# cotton balls as emergancyy fire starters.



## greene (Mar 23, 2012)

Hey this may have been touched on or even beat up. I just wanted to give my experience this weekend. I was showing mybag to my boy scouting cousin. They uae mag sticks of which I'm not that impressed with. Maybe its the brand but mine burns way too fast to be effective for me. Anyhow I have lighterss and matches and bags of lint and a bottleof vaseline soaked cotton balls. The lint works ok and I lit it with flint but man I was impresed with how long a cotton ball burnns lit with flint. So last night I used a scent burner, heated up a tubof vseline and threw in some cotton balls. It worked great compared to doing it cold. The bals wil sink and then swish them around and pull out with a coat hanger. Just wanted to share that I was impressed with these. I don't think they should be an only go tobut if it was a little damp you get good longevity from one and they aren't too heavy.


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## ZoomZoom (Dec 18, 2009)

I too keep cotton balls coated in vaseline.

I don't see the need to melt the vaseline. I just swiped the cotton ball on the paste and all was well.

Here's another thing to consider. Hand sanitizer. That clear jel burns very nicely. It's basically jelled alcohol. I filled a tuna can about half full and lit it. It burned at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. Be careful though. The flame is so clear that it's very difficult to see during the day.


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

greene said:


> Hey this may have been touched on or even beat up. I just wanted to give my experience this weekend. I was showing mybag to my boy scouting cousin. They uae mag sticks of which I'm not that impressed with. Maybe its the brand but mine burns way too fast to be effective for me. Anyhow I have lighterss and matches and bags of lint and a bottleof vaseline soaked cotton balls. The lint works ok and I lit it with flint but man I was impresed with how long a cotton ball burnns lit with flint. So last night I used a scent burner, heated up a tubof vseline and threw in some cotton balls. It worked great compared to doing it cold. The bals wil sink and then swish them around and pull out with a coat hanger. Just wanted to share that I was impressed with these. I don't think they should be an only go tobut if it was a little damp you get good longevity from one and they aren't too heavy.


I put the cotton balls in container and drip some lamp oil on them, that's how we start our fires in the stove...makes it so easy, don't hardly need kindling cuz the cotton balls burn so long!


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## RoadRash (Sep 29, 2010)

Dryer lint works well for me, have to try the hand sanatizer tho>


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## Diego2112 (Aug 18, 2010)

I've been known to use 80 proof, as well as some stuff more than double that (if ya know what I mean) for getting a fire started.

Not GREAT, but as I've always got some in my freezer...

Also once watched Les Stroud soak some seat cushion foam in a gas tank, said although the liquid would evaporate, it would still ignite fine. I've never actually tested it, but hey, it's Les-he GENERALLY knows what he's on about. Mostly.

Sometimes.

Yeah...

Dyer lint works wonders if you need a quick start, as does my PERSONAL favorite, 9V and Steel Wool.

Please tell me I'm not the ONLY one who manages to get shocked? :eyebulge:


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## fondini (Mar 18, 2012)

I take poop ticket rolls and stuff them with dryer lint and Vaseline cotton balls seal the ends with candle wax. Burn about fifteen minutes or more, long enough to get a good fire going.


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## Lake Windsong (Nov 27, 2009)

Ever been on a camping trip and used Frito's corn chips as a fire starter? Nice... 

Seriously, vaseline soaked cotton balls and egg carton lint starters are what we regularly use.


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## urbanprepper (May 15, 2012)

During Katrina and Wilma I used bags of doritos as fire starter (found cool ranch to work best) 

All these years later, I'd rather carry some cotton balls than a bag of doritos, but found it pretty interesting either way


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## greene (Mar 23, 2012)

Well I thought heating up the Vaseline would soak the cotton better, which it does, however it actually sikhs our so well it makes it hard to get a flange going. The normal way of doing it doesn't pack then add right so the cotton starts and gets the Vaseline going. So my idea was a bad one, stick to the old way. Plus Grandma just so happened to have a dozen pill bottles she had laying around, a few huge ones, so I have plenty of containers now to stash.


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## testhop (Dec 20, 2009)

fondini said:


> I take poop ticket rolls and stuff them with dryer lint and Vaseline cotton balls seal the ends with candle wax. Burn about fifteen minutes or more, long enough to get a good fire going.


I have long used almost the same only i dip the ball in wax it is less messy than vaseline .
i twist the t.p ends and keep them out of the wax so thay will lite with just a spark lite.
a ball the sizeof a quarterwill burn 10 min.
and will start a fire if youare in a rain .


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## MsSage (Mar 3, 2012)

Me and S/O were talking about getting him a BOB for the truck...cuz he fears he will be east of the Mississippi and will have to make it back here. I made a list and then started putting items in my "range box". Yeah felt I had better get mine together too. I tried the cotton balls since I had only a few left ...they work pretty good. If we ever get rain I will try them outside in the wind.
They do better if you leave a bit of the cotton untreated , gets the fire going.


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## forluvofsmoke (Jan 27, 2012)

For fire starter in my BHB, I have:
-2" dia x 5" tall RX bottle stuffed (I should say tightly packed) with dryer lint;
-small diameter short RX bottle full of Vaseline (also used to lube o-rings on flashlights and treat knives & tools to protect against corrosion);
-Germex hand sanitizer - 6oz pump bottle (also used for the obvious, and in a pinch, pump may be used to draw water from shallow pool/puddle for sanitizing later);
-medium diameter short RX bottle full of fire starter cubes (chemically treated compressed cellulose, as a last resort);
-small RX bottle full of fine steel wool (also use to polish knife blades, etc);
-rechargeable NMHi & alkaline AA & AAA batteries for steel wool (& lights);
-if I run out of all of the above and get really desperate, I have sterile cotton in my first aid supplies.

Ignition sources: mag block/flint rod (1), water-proof matches (qty 160).

If I can't get several fires going each day for a very long time, when ever I want to, it's my own damn fault! LOL!!! BTW, if you're wondering why in the world I would want to carry so much fire starting supplies (remember, some are multipurpose), it's because I'm routinely out on the open plains 5 days per week when I'm working, where there is little more than sage brush and dried animal waste (dung) for fuel (unless I happen to be near a creek with cotton-wood trees or a ridge with pine/cedar), so I may not be able to keep fire for very long at a time without gathering a lot of bulky fuel in advance for just a small fire, which won't burn long without tending = no sleep if I want fire all night. I plan for just taking the chill out, crawling into my mummy bag and making due until I need to relight for a warm-up again...hence, supplies for starting many fires, many times each day/night, as needed, for 1-2 week(+) trek home (up to 80 miles). My odds of making it home are slim, but being able to start fire at will as often as needed turns the tables in my favor quite a bit.


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## forluvofsmoke (Jan 27, 2012)

MsSage said:


> Me and S/O were talking about getting him a BOB for the truck...cuz he fears he will be east of the Mississippi and will have to make it back here. I made a list and then started putting items in my "range box". Yeah felt I had better get mine together too. I tried the cotton balls since I had only a few left ...they work pretty good. If we ever get rain I will try them outside in the wind.
> They do better if you leave a bit of the cotton untreated , gets the fire going.


You may want to read this...something I put together last winter when my local hauls were taking me farther away from home than I was accustomed to, across state lines, when I normally run within 100 miles from home...the worries put my brain-waves on high alert, and this was the product of my bug-home planning (get comfy...long read):

http://www.preparedsociety.com/foru...strategy-rural-commuting-transportation-9606/

Good luck to both of you, and stay safe!


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## ZoomZoom (Dec 18, 2009)

forluvofsmoke said:


> -small RX bottle full of fine steel wool (also use to polish knife blades, etc);
> -rechargeable NMHi & alkaline AA & AAA batteries for steel wool (& lights);


You can light steel wool using AA or AAA batteries? At 1.5v, I didn't think that worked. I always thought 9v batteries.


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## forluvofsmoke (Jan 27, 2012)

ZoomZoom said:


> You can light steel wool using AA or AAA batteries? At 1.5v, I didn't think that worked. I always thought 9v batteries.


Yeah, even cell phone batteries, which can be rated as low as 3.3 volts, will work. How much current the battery can deliver is half of the solution...having sufficient voltage to force the current potentail is the other half. You may need to connect 2 AA or AAA in series for a nominal of 3 volts to get enough current to pass through the steel wool. Size of the steel wool's "grit" matters also...finer strands need less current to get hot...same goes for stranded wire.


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