]

Its something a buddy and I thought about a lot in Canada. The idea being, If you've gotten to the point where needing a fire is an emergency, the fire-lighter has to work, and work long enough to let you get your fingers working again, and then start feeding it. Ideally you'd have started the fire well before that, but thats the thing. Emergencies are by definition unplanned.

[Moondog55]

They talk about this a LOT in regions where falling through the ice is always a possibility, to the point where some Canadian winter trekkers carry a tin with a pre-prepared fire in it; rip off the tape and use the enclosed Fuzee to light the wick

[north-north-west]

They talk about this a LOT in regions where falling through the ice is always a possibility, to the point where some Canadian winter trekkers carry a tin with a pre-prepared fire in it; rip off the tape and use the enclosed Fuzee to light the wick

Dehydrated, pre-packaged fire. I know it makes sense in those conditions, but . . .

[Moondog55]

Yeah Too much for here I totally agree but the concept is valid.
I made one for my winter USA walk. I used a small flat aluminium tin that originally held Jellonet gauze bandages, 110*110*28mm. Never took it with me so it is still sitting on my gear shelf
Trouble is that Fuzee matches are not available here so you would need those lifeboat matches that need a striker