Firestarters

[jdeefus]

Hey all, been away for a while, still taking care of the preps, just busy. Getting ready for the winter now, getting the firewood in and the wife asks me to find her some firestarters that will make buidling the fire in the wood burner easy for her without a bunch of kindling stuff. What are you all using to make this task a little easier? Suggestions?

[dalewick]

Large pinecones dipped in wax or fatwood (wood with a lot of resin in it).

Dale

[Applejack]

Hubby still likes to use kindling. I think he just likes to split wood.

[Morgan101]

Cotton Balls coated with Vaseline would be my favorite. Dryer lint, helps to put some Vaseline on this as well. These will help, but I don't think you will get away from kindling completely.

[Sekelbos]

I've found that apart from the vaseline that Morgan101 has mentioned, that if the kindling is good and the wood packed correctly, then just a small pinky of Vics [multi-purpose] in a slightly tightly rolled tissue/2-3 blocks of toilet paper will also work every time!

[jdeefus]

Cotton Balls coated with Vaseline would be my favorite. Dryer lint, helps to put some Vaseline on this as well. These will help, but I don't think you will get away from kindling completely.

That is what I say, but who listens to me?

[NRAamy]

Myakka's belly lint works well too, if you are brave enough to dig it out...

[myakka]

Stalker.............

[CountryGuy]

hmmm I agree cotton balls or dryer lint are great, so are the tiny little dead branches off the eastern hemlock we have all over - loaded with pitch; birch bark; char cloth; cardboard egg carton cups with a mix of paraffin, sawdust and sometimes lint); 9V and steel wool, road flare and kerosene

But at home for me it's about speed to get some heat and I don't want to waste time. Now and then I'll play around some but mostly with the woodburner or fireplace, I don't mess around practicing fire making skills at that point. I stuff in some old newspaper add a few smaller pieces of dry wood, dope it with a healthy squirt of "girl scout water" aka BBQ lighter fluid, hit it with a match or lighter and *poof* insto-flame. check back in 10 or 15 and add in more wood. Rinse and repeat.

Those duarflame logs are handy too. Buy them on clearance in spring or sometimes on a sale in the fall. Idon't use the whole thing, I just cut a chunk about and inch thick off it with an old putty knife and light it up.

[whisper]

I pack TP tubes with dryer lint and small chunks of used candle wax.

[Trinket]

Tightly crumpled up newspaper, dry tender, dry kindling, topped with dry quartered hard wood layered in that order always worked well for me. Would light it in several different spots and voila, it was going like crazy.

[Sekelbos]

The magic of fire [continue...]
While I totally agree that you must understand and practice the [difficult] primitive ways of making a fire,I also firmly believe in planning ahead and
that one is none and two is one..
In a normal camping/hiking/hunting situation,make use of the lots of fire making technologies on offer !
When out there,I carry at least 2 x different fire making tools on my person apart from the matches & big lighter back at camp.
For example,these shown ferro- rods and water tight mini zippo fire beans are small and weighs nothing.
Each one will give you hundreds of fires....
[more than you will ever need in a survival situation!]
Explore the available goodies near you and PLAN ahead,it's not always necessary to suffer!

[ZAGran]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]9319[/ATTACH]

The magic of fire [continue...]
While I totally agree that you must understand and practice the [difficult] primitive ways of making a fire,I also firmly believe in planning ahead and
that one is none and two is one..

For example,these shown ferro- rods and water tight mini zippo fire beans are small and weighs nothing.
Each one will give you hundreds of fires....
[more than you will ever need in a survival situation!]
Explore the available goodies near you and PLAN ahead,it's not always necessary to suffer!

What are fire beans? I googled zippo fire beans and found nothing!

[Sekelbos]

ZAGran
more info on the zippo-like fire bean
hope this can help you?
it works very well for me!
it is small and as a non-smoker,its easy to slip it into a pocket everyday

[ZAGran]

I gotta get me one! Cool.