# Simple pyromaniac fire starter.



## Magus

Materials:

A plastic soap box or other similiar airtight container,a baby food jar is good too if you have space.

A handfull of cotton balls.

Pack your container with the cotton balls and pour in some used motor oil,let it soak in and add some more.

Now you have some hot burning tinder to use in those less than ideal conditions!


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## endurance

Similarly, but more compact, I use cotton balls I've rolled around in Vasoline and put them in 35mm film canisters. They light with just a spark and a half cotton ball will burn for three minutes (plenty of time to start your kindling).


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## JeepHammer

Magus said:


> Materials:
> 
> A plastic soap box or other similiar airtight container,a baby food jar is good too if you have space.
> 
> A handfull of cotton balls.
> 
> Pack your container with the cotton balls and pour in some used motor oil,let it soak in and add some more.
> 
> Now you have some hot burning tinder to use in those less than ideal conditions!


Motor Oil gives of lots of black smoke and toxic fumes.

Glass jars break break easily.

A much better alternative is cotton balls, 
(I keep the 'long' cotton that comes out of the top of pill bottles)
And plain old discount Petroleum Jelly.

If you are just starting a fire for heat/light and not cooking over it,
You can try cotton or cotton cloth strips, like old blue jean material or even news paper, and petroleum grease, like any old axle grease.

Petroleum Jelly makes MUCH less smoke, much less fumes, and you can mix up the cotton/petroleum jelly in any old plastic bag.

It's Water Proof (petroleum jelly won't let the water soak into the cotton fibers),
Light Weight, 
Cost Effective,
And will start burning with nothing more than a striker tool.
-------------

If you want a longer burning tinder/fuel then use paraffin wax with cardboard or cotton. 
(about any kind of cellulose material)

I use a lot of cardboard/paraffin fire starters/stoves because they are self sealing, 
IE: Waterproof, and burn a good long time with good heat,

I use cotton/petroleum jelly tender for the same reason,
AND,
*Petroleum Jelly has lots of medical uses,*
Lip Balm, disinfectant for cuts/scrapes, treatment for gear 'Rubs', (abrasions from boots, packs, belts rubbing skin).
Petroleum Jelly will sooth those insect bites and helps with sun burns on the skin...

Can't do that with used motor oil!


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## Magus

I'm bad to use what I have plenty of.

Another great fire starter is those cheap birthday candles,I've seen them recently for a quarter a box!get the wick wet?break off some!


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## endurance

Jeep, similar to your paraffin wax with cardboard, I've used tea light candles, melted them down, removed the wicks, and replaced the wick with a 2.5" long x 1/2" tall strip of coiled compressed cardboard (like the kind that backs a legal pad). It gives a much more controlled 2.5-4" nearly smokeless fire for about 20-30 minutes. It's perfect for heating a snow cave when you wake up in the middle of the night shivering. Warms you right up, but doesn't go so long as to start serious melting on the inside of the cave.


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## JeepHammer

endurance said:


> Jeep, similar to your paraffin wax with cardboard, I've used tea light candles, melted them down, removed the wicks, and replaced the wick with a 2.5" long x 1/2" tall strip of coiled compressed cardboard (like the kind that backs a legal pad). It gives a much more controlled 2.5-4" nearly smokeless fire for about 20-30 minutes. It's perfect for heating a snow cave when you wake up in the middle of the night shivering. Warms you right up, but doesn't go so long as to start serious melting on the inside of the cave.


I've seen the guys use the compressed cardboard before, but I always used corrugated because I use mine for cooking or quick heating, and the corrugated cardboard makes more heat quicker.

You have a point for using one for just 'Warming Up' and not 'Heating Up' the space...

I usually set mine up the night before with a canteen cup over it, so in the morning, I just reach out and light it from the covers, and in about 10 minutes I have two cups of boiling water and a warm tent to get dressed in!

(Two cups, One for Coffee or Hot tea, one for the instant hot oatmeal I usually have for breakfast before daylight...)

You can also warm up anything left over from the night before that way! Nothing gets me started like WARM food and Hot Coffee/Tea!
Plus I don't get roped into making breakfast for the rest of the camp like that!


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## Washkeeton

JeepHammer said:


> Motor Oil gives of lots of black smoke and toxic fumes.
> 
> Glass jars break break easily.
> 
> A much better alternative is cotton balls,
> (I keep the 'long' cotton that comes out of the top of pill bottles)
> And plain old discount Petroleum Jelly.
> 
> If you are just starting a fire for heat/light and not cooking over it,
> You can try cotton or cotton cloth strips, like old blue jean material or even news paper, and petroleum grease, like any old axle grease.
> 
> Petroleum Jelly makes MUCH less smoke, much less fumes, and you can mix up the cotton/petroleum jelly in any old plastic bag.
> 
> It's Water Proof (petroleum jelly won't let the water soak into the cotton fibers),
> Light Weight,
> Cost Effective,
> And will start burning with nothing more than a striker tool.
> -------------
> 
> If you want a longer burning tinder/fuel then use paraffin wax with cardboard or cotton.
> (about any kind of cellulose material)
> 
> I use a lot of cardboard/paraffin fire starters/stoves because they are self sealing,
> IE: Waterproof, and burn a good long time with good heat,
> 
> I use cotton/petroleum jelly tender for the same reason,
> AND,
> *Petroleum Jelly has lots of medical uses,*
> Lip Balm, disinfectant for cuts/scrapes, treatment for gear 'Rubs', (abrasions from boots, packs, belts rubbing skin).
> Petroleum Jelly will sooth those insect bites and helps with sun burns on the skin...
> 
> Can't do that with used motor oil!


I have only one complaint about your above comments... dont use any grease or oil based product on sun burns or any other burns.. that includes lotions.. it will continue to burn the area making the burn worse because it holds in the heat vs allowing it to come up and out. Yes you can use it when the area is healing to moisten the dry skin but not when the burn first happens...

The cardboard and parifin we made in cat food cans when I was a kid. We did that project when my brother was in boy scouts. You use to be able to buy already made cans of sterno which was the same as you speak also... I had or still have some I think... Almost burnt down my parents house playing with it once...(oops)


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## Tex

My 13 yr old showed me a perfect fire starter. He squirted a strip of Germex hand sanitizer on the driveway and lit it. It burned for 3-4 minutes until we blew it out and then relit it. It's mostly alcohol and I guess the fact that it is a gel makes it burn slower. I bet you could start 15-20 fires out of 1 tube.

What is in baby wipes? I'm just curious.


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## endurance

Re: Baby wipes: Most advertise "contains no alcohol" on the box because it causes skin irritation. The majority are just a mild soap solution which doesn't burn at all. 

However, if you check the diabetic care section of your local pharmacy they'll have alcohol swabs for injection site cleaning. Not very big and they do dry out in the packaging after about a year. 

I always liked modeler's glue for a flammable gel, but now I'm finding the new military stove gel packets are even better. It's replacing the old mothball smelling tablets you use in the canteen stoves. Great stuff and multipurpose since you can boil a cup of water over it even without starting a wood fire.


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## Recon

For a quick firestarting tinder and it is very light weight clean your lint trap on your dryer put it in a ziplock bag all you need is a spark and it goes up quick.Clean lint trap after you dry jeans or other cotton aritcles no man made items.


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## Merlin

Just out of curiosity Endurance are you talking about Esbit tabs for the small folding stoves that started out in Swiss and German army kits??


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## xj35s

*trioxane cheap..*

Check here for real cheap trioxane tablets. Lot's of other goodies too.

Candles/Matches/Firestarter - Army Surplus Warehouse - Army Surplus Warehouse


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## testhop

*my fire starter idea*

recon i use the lint but in a diffent way.
i take a square of toiletaquter paper put a ball of lint or cotton ball the size of a walnut. ih side twist the lint in the tp leave some ears on the tp .
dip it in hot melted waxbut not the ears the ears are easier to light ..
even a spark will do .
keepsfor a long time. and less messy than oil.


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## sailaway

You can find all kinds of cool stuff in the Anarchists Cook Book:ignore:


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## bunkerbob

sailaway said:


> You can find all kinds of cool stuff in the Anarchists Cook Book:ignore:


Sailaway, I've never met a guy that couldn't start a fire with something and always looking for something new. Guys and pyromania aren't they synonymous.:dunno: at least that is what my wife says.


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## Jason

It's not so much the pyromania, there's just that SOMETHING that you get from sitting around a campfire...


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## CVFD_Madman

Here, Here, bunkerbob and Jason. There is something about making a fire, no matter from what...although the primitive methods are cool, I always keep some modern ways around as well.

I'm a big fan of the cotton balls and petroleum jelly, especially with flint (ferrocium). I actually melt the jelly and soak it up in the cotton balls for greater saturation than just smearing. They can get messy to carry around this way, so once they cool off, I normally add several plain dry cotton balls to the mix and squeeze them all together to soak up any extra jelly which might normally leak out of the container on warm days. 

You can also use aluminum foil to wrap around the soaked cotton ball before lighting if you only need a small flame for light. I got a cotton ball to burn for 52 minutes overall by keeping the flame as small as possible and rotating the cotton ball once when the flame went out. Without any kind of protection, the soaked cotton ball burns on it's own for about 20 seconds or so. I also have a cool candle I made, but I'll share that later. I'm new to this group and don't want you folks to think I'm too wierd just yet.


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## tiedami

I have found that for quickness nothing beats the old cotton balls in Vaseline but just in case practicing with alternative methods such as bow and drill might not be such a bad idea (and if it ever gets to wet  at least you have vaseline cotton balls!)


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## katfish

I love dryer lint for tinder and one of the ideas I read somewhere that has worked great for me is a snuff can full of dryer lint with parrafin wax poured in it. I've tried mixing lint and wax in a pot, but packing the can full and pouring the melted wax in (and adding more lint as it gets wet and packs better) has worked great for me. Cardboard cans (like Copenhagen type) seem to work better than the plastic ones. Dipping 2 to 4 inch lengths of cotton string in wax works really good too. That's my favorite! Out a couple weeks ago and it was drizzling rain and there was snow everywhere but we still had a fire going to make some pine needle tea in no time. They can be made to fit whatever size match container you have and they work great! I haven't got them to take a spark from a fire steel yet but I honestly haven't tried very hard. I always keep a few in a waterproof math container with me and after trying them out I won't be in the woods without any.


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## DocWard

Several good ideas to keep in mind!

Since we are talking fire starters, I didn't see the battery and steel wool method mentioned.

I would imagine you can also do a smaller version of the isopropyl alcohol and toilet paper heater method as a fire starter as well. I would think a small metal can, with lid, stuffed full of tp and soaked in alcohol would work wonders. I may have to do some experimenting now...


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## sailaway

DocWard said:


> Several good ideas to keep in mind!
> 
> Since we are talking fire starters, I didn't see the battery and steel wool method mentioned.
> 
> I would imagine you can also do a smaller version of the isopropyl alcohol and toilet paper heater method as a fire starter as well. I would think a small metal can, with lid, stuffed full of tp and soaked in alcohol would work wonders. I may have to do some experimenting now...


Doc, We just had our scout klondike derby, several patrols used the steel wool and 9v battery method at the fire building station.:congrat:


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## DocWard

sailaway said:


> Doc, We just had our scout klondike derby, several patrols used the steel wool and 9v battery method at the fire building station.:congrat:


Rock on! :2thumb:


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## kyhoti

Here's a post to bump this thread, as it is near and dear to my heart.

I have found a neat combo recently that uses the Camel Snus tins; one of my coworkers uses the stuff, and had lots of empty tins for my experiments. Using a wood rasp, I shaved up a piece of fat-lighter (that heavy pine-sap heart wood that we all love). The pile of shavings was HUGE from one piece. I stuffed as much of the shavings as I could into one of the tins, put in a birthday candle and a couple of water-proofed strike-anywheres. The little ball of pitch-pine shavings will start a couple of fires if used with good fire-building practice, with the candle as added boost. Or just use the whole thing for one hotburning ball of goodness. 

To bump this little kit to elite status, keep a one-ounce bottle of gelled alcohol with the kit. The lid, flipped over and filled with gelled alcohol, makes a great little stove for heating up a canteen cup of water.

I've been making these kits and giving them to friends to keep in gloves boxes, briefcases, purses etc. Most of them already carry the alcohol hand sanitizer, which works in a pinch for the stove/lid bit. And, like me, most of them have one of the tiny Bic lighters in the same pocket as our SAK. Just like you, right?


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## Magus

Great concept!
one addition I would make is sloshing a little liquid parrafin into the can and forget the candle.


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## DocWard

kyhoti, great ideas. Where do you find gelled alcohol?

I may have to look into this one myself. The parrafin or candle wax added may be a good idea as well. Keep several of them and light as needed.


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## kyhoti

DocWard said:


> kyhoti, great ideas. Where do you find gelled alcohol?
> 
> I may have to look into this one myself. The parrafin or candle wax added may be a good idea as well. Keep several of them and light as needed.


YMMV:

Zen Gelled Alcohol Stoves - Sterno-like Stoves

Extreme do it yourselfers can make their own gelled fuel at home with by mixing alcohol and calcium acetate (C4H6CaO4).

The following instructions and measurements are from the Montville High School Science Departmental.

1.

Add 25g of crushed chalk or egg shells (calcium carbonate-CaCO3) to 100ml of vinegar (water and acetic acid - CH3CO2H) and stir for about 5 minutes.

This should produce carbon dioxide (CO2), calcium acetate (C4H6CaO4) and water (H2O) plus leave you with some left over chalk (CaCO3). If you are guessing on how much chalk to add, just make sure that there is a little extra after 5 minutes of stirring.

2.

Remove the excess chalk by filtering your mix through some filter paper (coffee filter or napkin can be used).

Set a funnel in a jar, place your filter in it and pour your suspension through it.

3.

Mark the level of your solution in its container and allow your solution to evaporate off about half that volume to remove the excess water.

Place your solution in an oven set on low heat or place it out in the sun to dry. If you went to far - just add the missing water.

Note - if you like, you can dry out your solution completely and store the remaining dried calcium acetate for future use.

4.

If your solution isn't already in the container you want your gel in, then pour it in there now.

5.

Add 30ml of alcohol (ethanol, methanol, or isopropanol) to your solution and watch the gel form. Do not stir.

6.

Once the reaction in complete, pour off any extra fuel.

Doesn't spill as easy as liquid, has a higher % than hand-sanitizer and if you put it in a flip-top squeeze bottle, can be used as fire ribbon as well. If, however, you want multi-purpose, use Everclear, keep it liquid and use it sparingly in the coffee while your breakfast is cooking


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## DocWard

Sweet! I wonder what Mrs. Doc would say about me conducting science experiments at home!


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## chaswoody

*char cloth for making fires*

all you will need is a fire starter kit, a tin, and a old 100% cotton t-shirt. here is a video, this method of starting fire was used over 100 years ago, and is still proven to be very useful today,and by far the cheapest and most friendly way to help u perpare please enjoy


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## wkrbee

MY sons Boy Scout troop tried all kinds of fire starters,especially for lighting in wet weather,and "Fritos" worked the best.Burns for 5-10 minutes and you can eat them!


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## JeepHammer

Well, I was actually thinking this was 'Improvised' or 'Emergency' type stuff.

Dryer lint works pretty well, doesn't take much to set it burning, sparks will usually do.

I have pill bottle cotton, the older I get, the more 'Tylenol' I wind up taking, and the cotton piles up, so do the water proof, light weight plastic bottles.

The burners from cardboard (Everything is over packaged) tuna, cat/dog food cans, bottoms of soup cans, ect. are something that is 'Trash' around most places, but I try and find a second life for them...

Wax or Paraffin usually isn't hard to find,
Animal grease will work also, but it stinks and is messy.
Wax or Paraffin are pretty much water proof, burn well, and give me something to do in the evenings or rainy days when I can't work outside...

I HATE buying overpackaged, over priced camp store 'Crap' when I can do it myself and have a VERY good equalivent with little to no effort,
And keep myself busy at the same time, 
Instead of sitting in front of the computer or tv getting fat! :scratch


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## HarleyRider

One method that people usually forget is a magnifying glass and the sun. Back in the day, we used to burn our initials into wooden picnic tables using magnifying glasses.


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## JeepHammer

HarleyRider said:


> One method that people usually forget is a magnifying glass and the sun. Back in the day, we used to burn our initials into wooden picnic tables using magnifying glasses.


In olden times, they were called 'Fire Glass', and they are HANDY!
I have a little compass with a magnifier in the lid, and I've used it a couple of times to start fires just to see if I could do it.

The reflector cone out of a flashlight will do the same thing,
Pull the bulb, put your punk up where the bulb used to be and focus towards the sun and it will start your punk smoldering.

We used to get cigarettes lit that way in the military when all the matches were wet,
Even lit a couple of fuses that way!


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## flatwater

Ever since I joined a mountain man club I have been making my char cloth and carry flint . also find some dry moss and pack with you. It saves you from the messy oils and grease


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## twiggie

I didn't see glycerin and potassium permanganate listed. Combine the 2 and eventually it flares up. Works great for time delay.


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## testhop

*my way*

heres my way i take dryer lint .
a sheet of tp .
hot wax very hot .
roll the lint into a tight ball the size of a quarter.
put it a sheet of tp twist the 4 cornters together.
holding the twisted part dip the ball in the wax till it stops bubbling. 
(make sure not to the get the wax above the ball but get all the ball .
just lit the unwaxed part and it will burn for 5 or6 min.
with good wood and be above water you got a fire .
i have used it in a hard rain and it had for 3 days in 5 min i had a good fire.


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## testhop

*my way*

heres my way i take dryer lint .
a sheet of tp .
hot wax very hot .
roll the lint into a tight ball the size of a quarter.
put it a sheet of tp twist the 4 cornters together.
holding the twisted part dip the ball in the wax till it stops bubbling. 
(make sure not to the get the wax above the ball but get all the ball .
just lit the unwaxed part and it will burn for 5 or6 min.
with good wood and be above water you got a fire .
i have used it in a hard rain and it had for 3 days in 5 min i had a good fire.
good part is the wax burns clean and no mess in carring it


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## Diego2112

Recon said:


> For a quick firestarting tinder and it is very light weight clean your lint trap on your dryer put it in a ziplock bag all you need is a spark and it goes up quick.Clean lint trap after you dry jeans or other cotton aritcles no man made items.


Yup. Alternatively, if you have steel wool, wrap it all together and take a 9v battery to it, no matches, no problem!

I save all my dryer lint for JUST such an occation, actually.

Will be trying the petrol jelly trick as well, and God only KNOWS how many 35mm film canisters I have lying around between family members!

Sorry if others have said this already, didnt read all the topic!


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## ResourcefulSurvivor

*Fire Starting Possibilities*

I carry these for fire starting possibilities 
1: Film canister full of Vaseline saturated cotton balls.
2: Film canister full of 100% cotton char cord pellets and cloth
3: Film canister full of pre-shaved Magnesium flakes
4: Water proof fire piston with spare O-rings
5: Blast match
6: Scripto lighter Powered torch for quick wet lighting
7: Military Magnesium block with striker /3 inch of broken hack saw blade tied to Starter with paracord
8: Bic Lighter
9: Steel wool and a 9 volt battery 
10: Fire Wet
11: A micro fire bow set just because
I use which ever I think is the best for the situation I'm in.
Exp: My Students don't want to see me use a lighter LOL


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## testhop

*my way*

i take dryer lint (cotton)roll it up in a ball the size a quarter tightly rolled put in a sheet of tp twist the 4 conersto use as ears.
melt wax dip the lint the by ears careful not to get wax on the ears .
as thay make a very easy to light even sparks will work. i have found that this is less mess than p j or moter oil


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## sears7007

dryer lint and cardboard egg cartons are great fir starters ---press lint into the egg areas and fill with melted wax (old candles etc.) they can be cut into cubes or divided up depending on the size fir you want.


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## freedom1

Egg cartons paper style,all you need


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## Kai22

endurance said:


> Similarly, but more compact, I use cotton balls I've rolled around in Vasoline and put them in 35mm film canisters. They light with just a spark and a half cotton ball will burn for three minutes (plenty of time to start your kindling).


I actually just learned this last night, while watching that Dual Survival show of all things! He used chapstick because it's petroleum based, and little pieces of wool to make a fire starter. Vasoline and cotton balls are on my list for my next stock-up shopping trip. Such a simple thing that had never crossed my mind.

Also, I'm saving my tuna cans and making the little burners like someone else mentioned earlier in this thread. I had forgotten about all the useful stuff I learned in the girl scouts!


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## IrritatedWithUS

I use egg cartons, wax, and dryer lint to make mine.

I even keep a trashcan in the laundry room that I throw my lint in


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## Grape Ape

Something to think about with using used motor oil. It will eat through some plastics. So you have to be careful of what you store the cotton balls and used motor oil in. Same for any petroleum based liquids and gels. 

I put some used motor oil in a milk jug to keep it until I could take it to be recycled. It sat for about 3 weeks and one morning I came out to my garage floor covered in oil and the milk jug with a hole melted in the bottom of it. 

So make sure the container will not be affected by what you store inside of it.


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## JayJay

ResourcefulSurvivor said:


> I carry these for fire starting possibilities
> 1: Film canister full of Vaseline saturated cotton balls.
> 2: Film canister full of 100% cotton char cord pellets and cloth
> 3: Film canister full of pre-shaved Magnesium flakes
> 4: Water proof fire piston with spare O-rings
> 5: Blast match
> 6: Scripto lighter Powered torch for quick wet lighting
> 7: Military Magnesium block with striker /3 inch of broken hack saw blade tied to Starter with paracord
> 8: Bic Lighter
> 9: Steel wool and a 9 volt battery
> 10: Fire Wet
> 11: A micro fire bow set just because
> I use which ever I think is the best for the situation I'm in.
> Exp: My Students don't want to see me use a lighter LOL


Ziplok with alcohol saturated cotton balls/10 burn for 15 minutes.


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## Kai22

IrritatedWithUS said:


> I use egg cartons, wax, and dryer lint to make mine.
> 
> I even keep a trashcan in the laundry room that I throw my lint in


I do too! But, sometimes my lint has Labrador hair in it


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## CraigMeade

In a pinch, you can use the rubber from flipflops. Cut it into small cubes and then stash them somewhere, they light immediately and burn for quite a while and there's nothing delicate about them - you can shove them anywhere there's a bit of unused space in your pack. They do need a flame applied - a spark won't do it.

Tampons are a great source of fluff for fire-starting. They are highly compressed so you have to pull them apart a bit. Just one should last a long time, but it's easy enough to carry half a dozen. Ask around, your partner may well have one in her bag anyway.


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## lilrose8

endurance said:


> Similarly, but more compact, I use cotton balls I've rolled around in Vasoline and put them in 35mm film canisters. They light with just a spark and a half cotton ball will burn for three minutes (plenty of time to start your kindling).


That'a my favorite. Add a little of the vaseliine soaked cotton (or even cheaper, dryer lint), hit it with your Blast Match and BOOM an instant fire. Just be sure to keep your face back when lighting.


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## lilrose8

another clever and easy way is to use a water filled condom....


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