Decided to check and repack my BOB. Opened up one of my pouches and found gray powder residue all over everything inside.

Found the culprit, "Light my Fire" fire starter.

I have no idea what is going on with it and the odd pattern, this pack was put in a my bedrm closet, so it wasnt in a damp or hot basement.



Anyways, check your packs, etc.

Come on OP, looks like you have been chewing on it.

Do you keep water in your BOB?

Negative...it was in a pouch with esbit tabs in ziplock, metal esbit stove, rubber handled buck knife, led light w/ dead batts., 550 cord., aluminum foil and black HD trash bag.

Probably from outgassing of the batteries. Were they alkalines?

Duracell Alkalines.

*that is why I posted the complete contents of pouch.

Interesting

There you go. Interestingly the Esbit tabs actually can protect the metal they're stored with,
but obviously the outgassing of alkalines is corrosive. It can happen with rechargables
as well but it's much, much less likely to occur, especially with low-self-discharge batteries
like eneloops (the changes that make then discharge more slowly also make them less
prone to corrosion.) When they do leak it's way, way less destructive than alkalines are.
Lithiums are less prone to failure but when they leak the damage they do can be pretty
epic.

Minor edit: what's the inside of the flashlight look like, especially the contacts?

Store batteries separately, or use Eneloops for the low-risk option when leaving them in.

This reminds me of when I stored a pocket knife in a baggie with unactivated Polar Pure in my BOB,
the iodine vaporized and totally destroyed the knife, well beyond what conventional rusting would
do.

Inside of light wasnt bad, the batteries didnt look compromised or corroded.

I figured something was reacting within the pouch, thought it was interesting enough to post.

The esbit shit reacts with everything. They make shit stink too.

Put them in a plastic baggie and wait a few weeks. They'll turn them yellow.


I had to throw out a bunch of shit in my fire starter/emergency kit because of the smell/discoloration. They definitely fucked up my water purification pills too. Never will I buy those tabs again.

Normal oxidation.

Give them a couple coats of clear nail polish when you get them, wait a couple days, then put wiring shrink tubing over them, pinching the end with hot needle nose pliers to seal.

I opened one after 5 years, looked fine.

ALL my other fire steels dont do this and they are of the same age. I think contents of the pouch had everything to do with it. Couldve just been batteries themselves or the mix of batteries, alum foil, esbit, steel esbit stove, etc.

Oxidation is pretty common with firesteels. A number of people have opened up bags to find completely corroded firesteels, some barely more than dust and unusable.
All the more reason to have backups such as a lighter + strike anywhere matches.
Yes, keeping it in a sealed bag or a good coating should avoid this nicely.
FerFAL

I never knew they broke down, IMO, they were suppose to be the ultimate back up to the ligher/matches. I guess there is no perfect long term fire starter, time to learn more primitive approach

Looks like that thing has been laying on the moon.

Yes, it can happen. It seems pretty reliable and it is, but this can happen as well. This one is from EDCforums

Of course kept in a sealed bag or with a protective coating you should avoid this kind of problem, but its always a good idea to have a backup. For me matches and a small gas lighter is what I would go for as backup, or actually the rod and matches would be the backup to the lighter if you will.
FerFAL

Didn't know about oxidation of fire steels, but almost everything in my BOB is vacuum-bagged.  The primary reason is for water protection, the secondary reason is that it greatly shrinks the size of loose stuff like clothing.

Thanks for the heads up on this, I had no idea they could break down. Time to check them.

I have a gerber "strike force" and a package of individually wrapped starters that have been in my BOB for 24 years.   There is no corrosion or breakdown of any type on mine.  The tabs work great still and the striker is in perfect condition.  I keep it in it's own Ziploc bag though, that may be the reason.  HTH.