Fire, Fire & FIRE!

[NetFrog]

Hey all

I'm putting together some fire kits for my website, we already do natural tinder kits and others but I want to put together a simple foolproof survival fire kit and am looking for ideas. Obviously this counts out much of the natural stuff, so no birch bark, assorted fungi tinders etc. I am talking about compact bullet proof fire.

A few that I use already are the USA gov issue tinder tabs which is basically wax impregnated cotton. The baddest bee fire fuses which are a slight refinement of the tinder tabs and of course wet fire which although I don't use due to the cost I do find the cheaper alternatives to be almost as good. Simply looking to create a small compact fire kit that will without doubt give the greatest opportunity of starting fire whilst also giving a few options. This is not bushcraft, this is survival. All be it short term.

Would you say that the wetfire/gelert style fuel tabs + lighter are the best short term close to guaranteed fire? At ten mins (or close to) burn time they give a good success rate, even in the wet. Coghlans fire paste is another that works well and has a fair few fires in the tube.

Ideas welcome please ;-)

 

[Andy T]

Old tyre inner tube.

 

[Limaed]

My suggestion would be something similar to the RAF issue 'Matchless Fire-Set'. These come part of Aircrew survival packs with the set contained in a sealed 1oz tobacco tin. Basically you have a tampon, flint & steel, fire block (hexamine?) and some cotton wool packing. The block can crumbled or lit with the cotton wool.

I think the set works as it can be stored for many years, is water tight and can be transported safely and legally (unlike matches, gas, liquids etc). Once you have fire the tin can be re-used for charring cloth / punkwood or carrying other items.

I think the set could be improved with a decent fire steel & perhaps a candle, other than that it's hard to beat IMO.

 

[Philster]

Cotton wool slathered in vaseline and a lighter - pretty guaranteed result from those two

 

[NetFrog]

Hi Limaed - We already do a similar kit to that but as a larger fire kit. The tampons work a treat and almost impossible for us to compress cotton down to that level. I do feel a little guilty selling tampons in a kit but what works works.

Improving on it makes sense. The hexamine style tablets you mentioned we already do (gelert) and although they do not take a spark they do offer a long burn time. I would forgo the flint and steel as you mentioned and add a large ferro rod, or even a micro one + striker as this is not for long term use but guaranteed fire. The question really is: Do the tampons take up too much room compared with the hexamine compared with the potential butn times. The other is, lifespan. I'm really not sure how long hexamine style tablets are viable for, however I have tested on old ones, probably a few years, and they work perfectly fine, all be it they are sealed.

The candle gives a good option, you can improve the burn time of the cotton with that so I like that idea.

 

[NetFrog]

heehee. Yup very true Philster, but I need a kit that is not selling vasaline cotton! If-Yah-See-What-I-Mean

 

[NetFrog]

Curiously, and as it is good to have duel function. Crayons work almost as well as wax and obviously have another purpose (drawing stick insects) So on a practical although rather obscure note they may well be a better option than wax.

 

[Limaed]

Hi Limaed - We already do a similar kit to that but as a larger fire kit. The tampons work a treat and almost impossible for us to compress cotton down to that level. I do feel a little guilty selling tampons in a kit but what works works.

Improving on it makes sense. The hexamine style tablets you mentioned we already do (gelert) and although they do not take a spark they do offer a long burn time. I would forgo the flint and steel as you mentioned and add a large ferro rod, or even a micro one + striker as this is not for long term use but guaranteed fire. The question really is: Do the tampons take up too much room compared with the hexamine compared with the potential butn times. The other is, lifespan. I'm really not sure how long hexamine style tablets are viable for, however I have tested on old ones, probably a few years, and they work perfectly fine, all be it they are sealed.

The candle gives a good option, you can improve the burn time of the cotton with that so I like that idea.

I think the burn time of the candle / fireblock is important particularly as the kit is aimed at personnel who may have only limited training and have not necessarily selected good quality tinder/ kindling (or have it available). I like the 1oz tin as it's very compact, perhaps the answer is to work out what combination gives you the most fires (or likelihood of succeeding) for the space. I think realistically the issue set is only good for 3-4 fires although once you have a fire established it's far easier to keep it going.

I have one here that is dated 07 with a six year shelf life, but the contents haven't degraded at all so I don't think lifespan is an issue if the kit is kept in a dry place.

Military survival courses work on the premise that the survivor is likely to have had some basic training, if your kit is aimed at a complete novice then perhaps some simple instructions / diagrams on a waterproof sheet would also be handy.

 

[forrestdweller]

maybe add a magnifying glass(fresnel lens)?!

 

[bambodoggy]

I got myself and a mate one each of the little shotgun cartridge fire lighting edc kits that a couple of the paid up maker guys on here sell. Great little bit of kit and very well thought out. It seemed to me like they'd really spent time out in the cold and wet testing what worked and what didn't and theirs did

Seems you're a little behind the curve here mate! Lol

Good luck with your market research

 

[9InchNinja]

swiss army gel cooker. Can use it for cooking on, or scrape the gel out and use as fuel for fire. Use one two weekends ago on a very wet Dartmoor to get our fire going enough to dry out some wood.

We were on the sandy banks of the river Dart, so was fine to have a little fire.

 

[Bishop]

Well... a thermite mix plus powdered magnesium will ignite with a ferro-rod spark or naked flame source such as a disposable lighter, storm-match etc
Burns extremely hot, impervious to damp, wet & cold conditions plus has a long shelf-life.

 

[petrochemicals]

I find the wax paper on instant barbecues highly highly impressive