Back-up fire lighters

[AJB]

Morning All,

Since I saw RM talking about carrying strips of rubber with his lighter as fire lighters I’ve been looking out for an old tyre. But amazingly you just don’t seem to see them around anymore (all though I must admit I haven’t been trying that hard) I did go to a scrappy, but the guy wanted to charge me for an old perished tyre! I’d asked at Kwik Fit in the past if I could cut a bit out of the side wall of an old one but there was some H&S / European directive / COSHH reason why only trained technicians could be in the same room with a tyre!

Anyway whilst getting my wheels balanced on Saturday, I noticed the floor was strewn with the little rubber lumps. They were the ends of valves that get cut off when they change a tyre. I filled my pockets in a minute. They are very compact, light easily and burn hot for about 3 minutes. And they were free!

Andy

 

[Buckshot]

Nice one,
There are rules coming in / already in place by the EU about old tyres
I think farmers are going to have problems with thier silage clamps in future - normally they use old tyres to hold the plastic down and keep the air out, stoping the silage rotting too much. IIRC they use the tyres they currently have but can't get any more!
I've tried the old tyre technique, works really well I'll have to visit my local Kwikfit !

Cheers

Mark

 

[flibb]

You can also have a look in the skips after they close.

 

[AJB]

Hi I thought of that, but Kwik Fit, at least my local one, has all there stuff collected to be disposed of / recycled so you just can’t get your hands on them!

 

[Angus Og]

Try an old bicycle inner tube easier to cut up.

 

[AJB]

I tried one of those, but I couldn't get it to stay alight, it just smoldered.

 

[MagiKelly]

I use an inner tube as well and have no problems with it. Much easier to get a hold of too.

 

[Lithril]

I always carry several stips from an old bike inner tube, works a treat if you light it holding it upright so the flames at the bottom, you can then stand it up and put your tinder around it, I'll try and get some pics later, well worth carrying for an emergency... you do need a normal lighter to get it going though.

 

[anthonyyy]

What I find strange is that I have come accross quite a few burned-out cars in my time and almost always the tyres remained intact !

 

[grahoom]

Nice one,
There are rules coming in / already in place by the EU about old tyres

not about fire-lighters, but about the use of old tyres

http://www.lowcarbon.co.uk/

EARTHSHIP BRIGHTON
Our first project is to build one of Europe's first Earthships, sited on the south coast near Brighton. Earthship Brighton is being built in Stanmer Park, Earthships are solar powered homes and work spaces, built from a massive waste problem – used tyres. They are buildings that work with the planets natural systems - using the sun's energy and rain to provide heat, power and water. They do not make use of greenhouse gas emitting power stations, nor do they rely on mains water or waste services. This makes them autonomous and therefore cheap to run.

 

[redcollective]

Re the Eathship note... this kind of custruction really interests me - try http://www.earthship.org/ for some more info and lots of pictures of wierd and wonderful buildings.


Back on topic - the material the mears fella uses in his video is innertube, not tyre. I can confirm it burns real well. I have found a useful tinder too in the form of these little pads of cotton wool the wife uses for makeup... one shower from the firestick and it lights up a treat. The pads are circular and seem to light completely across the surface creating a big space you can deposit other twigs etc on top without smothering it... must tell the wife some day why those things go missing from the bathroom - I'm sure she wonders.

 

[Ruckus]

i tried some lint from the dryer, worked a treat and theres always plenty of that around, just needed a small spark and it was done.

i tried it this morning, only problem is my laundry lint is full of dog hair (i have a hairy Leonberger), so it stunk a bit, but hey who cares, it did the job.

Also, i found it only burnt the outter parts of the clump i had, so i guess next time i'll try pulling it about and getting more air in their.

anyone else tried this?


oh hang on, its err, that wet stuff you get, you know, falls from the sky, well its doing that outside right now.. i'm out to play in it woohooo!.............

 

[scruff]

i've been using the lint from the dryer since andy suggested it a few weeks ago

i cant get through it quick, its very abundant

it works a treat...a one spark wonder!!

it is best to seperate the 'fibres' a little

tends to produce a char rather than be fully consumed by the flame

great stuff tho

 

[AJB]

And it's free, I like free stuff!

 

[Biddlesby]

The best things in life are free.

i tried some lint from the dryer, worked a treat and theres always plenty of that around, just needed a small spark and it was done.

I've tried this but no luck. Perhaps there were some wrong kinds of fibres.

 

[Ruckus]

did you try just using a regular lighter to see if it atleast burned ?

 

[Biddlesby]

No I didn't. I'll try it now.

[edit] Ok must have been that batch. Took a spark from a firesteel and burned quite well, although left quite a mess behind.

 

[Graham_S]

the quality of the lint depends on what's been inthe dryer. some fibers are more flammable than others.

 

[Brixton]

After annoying bike repair shops for 'dead' inner tubes I nicked some elastic bands from the office administrators desk.
They burn well but kick out black smoke that looks a bit worrying to me.

I'm not sure what's worse though inhaling a bit of burning rubber or my 40 a day fag habit

 

[AJB]

"Back on topic - the material the mears fella uses in his video is innertube, not tyre." - Red

Hi Red,

When I read the above it didn't seem right, but I hadn't had a chance to have a look at where I thought I'd seen it. In "Bushcraft" RM said he uses tyre strips as fire lighters. I thought I was loosing it! I had tried inner tube before I found some tyre, but couldn't get it to light. It was perished though, does anyone know if this will affect its burn characteristics. In the perishing process have the volatile components been driven off?

AJB