Cotton balls and Vaseline - cool

[garandman]

We have a small wood stove at our place in NH so it goes out regularly this time of year (when you only really need it at night).

After wadding up all the junk newspaper, I started putting a dab of vaseline in a cotton ball. What a great fire starter! Easy to light, burns 2-4 minutes, compact and easy to carry.

About to make several ziplock bags full. Nothing new or high tech but along with Cedar shingles, best fire starter around!

 

[Rayvis13]

Sometimes I keep the empty 9mm trays, and fill those with the cotton/ vaseline combo. Then set that in a ziplock. Great cheap, efficient firestarters.

 

[NickyBangBang]

Good to know; thanks for passing along.

 

[dixidawg]

Potato chips work great too.

 

[LuvDog]

dryer lint also

 

[robjax]

I ball up dryer lint and pack it into cardboard egg cartons and then melt wax and saturate the dryer lint. The wax may leave a residue in the stove you may not want though. I've only ever used this outside in my fire pit. One burns for around 15 minutes. If you use a dozen you don't even need wood. lol (jk) but they burn for a long time. I got this tip in a hunter safety course. I use them for all outside fires. Maybe you could ball up some of those cotton balls and use them in the egg carton method I described and they may burn a little longer too...

However, I am not married to any one idea. So I will try the cotton ball and Vaseline method. Anything for a fire....lol

 

[swatgig]

I ball up dryer lint and pack it into cardboard egg cartons

You can also stuff the lint into cardboard toilet paper tubes.

 

[robjax]

You can also stuff the lint into cardboard toilet paper tubes.

Excellent idea.....or even a paper towel roll. The nice thing about the egg carton is you can break off as few or many as you like or need. I suppose one could always cut the tp roll in half too. But yeah....anything like that would work great. Wondering how long that would burn. Now I have to try it...lol

The other thing is that you can stuff a few of these into a ziplock bag and put them in your survival pack with some strike on anywhere matches or other source of ignition...they are light enough and don't take up much room...

 

[PaulR]

Hmmm, well, I do have plenty of vaseline around the house.

 

[garandman]

Vaseline is designed to melt near body temp, so I tried something that worked well. Melted half a jar on lowest heat in a pan. Dipped the cotton in with pliers, flipped it over, dipped the other side, and put them into the ziplock. Made 40 in a few minutes. At this rate I'll have 100 for the grand total of $4.99.

Some people use paraffin wax. It burns longer but seems harder to light and desn't produce as much heat.

My other secret weapon is the lowest-grade Cedar shakes from HD or the like. They light easily on the thin edges and burn well.

 

[Buggin]

Chapstick works well in an emergency situation too.

Egg crates and dunkin coffee trays work as excellent starter also.

 

[Finalygotabeltfed]

The egg carton thing above works better with sawdust and wax. Its basically the same thing as those fireplace logs that burn for an hour or two.

Dryer lint usually has lots of plastic fibers in it from synthetic clothing.

To the OP, the vaseline and cotton balls is a great fire starter. I have them packed in the small ziplock bags in my hunting gear.

Some other methods for out in the field, Sardines(packed in olive oil) use the oil , tuna in oil, birch bark, pine sap, animal fat.

 

[allen-1]

Adding them to my kit.
Thanks.

 

[Buggin]

I keep them in an old pill bottle.

 

[wahsben]

Cotton and Vaseline tend to light easier and cotton & parrafin wax don't light as easy but burn longer.

ETA: I see Garandman already mentioned this.

I ball up dryer lint and pack it into cardboard egg cartons and then melt wax and saturate the dryer lint. The wax may leave a residue in the stove you may not want though. I've only ever used this outside in my fire pit. One burns for around 15 minutes. If you use a dozen you don't even need wood. lol (jk) but they burn for a long time. I got this tip in a hunter safety course. I use them for all outside fires. Maybe you could ball up some of those cotton balls and use them in the egg carton method I described and they may burn a little longer too...

However, I am not married to any one idea. So I will try the cotton ball and Vaseline method. Anything for a fire....lol

 

[EMTDAD]

The egg carton thing above works better with sawdust and wax. Its basically the same thing as those fireplace logs that burn for an hour or two.

I make these for camping every year.. Use leftover sawdust and small wood scraps from my workshop, some dryer lint, and wax from Walmart. Works great.

 

[robjax]

Cotton and Vaseline tend to light easier and cotton & parrafin wax don't light as easy but burn longer.

Maybe if you put the cotton and wax in a cardboard toilet paper roll or the egg crates The card board lights easier and will burn hot enough to ignite the rest for you...

- - - Updated - - -

I make these for camping every year.. Use leftover sawdust and small wood scraps from my workshop, some dryer lint, and wax from Walmart. Works great.

I don't really have a source for saw dust or that would be a great item for me to use. For the wax I just use left over yankee candle wax tarts. My wife uses those to make the house not smell like hoppes.

 

[jhblaze1]

wax and sawdust work well. Make molds in a muffin tin.

 

[wahsben]

Or just start the fire with the cotton ball & vaseline and add in the cotton balls & parrafin. What you suggest should probably work well too.

Maybe if you put the cotton and wax in a cardboard toilet paper roll or the egg crates The card board lights easier and will burn hot enough to ignite the rest for you...

 

[swatgig]

I generally cheat and use a propane torch to start the wood stove

 

[robjax]

I generally cheat and use a propane torch to start the wood stove

I don't think that's cheating. I used to cheat with my outdoor fire pit. I use to use lighter fluid....lol Now I just use my homemade fires starters...


I like them because they don't want anyone to use any fuel on the beach. so I bring these to the cape for when I have a beach fire.

 

[namedpipes]

You can also stuff the lint into cardboard toilet paper tubes.

I'm NOT taking fire starting advice from a dude having an avatar showing him about to burn down his back yard with a flamethrower

 

[DrBurnsides]

Leftover bacon grease and cotton works well too.. Smells great.

 

[Rockrivr1]

dryer lint also

^This. I keep a medicine bottle full of this stuff in my BOB.

 

[ToddDubya]

I ball up dryer lint and pack it into cardboard egg cartons and then melt wax and saturate the dryer lint. The wax may leave a residue in the stove you may not want though. I've only ever used this outside in my fire pit. One burns for around 15 minutes. If you use a dozen you don't even need wood. lol (jk) but they burn for a long time. I got this tip in a hunter safety course. I use them for all outside fires. Maybe you could ball up some of those cotton balls and use them in the egg carton method I described and they may burn a little longer too...

However, I am not married to any one idea. So I will try the cotton ball and Vaseline method. Anything for a fire....lol

I've been doing this for years and works perfectly every time. The egg carton material lights very easily and gets your waxed lint going. One burns long enough to get anything but wet wood going. Can't beat it.

You can also stuff the lint into cardboard toilet paper tubes.

Meh.

Excellent idea.....or even a paper towel roll. The nice thing about the egg carton is you can break off as few or many as you like or need. I suppose one could always cut the tp roll in half too. But yeah....anything like that would work great. Wondering how long that would burn. Now I have to try it...lol

The other thing is that you can stuff a few of these into a ziplock bag and put them in your survival pack with some strike on anywhere matches or other source of ignition...they are light enough and don't take up much room...

I've tried cutting TP/PT rolls up into small disks for this reason and they just don't light easily or burn well. Making them is a hassle, too. You need to pack a little lint, add wax, pack with more lint, add more wax, etc. I just went back to the egg cartons and never looked back - free, easy, effective.

For backpacking I go with the lint/vaseline option because it's much more packable and I see it as a backup to foraged kindling.

 

[gearwhore14]

The vasoline and cotton balls in an altoids tin or something similar is good for a camping kit or a SHTF bag.

 

[ToddDubya]

The vasoline and cotton balls in an altoids tin or something similar is good for a camping kit or a SHTF bag.

Dude, stop snooping through my stuff.

Small baggie with vaseline/cotton, couple lighters, rubber band to keep tin closed, done. In a pinch you can make char cloth in an Altoids tin, too.

http://graywolfsurvival.com/3002/make-use-char-cloth/

 

[oldgoat]

Peanut butter with some bug spray mixed in. A C ration mini tin of peanut butter and the government issue bug spray will heat a full canteen cup of water etc.

 

[cockpitbob]

I refuse to be in the position of having to explain why I have cotton balls soaked in Vaseline.

I put lint or sawdust in egg cartons, pour on melted wax then cut into 12 fire starters.

 

[Heath]

I refuse to be in the position of having to explain why I have cotton balls soaked in Vaseline.

I put lint or sawdust in egg cartons, pour on melted wax then cut into 12 fire starters.

Keister 'em! Fairly waterproof and chances of having to explain this become very slim.

Extra points if you can fart them out and light both the fart and the cotton ball at the same time.