Drinking straw fire-lighter

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Adi007

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 3, 2003
4,080
0
It can be tricky to store stuff in a survival kit. Take potassium permanganate crystals or cotton wool balls coated in Vaseline. How do you carry these items in your kit? Pots and containers can be bulky or leak while glass is a non-starter. Here's an idea - a straw container. Here's how you make them...

  • Take some clean drinking straws (preferably new - this is where McD and BK come in handy!).
    Cut them into handy lengths, say 8 - 10 cms.
    Plug one end with cotton wool. Add a drop of hot glue or silicone sealant if you want to make the job watertight.
    Now fill the straw to within about 1 cm of the top with whatever you want to carry. If it is tinder, cotton wool soaked in Vaseline can be stuffed into the straw a bit at a time. It's a messy job but you can get quite a lot into there (enough for a couple of fires) with patience and using a bit of wire to poke it in.
    Seal off the top with a dry bit on cotton wool and clean it up. Add some more glue or sealant if you want to make a tidy job of it.
    Remember to label them so in a survival situation you don't have to go ripping them all open. A good idea is to make them different lengths so you can tell them apart in the dark (large ones for cotton wool, small ones for potassium permanganate).

There you have it - a straw container. A variation on this theme is to use heat and pliers to crimp the ends of the straw but remember, potassium permanganate is a powerful oxidizing agent (helps stuff burn) and cotton wool, well, burns well. I've had whole batches go up in flames :bu: doing this until I realized there was another way! :) :-D
 

sargey

Mod
Mod
Member of Bushcraft UK Academy
Sep 11, 2003
2,695
8
cheltenham, glos
i got a hundred or so tiny tiny ziplock bags from a rock and gem show for about 50p. you can get a couple of vaseline cotton balls in one of them. if it's cold and fingers don't work, just tear the bag open with your teeth and light it. it's not tasty but it does work.

cheers, and'.
 
Ranger Rick had a similar suggestion on his site, but as a way to carry some conveniently sized containers of bleach to purify water.
Cut some straws into one inch pieces, put some dollops of silicone caulking onto a piece of cardboard, place the straws into them and wait for them to dry. Put 4 drops of "regular" (non scented) bleach (According to the manufacturer, it takes four (4) drops of Clorox "Regular" Bleach and thirty minutes to purify 1 x quart/liter of "clear water" for safe consumption. And if the water doesn't have a slight bleach odor to it after waiting 30 minutes, repeat the process. ) into them and close them up with another dollop of caulking. You could use a straw to do this with or an eye dropper or syringe.

You could also do something similar with purification tablets.

http://www.therangerdigest.com/index2.htm
 

Adi007

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 3, 2003
4,080
0
Great tip ... I've been looking for a way to carry bleach.

Thanks!
 

ditchfield

Nomad
Nov 1, 2003
305
0
36
Somerset
My sister's into sushi :roll:, which, when bought ready-made from 'super'markets, often contains small squeezy bottles of soy sauce etc. This are useful for carrying small amounts of liquids.
 
P

Pathos

Guest
if you can find or know someone who works in a chemistry lab, scrounge some eppendorf tubes off them. Small, locking tops, plastic and hold upto 2.5ml liquid. I use them for small liquids and for KMnO4 (potassium permangnate). They also come in various clours which make things very easy and safe when using if tired, purple for permangnate etc.

Paul
 

jakunen

Native
If you go for the wax-paper straws (try the 'indian' corner-shop-type shops) Its best to store the straws in something like an old cigar tube or bacci tin. Permangate is 'fun' to get out of your nice clean jockies if the straw gets crushed and bursts...not that I speak from experience of course...
We used to use fag papers as they were readily avaiable (show me an army squad that doesn't contain at least 1 smoker...), carried exactly the right amount and were ready to use.
 

george

Settler
Oct 1, 2003
627
6
61
N.W. Highlands (or in the shed!)
I use sections of bamboo cane from a garden centre. Cut just below a node and then cut a section above it a couple of inches long (or as long as you want). Carve a stopper from an old wine cork and you've got great little wooden bottles for carrying everything from salt and spices through to matches or liquids.

George
 

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