Vaseline-soaked cotton balls are an amazing component of my emergency fire-making supplies. Being prepared is a huge part of wilderness survival and obtaining fire is one of the top survival priorities. A good fire can warm a shelter, purify water, and cook food. I live in the very wet Pacific Northwest and camp year round, so keeping a nice stash of dry tinder and Vaseline-soaked cotton balls is a key component to my emergency kit.
Vaseline-soaked cotton balls have proven valuable more than once during a downpour. I have tried many different types of store bought emergency fire tinders, and although they may work to some degree, they just don't hold up to the wind and rain like Vaseline-soaked cotton balls.
On one of my camping trips many years back, we ran into some pretty nasty, rainy, and windy weather. No one, including myself, had thought to pack any dry tinder. After struggling for what seemed like forever with our lighters, we were just not able to light the wet tinder we managed to scrounge up. Then I remembered I had some Vaseline-soaked cotton balls in my backpack! I ran and got them. Up until this point I hadn't had the chance to test them out, and even though it took two of them to get our fire going, they worked! Even with wind, rain and wet wood, I was amazed at their ability to stay lit and the length of time that they burned. We had to baby our fire at first, but the cotton balls were enough to get it going and eventually we had a beautiful warm blaze!
Not only will Vaseline-soaked cotton balls pretty much guarantee you a fire in some of the worst conditions, but they are lightweight and compact too. Building a fire in the outdoors is one thing, but doing it when everything is wet is quite challenging and can lead to frustration. Like I said in the beginning: being prepared is key, not only to wilderness survival, but also to ensure a more enjoyable time in the outdoors!
So, how do I make them? You may be asking….
Well, you're in luck because that is exactly what I am about to show you.
ARTICLE OUTLINE
- An Essential Survival Fire-starting tool
- SUPPLIES
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# PHOTOS: 7
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+1 lint
also, tampons, which are basically *extremely* dense cotton.
"Worst is when it's raining. Difficult to get fire going…"
Not if you know what you are doing and have the proper skills and firestarting material.
"… and keep it going"
Not if you search for relatively dry pieces of wood and stack wet wood on top or around the fire so it will be dry when you need it.
"You'll get more wet from rain falling on you than dry out from heat from fire."
Not if you are using a tarp or open sided shelter. I can be protected from the rain, be inside my sleeping, and still receive heat from a fire.
If you are using a tent and in a survival situation, you can leave the front door open.
Starting a fire in very frozen conditions. We found a vertical snag and sawed/split it to get dry wood. Kyle starting it with esbit while I watch.
Fire is going, drying out, wet wood is stacked on the fire to dry out. Once that wood dries out and starts burning well you put on more wet wood.
Camp set up. I ended up keeping this fire going all night long because my trash bag liner had a hole in it and my bag/down gear ended up wet (a sort emergency/survival situation, however I would have survived anyways)… needed the extra warmth and to dry out a bit. It was not a big deal or hassle at all, just woke up and restarted the fire from coals every other hour.
Keep in mind, this sort of camping or surviving is only practical in an actual forest. Trying to start a fire at the timberline in a storm is pointless.
Jute cord starts very easily. Has anyone tried waxing it? Could be a dual purpose item then.
On cotton balls I have used vicks vaporub. Works just like vasoline, but you get another use for the item too.
…
"Everclear is illegal in CA."
It is not illegal to own, only to buy or sell.
–B.G.–
I thought it was only the higher proof Everclear that wasn't sold in CA; I've purchased the lower proof (151 proof) at BevMo to make limoncello with a number of times.
…
"The other low proof 150, 75% alc is ok."
Yeah, but that isn't the _real_ Everclear.
The recipe for Purple Passion:
One galvanized wash tub, one large amount of high-test Everclear, and one large amount of Welch's Grape Juice. Mix the two liquids at roughly 50-50 in the tub. Use paper cups to serve yourself by dipping from the tub.
–B.G.–
I too found the article a little weak compared to a lot of the stuff I read here but definitely picked up some knowledge in these comments so I guess it was worth the read.
Hi all
I love this, and have been doing the same for ages.
What I have done, is after making the Vaseline-soaked cotton balls, is to wrap them like lollies in some grease-proof paper. The paper burns well too, and you don't get all that goo over your fingers. Plus, the end of the 'wrapper' is really easy to light.
Just a thought.
Jase in Australia
Oh yeah, and if you need to use a flint/fire starter, just open the wrapper up to expose the good stuff. :-)
Drier lint is nasty. Full of pet fur, body hair, dead skin… not something multi-use for say, chapping or chafing like you could with cotton balls. Not to mention it's messy, and probably partially synthetic materials. Thousands of dollars of gear on someones back and THIS is where they save 99 cents?
The article makes note that this is an emergency fire starter. That's good, because if this is your primary way of starting fires, then perhaps some practice in that area could be a future project.
I used to pack these, I melted the whole jars worth in the oven at the lowest setting with the door cracked open. Carried a couple in an Advil travel size pill bottle. Birch bark is such a great firestarter, and I'm surrounded by so much of it that I just don't carry this stuff most of the time anymore. I do make sure to have an extra ounce or so of stove fuel in my bottle though, so that'll do more for me than a PJCB I figure.
"Drier lint is nasty."
Mine is as pure as the driven snow. It's full of organic polyester and cotton.
–B.G.–
I've found Vaselined cotton balls are THE best fire starters when using a sparking stick and steel (or even a wheel type sparker).
That's why I carry both items in a fire starting kit, one for my CC Sidewinder Inferno stove and one for a survival kit.
People seem amazed that I can get a fire in the cotton ball with just one or two strokes on the sparking stick. "Shucks M'am, twern't nuthin'."
I saw an article in, I think, Field and Stream about fire starters that were made from strike anywhere matches wrapped with cotton string and coated with paraffin. I figured that I'd make some and see what I thought of them. I didn't have any cotton string, so I wrapped the matches with jute twine. I then dipped them in paraffin. I found that the paraffin coating made it very difficult to strike the matches, even on a piece of sandpaper. The paraffin gets into the matchhead and makes it difficult to light. In spite of that, once lit, they did seem to make good fire starters. I had been waterproofing matches by dipping them in clear lacquer (clear nail polish, same thing), so I tried some lacquer coated matches, wrapped in jute twine and coated with paraffin. These seemed to work better. Striking the match was easier and they would hold aflame for quite some time. Since I expected that the wax coated matches would stick together when the wax got warm and softened, I wrapped them in bits of aluminum foil. I found that I needed to remove the foil completely for them to burn properly. I tried one and made a twig bundle fire with no problem. Since I always carry a BIC lighter, I'm not too concerned about striking them. Two or three of these don't amount to much weight or volume and they do seem to be fairly effective, so I'll probably try a few when I get the chance.
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