Knowledge Bomb!

[LifeLine]

Here is a method for making a super easy fire starter using vaseline and cotton balls!

[kennymo]

Been using that trick for years. A ziplock sandwich bag is OK for storing a batch, but I keep mine in an old pill bottle tucked into my pack, less chance of them escaping the packaging and Vaselining all my spare clothes and hunting gear. It's cheap enough to get this stuff at the pharmacy, but you can be fully set up with a couple years supply by spending $2 at the dollar store on el cheapo cotton balls and a jar of non name brand petroleum jelly. We used these every day to light the stove at moose camp last year.

[blacksmithden]

Doritos start fires pretty well too.....and you can eat them....I didn't say they were good for you. Lol.

[Likeaboss]

Doritos start fires pretty well too.....and you can eat them....I didn't say they were good for you. Lol.

Wait, what? Not good for us?

[soulchaser]

Hand sanitizer works well too.

Squirt some on a hunk of bark/cardboard/whatever else is handy, shoot a spark into in with a flint striker and away you go.

I keep the travel size bottles and a striker in my hunting pack, travel survival kit in my hiking/biking pack, both cars, tackle box ect.

[Coke]

Wait, what? Not good for us?

Don't listen to the haters... It's all good...

[IJ22]

'round here we just use birch bark. Burns great and you don't have to pack it.

[tinbird]

coffee whitener (regular not lite)= firestarter

[Foxer]

cotton balls is a very old trick - but i'll do you one better.

Take cotton make up remover pads (must be cotton) and lay them out on some wax paper or other surface. Melt the vaseline (slowly and carefully - petroleum product) and pour a little on each pad. It doesn't take much, you do not want it over saturated but saturated. I usually use a spiral pattern.

Allow to dry.

To use - just pull the pad apart to expose the fibers - they will catch with the slightest spark, even if wet. I've used a dead bic lighter to start them first strike many times.

You don't need a full 'pad' if the wood is even remotely dry, but if it's raining and you're using damp wood then just pull the pad almost in half and light it up. otherwise, a quarter or half of a pad will do nicely.

These are FAR FAR less messy, you don't get all vaseline-y handling them, they work like a charm and they're easier to pack. They will roll up, so you can do the 'straw' trick or keep them in a 'waterproof match' container with a small ferro rod, or a metal 'mint' tin works amazingly well and contains enough for many fires and a fire source. It takes only one or two tries to get the perfect amount of vaseline figured out for a single pad.

Same thing, just a little better and less messy.

[blacksmithden]

cotton balls is a very old trick - but i'll do you one better.

Take cotton make up remover pads (must be cotton) and lay them out on some wax paper or other surface. Melt the vaseline (slowly and carefully - petroleum product) and pour a little on each pad. It doesn't take much, you do not want it over saturated but saturated. I usually use a spiral pattern.

Allow to dry.

To use - just pull the pad apart to expose the fibers - they will catch with the slightest spark, even if wet. I've used a dead bic lighter to start them first strike many times.

You don't need a full 'pad' if the wood is even remotely dry, but if it's raining and you're using damp wood then just pull the pad almost in half and light it up. otherwise, a quarter or half of a pad will do nicely.

These are FAR FAR less messy, you don't get all vaseline-y handling them, they work like a charm and they're easier to pack. They will roll up, so you can do the 'straw' trick or keep them in a 'waterproof match' container with a small ferro rod, or a metal 'mint' tin works amazingly well and contains enough for many fires and a fire source. It takes only one or two tries to get the perfect amount of vaseline figured out for a single pad.

Same thing, just a little better and less messy.

Or you could just stop playing around with all that kids stuff. Boy scout water always saves the day. You can always get a fire going with it.....even if you don't have wood !!!! It comes in assorted size containers. Here's my favorite.