I just made up a fresh batch of my "fire candy" to throw in my fire kit in preparation for a camping trip. It goes in a zip lock bag with a bunch of previously collected birch bark and some fat wood. It is pretty wet where we camp so I want to make sure the fire starts fast since there will be a bunch of hungry kids waiting for their grub.
The fire kit also includes a disposable lighter, ferro rod and matches. Gotta have the matches for lighting the lantern.
Here is a pictoral of the fire candy:
Start with a piece of wax paper (candy wrapper)
Add a piece of cotton with vaseline (starts the flame with the tiniest of sparks, once fluffed)
Add some wax covered cedar shavings
The final product. The wax paper is twisted and tied with a piece of jute (also catched the tiniest of sparks once fluffed)
Fluffed and ready to take a spark. I used the BSA Hotspark with the lousy striker that it came with. The spark was tiny (it is much better with the awl of an alox farmer)
Houston, we have ignition! Lit up nicely. I purposely left it in an unsheltered area and it lit up easily even in a stiff breeze. If I had thought about it in advance, I would have tried lighting it in a puddle. The wax paper, vaseline and the wax on the shavings make it pretty water resistant.
Flame at about the two minute mark. The near horizontal flame shows how windy it was.
Still going after three minutes.
Flame out but still smoldering after over four minutes. I suspect more cedar shavings will extend the burn time, but it is more than enough to get a fire started with proper preparation of the tinder bundle, kindling and fire wood.
My firend's son is a pryomaniac especially after I gave him his first ferro rod and told him how to use it and how to make a tinder bundle. So he will enjoy getting some "candy" to play with. Of course his dad supervises. I turned his dad on to using a kukri too. And now son likes chopping. But that is another story.
The fire kit also includes a disposable lighter, ferro rod and matches. Gotta have the matches for lighting the lantern.
Here is a pictoral of the fire candy:
Start with a piece of wax paper (candy wrapper)
Add a piece of cotton with vaseline (starts the flame with the tiniest of sparks, once fluffed)
Add some wax covered cedar shavings
The final product. The wax paper is twisted and tied with a piece of jute (also catched the tiniest of sparks once fluffed)
Fluffed and ready to take a spark. I used the BSA Hotspark with the lousy striker that it came with. The spark was tiny (it is much better with the awl of an alox farmer)
Houston, we have ignition! Lit up nicely. I purposely left it in an unsheltered area and it lit up easily even in a stiff breeze. If I had thought about it in advance, I would have tried lighting it in a puddle. The wax paper, vaseline and the wax on the shavings make it pretty water resistant.
Flame at about the two minute mark. The near horizontal flame shows how windy it was.
Still going after three minutes.
Flame out but still smoldering after over four minutes. I suspect more cedar shavings will extend the burn time, but it is more than enough to get a fire started with proper preparation of the tinder bundle, kindling and fire wood.
My firend's son is a pryomaniac especially after I gave him his first ferro rod and told him how to use it and how to make a tinder bundle. So he will enjoy getting some "candy" to play with. Of course his dad supervises. I turned his dad on to using a kukri too. And now son likes chopping. But that is another story.
