Compact waterproof Fire Starters and Straw Craft lightweight complimentary supplies.

Jared

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 8, 2005
3,577
749
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Wales
Yeah, most fireplugs (or dental rolls which is what they are just with accelerant added) are in the 8mm to 10mm diameter range.
 

Colinski

Member
Jan 12, 2024
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Was trying to come up with a way to carry a little tinder on a keyring or necklace. Not sure I'm to up carrying a tampon on a necklace. :D
I have several ways, the serious one is to carry Potasium Manganate 8g and Glyserin 2g BUT DO NOT Keep them TOGETHER (Seriously). Safer and easier, Keep a ferro rod, Lighter, Collect about 5 g of White birch bark and seal it in a straw, attach to keyring. People confuse silver birch and white birch. Dont use silver birch bark as it emits toxins and black smoke. People confuse the both. There are 15 types of Birch i know of but white Birch is best to cook with. I make rocket straw rods 5cm x 11mm with cotten dipped vaseline and a little of melted way, let it set in a straw then add a match surrounded with match sulphur heads. Cut open Lay tinder on top light match and fire yeahy yeayh. Almost 100% no mater what weather.
 

Colinski

Member
Jan 12, 2024
47
9
59
London
I have several ways, the serious one is to carry Potasium Manganate 8g and Glyserin 2g BUT DO NOT Keep them TOGETHER (Seriously). Safer and easier, Keep a ferro rod, Lighter, Collect about 5 g of White birch bark and seal it in a straw, attach to keyring. People confuse silver birch and white birch. Dont use silver birch bark as it emits toxins and black smoke. People confuse the both. There are 15 types of Birch i know of but white Birch is best to cook with. I make rocket straw rods 5cm x 11mm with cotten dipped vaseline and a little of melted way, let it set in a straw then add a match surrounded with match sulphur heads. Cut open Lay tinder on top light match and fire yeahy yeayh. Almost 100% no mater what weather.
Keep Potasium promanganate in your neck chain but never with any fuel like sugars. It is good as it can sterilise wounds etc. But be warned Potasium Promanganate can be agitated by any glycerine product including brakeclean etc. Be careful.
 

Colinski

Member
Jan 12, 2024
47
9
59
London
Keep Potasium promanganate in your neck chain but never with any fuel like sugars. It is good as it can sterilise wounds etc. But be warned Potasium Promanganate can be agitated by any glycerine product including brakeclean etc. Be careful.
To steralise you only need a few crystals, pink water. Purple will burn the skin.
 

Jared

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 8, 2005
3,577
749
51
Wales
Yeah, have seen it done with potassium permanganate and a single use sachet of sugar. Little pressure and grinding and it'll go up.
 

Colinski

Member
Jan 12, 2024
47
9
59
London
To steralise you only need a few crystals, pink water. Purple will burn the skin.
Warning, Before you try this be really careful. Its a life saver but it can be very dangerous if you dont use it properly. There are 3 main usages (Its a very old chemical) Your Grandma probably used it)) Main usage in order was Dissinfection, Clean water (Not recomended as the body retains it and it builds up) and third, you can start a fire with it.
 

Jared

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 8, 2005
3,577
749
51
Wales
I used it when studied A level chemistry some 30 odd year ago.
 

Colinski

Member
Jan 12, 2024
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9
59
London
As a kid about 50 years ago i fantasised i was a famous scientist and ransacked my Grandma's cupboards, especially the top shelves lol. we did crazy stuff back then including trying to dig to Australia however we only got three meters down and it ended up with a mud pond. Lol guess if my Grandma was cross. I came accross potasium promanganate reaction by chance and got a shock when it reacted by fire and nasty smoke. I only recalled that in my bushcraft years though i mix different crafts.
 

Colinski

Member
Jan 12, 2024
47
9
59
London
Good luck with that in a storm when everything is drenched in water, you are wet and cold and you need a fool proof fire started.
 

Pattree

Full Member
Jul 19, 2023
2,167
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Not a problem. There is a skill to using any tool, even a match - ask a cigarette smoker.
Bushcraft is fun or it’s not worth doing. Cold and wet (and knowing how to get warm and dry ) is part of the satisfaction of doing it.
If you enjoy the more tangential ways of doing things that’s great. I use a three meter tipi as my shelter. I freely admit that it’s no less ridiculous than carrying explosives to light your fire.

In fact I use a ferro rod to light my kettle but outside of the bushcraft community matches are used in every situation you can think of and in every corner of the world. The first wilderness travellers and the voyageurs, the Hudson Bay canoe porters, are reported to use both flint and matches.

Matches can be kept just as dry as your KMnO4.

Enjoy your craft but it’s not a religion :)
 

Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
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Chemical firelighting is fun, but get caught by the police with these items, and you could be on a terrorism charge.... Just saying.
If you can't light a fire on the wet using bushcraft techniques, and you should always have more than one way on you, then it's something to take a bit of training on. Mostly, the problem is damp tinder and wet wood, so you need to know how to keep tinder dry, or find it and dry it with body heat, and split wood down so that you can catch it alight, and dry the outside as it burns. Voila! A nice warm fire.
I always have a lighter, aswell as ferro rod, and flint and steel, and waterproof matches, along with waxed cotton wool pads, cotton wool and birch bark in a waterproof tin.
I can't be bothered with putting stuff in plastic straws, and unless you have a stock at home, you can't buy them now..
..or at least, you shouldn't be able to.
I try to be plastic free in my bushcraft, as much as possible.
One of my tinder kits, cotton wool, birch bark, waxed tinder card, a wood wool flamer, and natural resin wood, underneath is a pack of military matches, plus lighter
20230616_143956.jpg
 

Pattree

Full Member
Jul 19, 2023
2,167
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Woody Girl
One of my tinder kits, cotton wool, birch bark, waxed tinder card, a wood wool flamer, and natural resin wood, underneath is a pack of military matches, plus lighter

Hells bells - If none of that lot worked my exasperation would boil water!!!!

My go to guru from 1908 used to pour candle wax into a full box of matches and pull them out of the wax as needed. He used to canoe the Great Lakes in Canada.
 
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Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
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Hells bells - If none of that lot worked my exasperation would boil water!!!!

My go to guru from 1908 used to pour candle wax into a full box of matches and pull them out of the wax as needed. He used to canoe the Great Lakes in Canada.

Ha ha, I'm an ex girl guide... I'm prepared! ..Plus I like to swop it round a bit. If you rely on only one method, or tinder, it can let you down when most needed, and I like to keep my skills up to date. It's just part of the fun of bushcraft.
I use a knife tin, that a knife came in. My friend works in the local hunting fishing shop, so I got it for free when the customer didn't want the tin.
I even have a couple of bits of old bicycle tyre as rubber bands around it, which also provides wet weather tinder, aswell as making sure it stays closed and dry. Never let me down yet!
 

Colinski

Member
Jan 12, 2024
47
9
59
London
Chemical firelighting is fun, but get caught by the police with these items, and you could be on a terrorism charge.... Just saying.
If you can't light a fire on the wet using bushcraft techniques, and you should always have more than one way on you, then it's something to take a bit of training on. Mostly, the problem is damp tinder and wet wood, so you need to know how to keep tinder dry, or find it and dry it with body heat, and split wood down so that you can catch it alight, and dry the outside as it burns. Voila! A nice warm fire.
I always have a lighter, aswell as ferro rod, and flint and steel, and waterproof matches, along with waxed cotton wool pads, cotton wool and birch bark in a waterproof tin.
I can't be bothered with putting stuff in plastic straws, and unless you have a stock at home, you can't buy them now..
..or at least, you shouldn't be able to.
I try to be plastic free in my bushcraft, as much as possible.
One of my tinder kits, cotton wool, birch bark, waxed tinder card, a wood wool flamer, and natural resin wood, underneath is a pack of military matches, plus lighter
View attachment 84850
Yes carrying chemicals is not a good thing and can get you in serious trouble. But if you have a good excuse to carry items that include kits like camping, bushcraft, survival etc could still get you in trouble but in a situation of survival anything and everything goes. Besides Bicarbonate of Soda can be just as serious, many other household goods too but at the end of the day it depends on the intention and usage of materials. You can still get plastic straws and plastic biodegradable. After all they are manufactured from oil products. What comes from the earth goes back to the eart but the issue is concentration and how fast they break back Lol your lighter would take much longer than a straw to break down. But saying that it is always best to be prepared. I think my idea of the craft is to be clever, safe and prepared. Your kit looks great.
 

Colinski

Member
Jan 12, 2024
47
9
59
London
Hells bells - If none of that lot worked my exasperation would boil water!!!!

My go to guru from 1908 used to pour candle wax into a full box of matches and pull them out of the wax as needed. He used to canoe the Great Lakes in Canada.
I learned in the past that with only a few items it is very easy to improvise. Ability to start a fire easily in any weather, Birch bark and Sproose Amber and fern twigs, a tin you can seal and a knife all helps, You can make tar, seal your canoe or boat, bind logs, repair clothing or kit. but most of all to find food and water. As kids we went on an 8 month trek with SAS handbook and a knife. If it wasn't for the information we would have dumped the book lol
 

Colinski

Member
Jan 12, 2024
47
9
59
London
Not a problem. There is a skill to using any tool, even a match - ask a cigarette smoker.
Bushcraft is fun or it’s not worth doing. Cold and wet (and knowing how to get warm and dry ) is part of the satisfaction of doing it.
If you enjoy the more tangential ways of doing things that’s great. I use a three meter tipi as my shelter. I freely admit that it’s no less ridiculous than carrying explosives to light your fire.

In fact I use a ferro rod to light my kettle but outside of the bushcraft community matches are used in every situation you can think of and in every corner of the world. The first wilderness travellers and the voyageurs, the Hudson Bay canoe porters, are reported to use both flint and matches.

Matches can be kept just as dry as your KMnO4.

Enjoy your craft but it’s not a religion :)
Yeah i agree, I usually make several options as if one or more fail i always have a posibility. I do the same with data but in a different way. Backup your important data, store more than 20 meters apart and on 3 different media. this way it is very unlikly to lose it or fail. In fuel and fire lighting i have 5 choices for immediate fire and 7 combinations to mix if needed. I like to experiment.
 

Colinski

Member
Jan 12, 2024
47
9
59
London
Yeah, have seen it done with potassium permanganate and a single use sachet of sugar. Little pressure and grinding and it'll go up.
Yeah that works too but a litte more work, Glycerin is much faster, a few drops of water can accelerate the process. You can also use break cleaner, Windscreen wash and other glycerine contents. I am thinking about adding starch or other combustable ingrediences to keep the fire to last longer rather than using too much Potasium Promanganate.
 

Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
4,828
3,778
66
Exmoor
Yes carrying chemicals is not a good thing and can get you in serious trouble. But if you have a good excuse to carry items that include kits like camping, bushcraft, survival etc could still get you in trouble but in a situation of survival anything and everything goes. Besides Bicarbonate of Soda can be just as serious, many other household goods too but at the end of the day it depends on the intention and usage of materials. You can still get plastic straws and plastic biodegradable. After all they are manufactured from oil products. What comes from the earth goes back to the eart but the issue is concentration and how fast they break back Lol your lighter would take much longer than a straw to break down. But saying that it is always best to be prepared. I think my idea of the craft is to be clever, safe and prepared. Your kit looks great.
Thank you.
The lighter is refillable, so it's not thrown away when empty. I've made several of these kits, and all the lighters are refillable, and often recycled from one I might find in the street. So no need for plastic to enter the environment at all.
You can add a small ferro rod, and/ or flint and steel, and a bit of charcloth or char punk wood to this kit, and also a fresnal lens if you want, which gives 5 ways to get a flame in any sort of conditions.
 
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Colinski

Member
Jan 12, 2024
47
9
59
London
Does anyone know how to transfer Liquids into rock or crystal format.
Not much publicized online ? I wish to make genuine Methylated spirit hard tablets without using any materials like paraffin or wax etc., Needs to be based on 80% Methylated spirits and normal temperatures.
 

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