Fire starters

I've never used lint, but I use cotton balls and vaseline. One cotton ball is just right for getting a fire started. I put them in a hard sided container (a pill bottle) so I can shove and compress a lot of them in there.

I have used both but like Cotton ball/petro jelly best
They burn quite well and one is plenty to start a fire.

I agree with the pure cotton/PJ. Dryer lint might have some polyester or wool mixed in with the cotton, which diminishes its proper flamability.

My favorite fire starter is bees wax impregnated tack cloth used for finish carpentry.
A 3"x3" piece rolled into a cigarette makes a lite, clean and easy fire starter.

A few feet of wax paper is completely mess-free (and can even be used to separate a sooty pot from other stuff) and you can use as much or as little as you need each time based on the conditions. A square inch or two under really dry twigs. A dollar-bill-sized piece for bigger twigs. Roll and kink a tube for a longer-lasting one, etc. For the multi-purposers among us, you can use wax paper (or aluminum foil) to catch drips off a snow field or tarp for drinking water. Instant funnel.

Someone posted two weeks ago about filling each compartment of a cardboard egg carton with a tablespoon of wax and cutting out 12 fire starters. I tried it and while not SUL, it made a REALLY effective fire starter – for wetter or bigger wood. I buy big, ugly candles at the thrift store for 25 cents and keep them around as a cheap source of wax.

The SDUL (super-duper ultralight) method is to harvest your own belly-button lint and impregnate it with your own ear wax. NO added pack weight AND you reduce your skin-out weight with each use.

Someone posted two weeks ago about filling each compartment of a cardboard egg carton with a tablespoon of wax and cutting out 12 fire starters. I tried it and while not SUL, it made a REALLY effective fire starter – for wetter or bigger wood.

For a somewhat lighter version of that, use the small paper cups found at condiment stations with pump dispensers (cylinders approx 1 inch tall and 1 inch diameter). Doesn't pack the quite as many BTU's as the egg carton version but still works pretty well.

I'm not sure if esbit tabs have been mentioned but they work pretty well also.

While not directly on-topic, I use a trick birthday candle for lighting my fires, whether in a fire ring or in my wood-burning stove. It lights quickly using my lighter and then I'm not reaching down under my carefully crafted fire and trying to flick my Bic.

Esbit make good fire starters too. Maybe overkill for most situations, but when the woods is very wet and I'm cold I will use one.

one trick with PJ ballz is to put the PJ in the microwave for a short time or otherwise carefully heat it up to liquid form … and then dip most of the ball into is, leaving out some to fluff up to catch sparks

here is someone demonstrating nuked PJ balls in the rain …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgTano_saGo&feature=player_embedded

;)

One tip if you decide to use lint. Remove it from your navel first. Don't ask me how I know….

I was also wondering how long a petroleum ball stays lit compared to a esbit tab and if dog hair in the lint matters much.

>"if dog hair in the lint matters much."

You know the expression, "Smells like a wet dog."?

Smelling like a burning dog is worse.

When I've had my flesh cauterized or gotten defoliated in small fuel-air explosions, it smells much better upwind.