Posted: 9/10/2015 11:32:47 PM EDT
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Ok guys, I'm slowly starting to make my BOB and was wondering what kind of fire starters should I bee looking into? I know I wanna get a BIC lighter & possibly a flint & steel.
Is this the way to go? Thanks |
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I would recommend something called a blast match. self contained flint and steel system that is very easy to use.
For the actual fire starter, cant beat dryer lint. I just shove it in a Ziploc bag. But it can be waterproofed with an egg carton and wax. Plus it'll burn quite a bit longer Edit: for links Fire starter Blast Match |
| cotton ball coated with a pea sized amount of petroleum jelly make a good spark catch media... can be vacuum sealed, placed in zip loc, or stuffed in a plastic straw ... after you try the ferro rod a couple of times, I would suggest re painting the rod... in the Florida humidity mine oxidize |
| I use the ESEE fire starters. They have a small spot to store things in them and I pack that spot full of dryer lint. Stuff works great! A fire starter can be greatly over thought so find a few that you can a afford and buy them. Try them out first hand and see what works best for you. |
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Quoted:
cotton ball coated with a pea sized amount of petroleum jelly make a good spark catch media... can be vacuum sealed, placed in zip loc, or stuffed in a plastic straw ... after you try the ferro rod a couple of times, I would suggest re painting the rod... in the Florida humidity mine oxidize I've used the cotton ball/petroleum jelly method for over 20 years and it's cheap, quick and effective and they last forever. I used to keep them in the plastic 35 mm film canister. Now I just shove in a small ziplock. |
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I like these:
Rutland Safe Lite Fire Starter Squares, 144-Square Keep some of the FoodSaver'ed up (left in pic) in each vehicle. Had matches in with them, but eventually switched over to lighters to avoid any unpleasant surprises from friction lighting the matches in a moving vehicle. 
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Get a Bic lighter and a Firesteel. a LMF Firesteel is a very popular model and I have used them for years. The Army model is the size to get. There are tond of options for firesteels I just listed LMF to give you a good option to start with.
Go to a hardware store and get a box of fatwood. Look at it online to see what it is (if you dont already know) because in the store it is not labeled fatwood. You can shave off very small shavings like with the back of a knife and it catches fire super easy from a spark or lighter. You can also use bigger shavings or split off pieces of the wood if tinder is poor and you need more heat to get your fire going. I can start dozens of fires in varying conditions using one 6 inch thumb size piece of fatwood. The fatwood can be carried in pocket or bag and it is almost waterproof. I have experimented with every tinder out there from store bought to home made. Petroleum jelly cotton balls would be my second choice because they are so cheap and you can do so many things with them. One trick to keep waterproof tender is to break one apart after applying the pj and start stuffing it into a piece of straw until full. You then carefully melt the end of the straw shut to seal it. Tons of options for the pj cotton balls. I would never recommend flint and steel for a BOB. It requires expertise, and requires more specialized tenders until you have done a lot of research and practice. I have flint and steel kits and they are a lot of fun to use and practive with but I dont put them in our BOBs. |
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I only trust Bic lighters after smoking and quitting. Being around smokers you will understand that they have to have their nicotine and a lighter is their "survival" gear daily. Bic is the only lighter I have ever used that rarely ever failed. The only time I have seen them fail is in fairly extreme cold weather, or very windy conditions. Warm it up and it usually will light up. It gives you the easiest option to light a fire. Zippos have failed me.
Walmart used to sell mini flares for signalling in the camping section. They take up some space but will burn in nearly any conditon, and light wet tinders, along with nearly anything else. They also have the advantage of signalling. Road flares would work but are space consuming. Those little yellow flares are a pretty nice compromise. All of the other advice given is solid. Fatwood is great to have. The USGI magnesium bar is good, and I would advise getting the DOAN brand. I have had cheap knockoffs fail me. The light my fire rod is good to go. You may want to keep a piece of carbon steel for a good striker once you learn to find flint rock and use it, but it is time consuming. The steel can be used to strike various other fire rods. The sparklite fire starter sucks IMO. It left me without fire one time. Never again. Candles are good to have. Steel wool is good to have for various uses including tinder, or you could use a 9 volt battery, but I rarely have one around in the woods nor do I need one. |
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Quoted:
I would recommend something called a blast match. self contained flint and steel system that is very easy to use. For the actual fire starter, cant beat dryer lint. I just shove it in a Ziploc bag. But it can be waterproofed with an egg carton and wax. Plus it'll burn quite a bit longer Edit: for links Fire starter Blast Match NOTE: Many of the naked "survivalists" on the "Naked & Afraid" TV series have used Blast Match type fire starting tools with very poor results. It only works when tinder conditions are perfect = 100% dry. When used in combination with the various dryer lint or cotton ball concoctions (and similar) it would probably work OK, but not otherwise. A packet of BIC lighters, or several Zippos and a can of lighter fluid, would no doubt be a better choice. I camped and hunted in the Northern Rockies for years and found wooden "strike anywhere" kitchen matches, a candle and waterproof pressed wood commercial fire starter to work very well in all conditions. |
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I always carry three...
Bic lighter. Strike anywhere matches in a match safe. Ferro rod & striker. A lighter will work best in an emergency need fire NOW situation while a ferro rod would be a little more long term. Matches just because there is no reason not to carry all three when in a situation where you may need to light a fire. 
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I'll add another vote for dryer lint.
I like to pack that and a mini bic into a large / mid-sized prescription pill bottle. Nice little fire kit in a crush proof, waterproof container that floats, and you can compress a lot of dryer lint into a pill bottle. In addition I keep a firesteel in a pack or pocket on the off chance the bic craps out. |
| Some gas tank heat is a small squirt bottle sure gets a fire cooking when the tinder is a little damp. A big fat candle is hard to beat to hold a flame, cut off what you think you need to get the fire going. As stated above Bics are cheap and reliable, get a few and scatter them around your pack so you have more then one. |
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"Cotton" cotton balls and petroleum jelly. Stuff 3 or 4 in a 35mm film canister and toss them all over the place. A couple canisters in your BoB, a couple under the seat of your truck, a few in the bed. And then a Swedish steel stashed in convenient places will help too. Spread one open to get the dry fibers exposed and one or two strikes from the steel and you'll have 2 or 3 minutes of fire. Long enough to get your bundle started easily. |
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Like everything else, you want to build your firestarting kit in layers.
1. Flint striker. I personally like "Firesteel" type strikers. They can usually be found with a finger hold and a key ring attachment. 2. Magnesium firestarter. Some people love them, some hate them. As long as you get a genuine one with a NSN and not one of the cheap chinese knockoffs, you're good to go. 3. Matches 4. Butane lighter 5. Cotton balls/Vaseline 6. Dryer lint/Wax/Egg carton Always start with the least consumable method to starting a fire. Using a striker consumes nothing but requires the most effort to prep your kindling and also requires dry conditions/materials. If the kindling is less than ideal, magnesium shaving with give you far greater initial heat to get the kindling started. While you are consuming the magnesium with each start, it'll last you a very long time. Cotton balls/vaseline have many purposes. It'll readily take a spark, burn for a few minutes plus gives you a ready supply of vaseline in the case of cuts. Lastly is the dryer lint/wax/egg crates. These are my #1 method to start a campfire. I've started fires in the rain with the wood soaking wet using this method. The downside to these is that you need a second method to light these firestarters such as matches, lighters or cotton ball/vaseline and flint. They also take up the most space and would be my last resort for usage unless I needed immediate heat for warmth. One of the best things I ever did was get a cheap fondue pot at a garage sale. Using it, I've melted wax for the dryer lint firestarters. I've also liquefied vaseline and stuffed as many cotton balls as I could in it to soak the vaseline up. |
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I purchased a couple of fire starters and did a review of them on my youtube channel if you want to check them out.
Fire Starter Review |
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Are you being serious with that stabbing technique with the Sparky or are you trolling?
Edit: Disregard. I finished watching the whole thing and see you are just new at these techniques. I suggest watching other videos out there on all three of the items you tried so you can see how to use them correctly and effectively. |
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Quoted:
I purchased a couple of fire starters and did a review of them on my youtube channel if you want to check them out. Fire Starter Review 
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If you just want some fool proof ignition sources to have on hand so you can handle any situation, I'd say you can't beat a Bic lighter, decent ferro rod, and some lifeboat/stormproof matches. If you have these three things, you have no reason for not being able to get your tinder to light assuming it's not bad tinder. Bic lighter for convenience. Assuming conditions aren't extreme there's zero reason to use anything else to light your tinder unless you wanna do it for fun. A good ferro rod would give you the ability to light tinder for the long term assuming you had to go months/years without being able to use anything else but isn't as easy/instant as a regular Bic lighter (assuming conditions are fair and not wet). Lifeboat matches would be for extreme conditions/emergencies compared to the other two where they would not be able to reliably light your tinder. I'd probably stay away from anything else, especially anything gimmicky. Cotton balls that are impregnated with vaseline/petroleum jelly (either by working it in by squishing them around inside a plastic bag or melting the jelly and letting them absorb it) seem to be the most practical and fool proof tinder. They will quite easily take a spark from a ferro rod and light up instantly with a regular lighter. They will burn for 5-10 minutes and provide a very good flame to start with to build your fire. They are super easy to make by putting a bunch of jelly in a plastic bag and mixing/mushing/working the cotton balls around in the jelly. You can store a whole bunch of them in an empty prescription pill bottle. A large pill bottle could probably easily store 15-20 packed cotton balls. You can quite readily buy a pack of cotton balls anywhere and you don't have to save up dryer lint (which will probably be mixed with hair/fur lol). They are super popular with camping/hiking enthusiasts for a reason. I don't see any reason to use anything else unless you want to pay a lot more money for something better like trioxane tablets/bars. If you insist on using lint, I'd say you should at least impregnate it with melted wax or petroleum jelly. It's not going to last very long without either (neither would a cotton ball). |