A very British way to light a fire

[joelinman]

hair mousse will catch a spark and burn relatively slowly.... maybe a couple of minutes depending on size of the mousse you squirt out, long enough to get a fire going.

gather the lint from your tumble dryer filter, its free, practically unlimited, compressible into small packs....perfect!

Take a pencil sharpener, preferably the ones that have a small and larger hole, then you can sharpen twigs, which will give super wafer thin shavings which will catch a spark

 

[nic a char]

Good ideas! Why are they "british"??? Surely, international/universal!

 

[Goatboy]

Good ideas! Why are they "british"??? Surely, international/universal!

Think it relates to the tea in the OP and the British habit of tea drinking. And it's nice to have a jokular title

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[Tommyd345]

Because we here in Britain drink nothing but tea and with our little fingers poking out

 

[nic a char]

Because we here in Britain drink nothing but tea and with our little fingers poking out

Haha very good! Like it! Actually, Chinese are the biggest tea-drinkers

 

[Tommyd345]

True! I went to Shanghai and drank a lot of wheat tea (think that's what it's called) I'd love to get my hands on some but It has a different name that I don't know haha!

 

[Freelander]

I see they sell them there now!
I heard that "Sweet Afton" cigarettes and black shag pipe tobacco are gone now too.
Ireland is where I learned to love those little steel covers for pipe bowls, so that you could smoke in the rain..
Happy days back then....

Anyway for some real pyrotechnics (which means that you are not dressed in synthetics at the time, and are wearing safety glasses):

1. Coffee whitener powder, open packet blow onto fire.
2. Baby powder made with cornstarch rather than talcum, blow onto fire.
-Ball of flame.
Now we know why smoking is banned around grain elevators and wood mills.

There have been some really serious confined dust explosions in factories from things like sugar,etc

 

[AdeInTokyo]

I see they sell them there now!
I heard that "Sweet Afton" cigarettes and black shag pipe tobacco are gone now too.
Ireland is where I learned to love those little steel covers for pipe bowls, so that you could smoke in the rain..
Happy days back then....

Anyway for some real pyrotechnics (which means that you are not dressed in synthetics at the time, and are wearing safety glasses):

1. Coffee whitener powder, open packet blow onto fire.
2. Baby powder made with cornstarch rather than talcum, blow onto fire.
-Ball of flame.
Now we know why smoking is banned around grain elevators and wood mills.

Pretty much anything ground down to a powder will burn. Burning is a reaction with oxygen, it's all about surface area. And adding a bit of heat. Aluminium powder and ironoxide powder together give thermite.

In fact there are very few things that don't "rapidly oxidise" when the surface area is sufficient.

Don't forget the classic steel wool and a 9v battery.

 

[AdeInTokyo]

True! I went to Shanghai and drank a lot of wheat tea (think that's what it's called) I'd love to get my hands on some but It has a different name that I don't know haha!

Barley tea? That is popular. 麦茶 ?

 

[kaiAnderson]

i read that that you had used a lightbulb (that i was presuming was hot) to set the teabag alight

 

[xairbourne]

Ive started to roast my own coffee ( I plan to do a post) Then the Doris and I wondered what we could do with all the left over coffee grinds (pucks). She started to make some soap with them but got overwhelmed with the amount of coffee I drink...
Now we fill up old toilet rolls and put them in the log burner, they burn well and give a good ember. I don't really get the smell as its off up the chimney. I will take some along on my next camp to sample the smell.

 

[MountainGhost]

"There have been some really serious confined dust explosions in factories from things like sugar,etc"

There are some heavy duty blast doors installed inside Bird's custard Factory in Birmingham for this reason. Looks like a nuclear facility rather than a pudding factory.


"True! I went to Shanghai and drank a lot of wheat tea (think that's what it's called) I'd love to get my hands on some but It has a different name that I don't know haha!"

"Barley tea? That is popular. 麦茶 ?"

I agree with Ade. Probably Barely tea, 麦茶 (màichá).

 

[oldtimer]

I only drink proper coffee, can't stand tea. SWMBO won't drink coffee, only tea. We end up carrying both. I can see some interesting situations ahead if we run out of tinder!

However, I expect her reaction if I suggested using her tea-bags would be hot enough set damp wood aflame.

 

[Tommyd345]

Haha!! Don't mess with the mrs!!

 

[Tony]

Ive started to roast my own coffee ( I plan to do a post) Then the Doris and I wondered what we could do with all the left over coffee grinds (pucks). She started to make some soap with them but got overwhelmed with the amount of coffee I drink...
Now we fill up old toilet rolls and put them in the log burner, they burn well and give a good ember. I don't really get the smell as its off up the chimney. I will take some along on my next camp to sample the smell.

I be the neighbours are drinking more coffee as well, they'll be smelling it in the air, you should be getting some renumeration from the local supermarket

 

[hog]

Sounds like a good way to use old tea bags I'll give it a go .

Dont forget to squeeze it out before blowing it into a flame. LOL.

 

[Janne]

Fantastic thread, truly a superb idea!!
Some tea bags are made with a synthetic bag. Do these work also?

Spent coffee grinds are superb to use as a mulch in the garden too. Tea leaves of course too.

 

[MegaWoodsWalker]

Never tried a tea bag for firecraft and I pack them.

 

[Brockettuk]

Never tried a tea bag for firecraft and I pack them.

I've never tried lighting a fire eith a tea bag either lol I will have to give it ago if tinder is sparce