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Tag: fire starting

Thoughts on Fire Starting by Myke
Longtime reader Myke recently commented on a post I published on Fire Starting. What he describes as an inexpensive and effective fire starting tool is exactly something I’ve experimented with previously. Excellent idea Myke – so I am sharing it with as many people as possible. ~ Rourke

I’ve made the popular cotton ball/petroleum jelly type fire starters before and found them too messy. I came across what I feel is a better way to make fire starters. Go to Dollar Tree or Walmart and buy the round cotton “makeup remover” pads. You can get 80 per pack.
- Go to a thrift store and buy cheap candles, tongs, and a pan.
- At home, put newspaper on the counter where you’ll be working. I use a small butane single burner camp stove because no matter how hard you try, you will spill some of the wax and its time consuming to clean it up in the kitchen.
- Melt the candle wax in the pan then place the pads in the wax. As you pull a pad out put another in. This lets them soak up the wax as you rotate through the process.
- Place the soaked pads on the newspaper. When you’re done and they’ve hardened, I’ve found that they fit great in one of those Lay’s potato chip plastic container tunes (like a Pringle container but plastic). There’s enough room on the side to fit a butane lighter and even a Magnesium firestarter block with Ferro rod (found at Harbor Freight $1.99).
- To use just bend the wafer back and forth then tear that bend halfway. This exposes the cotton fibers to ignite.
I’ve had these burn for 3-4 minutes with a flame height of 5″. In my experience, the petroleum jelly balls burn a little longer but the flame doesn’t reach as high, and they are messier. I’ve made a number of these inexpensive firestarter kits and placed them in all of my BOB’S, 72 hr Kits, Get Home Bags, etc.

Just my 2 1/2 cents worth.

Myke

******Great stuff Myke!!!! ~Rourke

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June 15, 2022
Overview: The Offgrid Fire Starting Kit

Fire starting is something many put hours and hours into learning all the different methods so no matter what – fire. Hey – I appreciate that. It’s just something I’ve never really had much interest in. I mean, creating fire from friction generated by woods rubbing against wood sounds like a lot of work compared to flicking the wheel on a lighter. I know, lighters don’t last forever.

I have a lot of lighters.

I also have the Offgrid Fire Starting Kit. In fact, I designed and make these kits. Am I biased? Damn right I am.

The Offgrid Firestarting Kit was designed to be small, portable, inexpensive, and effective. While I am a huge fan of the butane lighter and I have about 80 of them – I realize that having multiple methods to get things flamed up is a good thing.

So this kit has been designed to make fire via a butane lighter, waterproof matches, as well as a ferrocerium rod combined with charcloth and petroleum jelly impregnated cotton balls. If fire is what you are wanting – this kit has all the options to make it happen.

Everything comes in a small, durable metal tin.

Looking at what’s included the butane lighter is the most popular and effective means to get things going towards “El Flamo”. Next up is the ferrocerium rod. The ferro rod has the advantage of thousands of strikes in one rod. The rod included in the kit can be struck thousands of times showering high temp sparks down onto flammable objects such as charcloth, paper, and other tinder.

Speaking of charcloth, several small pieces are included in the kit in a small waterproof zip-lock bag.

Lastly – my favorite firestarter is petroleum jelly impregnated cotton balls. I’ve started hundreds of fires using these from camp fires to fire pits. Several are packed into this kit.

Hey – for $12.99 with free shipping you can’t go wrong.

Oh – I almost forgot. There are waterproof matches are included on top of everything else!

Click this LINK if you are interested and grab a few.

Rourke

October 8, 2021
New Products Added To Preparedness Store

I am pleased to announce that two new products have been added to the 1776 Preparedness Store.

The first is a small fire starting kit. My goal when designing this kit was to have it not only effective but a fantastic value that most anyone could afford. It contains several fire starting methods all contained in a compact rugged metal box. At $10.99(with discounts when more than one is purchased) it’s a great deal.

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The second product is a pack of 150 waterproof matches. These matches come in the same small container as our survival fire starting kit and light easily even when completely submerged underwater. These cost at publishing time $9.99 each and also receive a discount if two or more are purchased.

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Like everything in the 1776 Preparedness Store free shipping on all items.

Thanks all.

Rourke

July 26, 2021
Ferro Rod & Tool Sharpener = FIRE

Lately, I’ve been playing around with some different fire starting methods including Ferro rods. With the right tinder, I have been really impressed with the results. While I still enjoy the simplicity and ease of use of a Bic lighter – I see the wisdom in more primitive fire starting methods as well.

A good friend turned me on to a set of large 1/2″ x 6″ ferrocerium rods. They include a lanyard hole and due to their size are easy to hold. Their sheer mass provides a lot of material for starting hundreds of fires.

Here are a few pictures demonstrating the use of the Ferro rod along with a Blue Hawk Tool Sharpener. For a tinder medium, I have dryer lint soaked in some petroleum jelly which is my favorite for fire starting kits.

Blue Hawk Tool Sharpener / EricX 1/2″ Ferro Rod

Dryer Lint with Petroleum Jelly

Using tool sharpener to scrape some shavings onto the dryer lint. The shavings are not necessarily needed.

Here is a close of the shavings which burn extremely hot.

A quick strike of the tool sharpener sends a shower of sparks onto the lint – FLAMES!!!!

The dryer lint/petroleum jelly combo burns for several minutes which is excellent for getting a fire going when needed.

These EricX Ferro rods combined with a good tool sharpener work excellent. At $14.95 with free shipping for two rods, they should fit within almost any budget. Putting together a few fire starting kits? Check these out – you won’t regret it.

Rourke

NOTE: Items featured in this article:

Tool Sharpener – LINK

EricX Ferro Rod – LINK

February 19, 2021