The secret household kindling

[gregorach]

Most savoury snacks burn really well, Doritos and Whotsits are particularly good, but try nuts too. Cut the end of a brazil nut so that it can stand upright and light the tip. It's a mini candle that'll happily burn for several minutes

cheers,
Toddy

Burning food seems a terrible waste... But many nut shells burn well, especially pistachios.

 

[Asa Samuel]

Be careful if you use alchohol hand gel while bushcrafting as it goes up really easily! You can even use it to cook over!
Cotton wool soaked/rubbed with vasaline are brilliant fire starters and if you leave a bit of the wool dry and tease it out you can start it easily with a ferro rod. Mine last for nearly 7 minutes!
Cotton dryer lint in excellent stuff to use with a ferro rod and you'd normally throw the stuff away!

Asa.

 

[Tracer1969]

Soft ear plugs burn for a few minutes, doesn't take much place either in the firekit.

 

[chem_doc]

Dryer sheets (especially used/spent ones) burn surprisingly well. Don't even know if y'all have them across the Atlantic... These are the sheets you throw in the dryer with wet laundry to prevent "static cling" and give them a fragrance...

Doc

 

[TJRoots]

Dryer sheets (especially used/spent ones) burn surprisingly well. Don't even know if y'all have them across the Atlantic... These are the sheets you throw in the dryer with wet laundry to prevent "static cling" and give them a fragrance...

Doc

they are available here, but as far as i know they are not widely used.

ATB
TJ

 

[procee]

I've got a green ex army plastic tub thing (decontamination kit written on it) and I tend to keep it full of tumble dryer flurr (it is really flammable) mixed with birch bark curls.

 

[dasy2k1]

i heard that all soldiers in afgahnistan now carry a few tampons (male and female) because they make the ideal dressing for a bullet hole.... as one medic said

sterile, absorbant, with a handy applicator to get it in the hole and a string for the medics to get it out again at the hospital

 

[TomBartlett]

As a kid, before I knew what they were, I used tampons from the bathroom cabinet to clean out the mouthpiece on my clarinet! Sounds like thery're the swiss army knife of feminine hygiene.

 

[jackcbr]

Sacrilege.....unless of course it was a green one.

If you're not a fan of green ones, I'll send you my address, I can't get enough of them

 

[jackcbr]

Soft ear plugs burn for a few minutes, doesn't take much place either in the firekit.

Longer if been used, if you get my drift

 

[Elines]

You know those little round or oval cotton pads women use for makeup removal ? 100 for 69p kind of thing ?
Wipe one with some vaseline and it'll burn for ages

cheers,
Toddy

Yes these are good - and I find them less messy to use if you cut about half way round the edge with scissors, open up the pad and put the vaseline inside with a spoon, and then close it up again ie just make it flatter.

You can then stack them in a can - duraglit can worked for me - and you can take one out at a time. Before I did it that way they tended to become one horrible greasy mess when squashed up.

 

[G-man]

The best thing i find for fire lighting I have at home isn't crisps tampon's etc, bog standard cycle innertube - pre cut into strips ('popped' ones are best as your not wasting an otherwise usable product) come hail, rain wind or snow these baby's will burn even when they are wet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB6I9jO_lg4mears

edit: I got caught out once and had nothing dry so I used the cellophane wrapper of my cigarette box, worked like a charm

 

[Maxter]

I use small petroleum soaked wax cubes. they are used to light up charcoal barbecues. they light up instantly and burn for a long time too. I usually shave a little bit off the cube and just strike it with my flint. http://www.sartorvet.com/default.aspx?data=productinfo&load=main&Key=5701410045388&group=&torv= about 1.8 GBP for 64 of them

 

[leealanr]

Cotton/vaseline mix (buy a cheaper unbranded version such as Tesco etc, its cheaper but still the same product). Burns welll and for a long time. Tumbledryer lint is brilliant, catches well with a firesteel.

Rubber inner tube has not worked particularly well for me, must have been the type of rubber I suppose.

Tampons are the same as cotton wool, highly absorbent but you can cut them in half and double your chances, the wrapping they come in can also be used.

"Dry" hand gel which is alcohol based is good and serves a double function.

Can't burn bank statements any more as I only do Internet banking!

Alan L.