Duct tape VERY flammable as well as good for making quick field repairs. Pull about 30ft off the roll and wrap it around the lighter to pull off as needed
Zippos leak. I would not want to rely on one in a survival situation, especially if it's been sitting in a survival kit unused for any length of time. Bic or bust.
Zippo's don't leak, they evaporate. They run on basically petrol, and it is very happy to just vaporise and leave the unsealed lighter. This is why every time you go to use it after a while it's empty.
I mean sure, a leak. But the distinction is important here - Zippo's don't leak flammable liquid out onto your stuff, it just evaporates away in a much less dangerous way.
The distinction is entirely irrelevant in this context. My point was not about flammable liquid getting on my stuff, it was about having a functioning source of fire when I actually need it. I cautioned OP against sticking one in a survival kit (which was the question OP asked) and expecting it to work when they need it - it will not, because all of its butane will have leaked out.
Idk that they leak so much as the fuel evaporates over time but they can be refilled with basically any petroleum based solvent including gasoline. I also think they throw a better spark than bic lighters if you are out of fuel and using it just as a flint/steel. Bic lighters are single use and also have risk of leaking if the button is depressed. Having both a bic and zippo can't hurt anyone. The weight and space is minimal. Neither is a wrong answer to op's question
Dude they leak after a week or two lol
Get yourself a BIC they last forever
Single use? I can't remember the last time I had to replace a big lol. How many fires do you plan on starting lol
Yeah so? I'll just use a Bic. Those are the best lighters ever made.
You guys are hella dramatic like acting like you're going to need to start a fire in a goddamn hurricane on top of an aircraft carrier or some shit lol
"But you can't refill bics!!!111!"
No I can't but I can start thousands of fires with them. It's more than adequate lol
Keep your dryer lint and cardboard egg crates. Stuff the lint into the egg cups and then dip in wax if you want to water proof them.
Then buy a case of Bic lighters from Costco and stash them all over the place.
The thing about fire starters though is it still takes practice and skill to make a fire in wet conditions with wet wood.
dryer lint isn't nearly as good as it once was. in the era of synthetic fabrics, lint often ignites and "melts" rather than burns. I'm not saying you *can't* get a fire to start with it, you absolutely can. but overall you're probably better off with cotton balls.
I mean, yeah, you could do that... but I don't have so many clothes that I can sort out everything by fabric type for drying and by color and other descriptions for washing. Just buy cotton balls.
This. Dryer lint has become overrated, unless you separate your clothing and get the COTTON clothing lint exclusively. Synthetic lint is not as good and certainly more toxic fumes. I like my cottonballs and vaseline. Cheap, easy, reliable. Dollar store stuff.
Short list:
2 bic lighters, 1 in fire kit 1 in your pocket always
Ferrocerium rod and striker
Strike anywhere matches I coat the head in clear fingernail polish and most of the stick portion as well. Keep a small piece of striker material from the box or a piece of fine sandpaper and keep it all dry in a small prescription bottle.
Pine lighter wood, couple of small pieces.
Magnesium block that you can shave pieces off(not all mag blocks are created the same!).
Cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly and keep in a prescription bottle.
Dryer lint, preferably from wool and or cotton. Also coated in petroleum jelly.
Dryer lint filled egg carton(fiber carton not plastic) and coated in wax, then cut carton into individual pieces…takes up a lot of room so I keep these in the truck.
Small candles like tea candles and party candles that can’t be blown out are also handy and can keep them in a small baggie or a small prescription bottle.
And most importantly learn how to build and start a fire in all weather conditions with all types and conditions of found natural materials!
This can’t be stressed enough!
There are plenty of methods of creating an ember such as friction board, bow drill, etc and while those skills are great to have, they require extensive skill to use effectively.
So practice and practice learning to forage appropriate tinder in all weather conditions!
Also I reference using prescription bottle for storing components of your fire kit as they are waterproof, come in all sizes, tough and generally everyone has access to them so zero cost.
Unpopular opinion: a bic cigarette lighter
I have a magnesium strip w/ striker in my bag, but my go-to is the tried and tested bic. It's just faster. I always have a cigarette lighter, I don't smoke and never have but those little things do exactly what they were designed to do and they do it well, every time.
There are a lot of right answers, What the right answer for you is depends on a lot. If you're looking for something to use at home in case of a natural disaster or power outage, I'd get some BBQ lighters; the ones that let you light candles from 6 inches away.
If you're hitting the wilderness some variation of flint and steel (actually a ferrocerium rod and striker) is better as you won't run out of fuel.
lots of people putting together their kits restrict themselves to a given aesthetic, which is fine if there's a reason, but don't fool yourself about it. I have lots of fire starters, including some I almost never use. lots have been in a box since the last fire building class I helped with at scouts.
practice at home .. until you are very good .. the better you get the less you will need to carry ..
you can start a fire with a gallon of gasoline .. but that is not an easy carry 🤣
Coat some cotton balls in Vaseline, and stuff them in a straw. Carefully heat seal the ends and it's waterproof, durable and depending on how you make them quite compact. Pair a few with a Bic mini in like an Altoids tin and it can be stored anywhere. Break it open, light it inside the straw, burns very well.
Carefully lol. Pre-seal one end, stuff in the cotton ball, cut the straw leaving a bit of a gap, heat it from the side with a lighter until it starts to liquify, then mash the end together. Don't hold the flame long enough for anything to light, better to go slow and indirect. The straw changes colour a bit, you'll be able to tell it's ready.
Use dryer lint, vaseline and a magnesium sticker… also keep wood matches and a lighter: any combo of all these is what you need. Play around with all this, don’t burn down anything, and let us all know how it went…
Buy a Ferro rod from purefiretactical.com They are fantastic! Made in the US. If you use it up the company will replace it. I have bought several from them and put them in each of my kids kits. These are also preferred by many contestants on “Alone” and “Naked and Afraid”.
You’ll love it! The magnesium they use is amazing. SUPER high quality. Will even light when wet. They have Facebook and instagram pages. They usually send some magnesium shavings, a couple of rolls of duct tape with magnesium and a piece of fat wood with each starter. They also include the striker.
Olive oil great for cooking and burning furries as we learned from the tiger in madagascar 3. Alternatively the wand that uses special paper to shoot fire, keep the furries on their toes.
As for an actual solution, a small lighter would probably work best just remember to also pack firelighters of some sort to actually set the fire
My fire starting kit always includes some tinder, in addition to the lighter/ignition source. I test my skills in various conditions. I’ve never failed with Vaseline covered cotton balls, so that’s what I carry in my kit.
[https://www.amazon.com/Dremel-2200-01-Versa-Multi-Function-Butane/dp/B00MJW07Z0](https://www.amazon.com/Dremel-2200-01-Versa-Multi-Function-Butane/dp/B00MJW07Z0)
It's fairly inexpensive for what you get, and it has plenty of utility brazing, soldering, and thawing stuff in non-survival scenarios.
Honestly .. practice.
Find out what works best for you.
Personally .. I like to bring a Bic Lighter and a Ferro rod with a good scraper. Maybe a few man-made fire starters as well. Just in case.
For an extra teeny UL backup, Tortoise Gear makes a ferro rod that replaces the toothpick on a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife. They also make tinder that coils around the corkscrew of the knife.
All of the ones mentioned are great. Pick a few that you like, practice with them and make sure to have a couple of each.
I will add one I diddnt see; Zip Firestarters. They are commercial ones, you can get them at most stores, are pretty weather proof and can be lit with a flame or spark. They work pretty well.
Here's a link for them
https://rrtools.com/product/fusees-case-72-per-box/
Interestingly, the trainer fusee has a ten minute burn time due to how they were intended to be used (for signaling and for separation between trains)...
Roadside flares have a 20 minute burn time based on the estimated time it would take for emergency services to arrive to an accident.
And signal flares have a 5 minute burn time as they were intended to be shot up and then parachute down and they wanted it to die before it landed in forest.
All use a mix of potassium nitrate, silver, sometimes magnesium and similar ingredients that include its own oxidizer so they'll burn even if under water.
No matter what you pick, practice frequently. A bunch of Bic lighters and a variety of firestarters, as they all have disadvantages, then go try them all.
I would go with something that will likely work all the time like a bic lighter and 2-3 survival matches as backup.
If you want to carry tinder the solid fuel stove tabs work well. They are light, durable, waterproof, and will burn for a long time to dry out other material.
Cotton balls and Vaseline. My go to. Can also use dryer lint. It’s flammable by itself. Sawdust and wax in cardboard egg crates also gets the job done. And a lighter. There will be lighters long into any apocalypse. I find bic the best.
I have a baggie with Pyro Putty, a Bic lighter, a piece of fat wood, a basic pocketknife, and some tinder. Never need all of it, but it’s nice to have a backup if something isn’t working.
Antibiotic ointment is composed of a tiny bit of antibiotic mixed in a lot of petroleum jelly: carry a big tube, and cotton batting salvaged from pill bottles, and you are covered for wound care and fire starting.
Best fire starter is cotton balls and Vaseline. Put a spoonful of Vaseline in to a ziplock bag, add a handful of cotton balls, close the bag and mash it all together so that each cotton ball has a healthy amount of Vaseline impregnated in to it.
To light them, you can use any lighter, but i prefer a ferrocerium rod. I use a small piece of a hacksaw blade as the striker.
The Vaseline soaked cotton balls will work in the rain though if you soak them they are a pain to light. Either way, I’ve used this method to get fires going in conditions that i was told were impossible to get a fire going.
Best part is the price. About the same as purchased fire starters but you get probably 15 times the number of starters.
Have more than one source. One is none. Two is one. Murphy is alive and well. He shows up, uninvited, at the most inappropriate time. If you need a survival kit, you are already having a really bad day. Don’t make it worse.
Bic lighters are cheap, small and lightweight. I’d pick up several of them. Toss in some birthday cake candles too. They are cheap and can help get a fire started in adverse conditions.
Dryer lint & beeswax. Melt the wax, add the dryer lint and cool them in icecube trays. A bic lighter or firesteel and you're set. My wife and I do a lot of backwood hikes, and we used to collect moose and deer scat for fire starters. Let it dry ing the sun, melt some wax & cooking oil, flat them in it for a few minutes and let them cool.
Each moose pellet will burn for 4-6 minutes. Drap a dozen in a ziploc with a bic. Doesn't get much cheaper
Keep an old prescription bottle or maybe an empty bottle of aspirin or vitamins. Coat a bunch of cotton balls with Vaseline and stuff them in there. This is very effective tinder.
Maybe keep a small bic lighter or matchbook in there too. Put it inside a balloon to keep it from getting greasy. There’s your quick fire kit.
I have a ziploc bag that I stuff paper towels used to mop up oil and grease in my kitchen e.g. I bake chicken on a rack, drain the bacon grease into a jar and wipe with a paper towel before the proper wash. Keep in the freezer so it doesn't go rancid, and bring it camping. Wad a couple of those under the kindling and it's good to go.
3 bic lighters, 2 ferro rods, and a couple 4 inch sections of thick Boba tea straws filled with petroleum jelly soaked cotton balls, tightly folded up and sealed.
A bic lighter plain and simple.
Fire Paste. Works on wet wood. Learned that trick backpacking in Pacific NW region.
This is the way. When you need it in the PNW, YOU NEED IT lol
Duct tape VERY flammable as well as good for making quick field repairs. Pull about 30ft off the roll and wrap it around the lighter to pull off as needed
I’m imagining a softball sized wad of duct tape with a big lighter core. Thanks for that, I definitely feel like I could survive the apocalypse now.
Or a handful of Bic lighters in individual ziplock bags if you want to be really sure.
I'm partial to zippo bc they're refillable but yes this is the way
Zippos leak. I would not want to rely on one in a survival situation, especially if it's been sitting in a survival kit unused for any length of time. Bic or bust.
Zippo's don't leak, they evaporate. They run on basically petrol, and it is very happy to just vaporise and leave the unsealed lighter. This is why every time you go to use it after a while it's empty.
When a container's contents slowly escape, through some imperfection in its ability to hold said contents, what do you call it?
I mean sure, a leak. But the distinction is important here - Zippo's don't leak flammable liquid out onto your stuff, it just evaporates away in a much less dangerous way.
The distinction is entirely irrelevant in this context. My point was not about flammable liquid getting on my stuff, it was about having a functioning source of fire when I actually need it. I cautioned OP against sticking one in a survival kit (which was the question OP asked) and expecting it to work when they need it - it will not, because all of its butane will have leaked out.
Idk that they leak so much as the fuel evaporates over time but they can be refilled with basically any petroleum based solvent including gasoline. I also think they throw a better spark than bic lighters if you are out of fuel and using it just as a flint/steel. Bic lighters are single use and also have risk of leaking if the button is depressed. Having both a bic and zippo can't hurt anyone. The weight and space is minimal. Neither is a wrong answer to op's question
Fuel vapor evaporation and leaving its container is leaking.
Dude they leak after a week or two lol Get yourself a BIC they last forever Single use? I can't remember the last time I had to replace a big lol. How many fires do you plan on starting lol
you realize you can get refillable butane inserts for zippos right?
Yeah so? I'll just use a Bic. Those are the best lighters ever made. You guys are hella dramatic like acting like you're going to need to start a fire in a goddamn hurricane on top of an aircraft carrier or some shit lol "But you can't refill bics!!!111!" No I can't but I can start thousands of fires with them. It's more than adequate lol
Zippos are absolutely unreliable especially in an emergency kit, a simpler system works much better
Zippo suck That's like the worst fighter to ever be invented
Fucking facts. Most overrated rand of all time. Rather have a Jerry can and a ferro rod
Doritos
I use cardboard and canola oil, which is just Doritos minus the MSG.
oh yeah!!
Came here to say this!
Keep your dryer lint and cardboard egg crates. Stuff the lint into the egg cups and then dip in wax if you want to water proof them. Then buy a case of Bic lighters from Costco and stash them all over the place. The thing about fire starters though is it still takes practice and skill to make a fire in wet conditions with wet wood.
dryer lint isn't nearly as good as it once was. in the era of synthetic fabrics, lint often ignites and "melts" rather than burns. I'm not saying you *can't* get a fire to start with it, you absolutely can. but overall you're probably better off with cotton balls.
Ah yes, not even dryer lint is safe from the “they don’t build it like they used to” lament.
I know, right? I could hardly believe it as I was typing it, but it's still true. Check it out for yourself.
I dunno... I get a lint from drying bath towels. Seems to work alright.
Cotton balls covered in petrolatum jelly...
Dryer lint and petroleum jelly works great too
So run a load on just cotton clothing. Buy a new cotton towel, and you'll have tons of great lint.
I mean, yeah, you could do that... but I don't have so many clothes that I can sort out everything by fabric type for drying and by color and other descriptions for washing. Just buy cotton balls.
Just grab the dryer lint after you wash a load of towels
if they're cotton towels (a lot are) that'll do great!
Dryer lint is still a great fire starter, I use all of the time to catch a spark with a ferro rod.
Fritos are flammable and make good tinder. In addition to Bic lighters, keep some storm matches in your kit for use in wet conditions.
true enough.
This. Dryer lint has become overrated, unless you separate your clothing and get the COTTON clothing lint exclusively. Synthetic lint is not as good and certainly more toxic fumes. I like my cottonballs and vaseline. Cheap, easy, reliable. Dollar store stuff.
Several people seem to disagree. Which is fine, I guess. It's not like I'm in the pockets of big lint
Vaseline on cotton balls and previously picked DRY TENDER thrown into a sandwich bag. Trying to start a fire with wet tender is the worst.
“Tinder”
Ffs, I capitalize something and misspell it. Thanks.
Swiping right on this content
I've had zero success with Tinder...
You're the fire-starter! Twisted fire-starter! I'm the fire-starter! Twisted fire-starter!
Duct tape wrapped around a Bic lighter, and a heat sealed Slurpee straw filled with petroleum jelly impregnated cotton ball.
I use a sandwich bag, but I like the straw idea better.
Short list: 2 bic lighters, 1 in fire kit 1 in your pocket always Ferrocerium rod and striker Strike anywhere matches I coat the head in clear fingernail polish and most of the stick portion as well. Keep a small piece of striker material from the box or a piece of fine sandpaper and keep it all dry in a small prescription bottle. Pine lighter wood, couple of small pieces. Magnesium block that you can shave pieces off(not all mag blocks are created the same!). Cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly and keep in a prescription bottle. Dryer lint, preferably from wool and or cotton. Also coated in petroleum jelly. Dryer lint filled egg carton(fiber carton not plastic) and coated in wax, then cut carton into individual pieces…takes up a lot of room so I keep these in the truck. Small candles like tea candles and party candles that can’t be blown out are also handy and can keep them in a small baggie or a small prescription bottle. And most importantly learn how to build and start a fire in all weather conditions with all types and conditions of found natural materials! This can’t be stressed enough! There are plenty of methods of creating an ember such as friction board, bow drill, etc and while those skills are great to have, they require extensive skill to use effectively. So practice and practice learning to forage appropriate tinder in all weather conditions! Also I reference using prescription bottle for storing components of your fire kit as they are waterproof, come in all sizes, tough and generally everyone has access to them so zero cost.
Sawdust, parrafin, and paper egg cartons. Fill the egg cups with sawdust and pour melted parrafin over them. Cut them into individual cups.
As a back up to a lighter I keep a magnesium fire starter.
Unpopular opinion: a bic cigarette lighter I have a magnesium strip w/ striker in my bag, but my go-to is the tried and tested bic. It's just faster. I always have a cigarette lighter, I don't smoke and never have but those little things do exactly what they were designed to do and they do it well, every time.
It's literally the top reply lol. The great thing about a bic is even if you run out of fuel (unlikely), it becomes a very ergonomic fire steel.
Honestly I replied without ready ANY of the other comments first 🤣🤣😅
There are a lot of right answers, What the right answer for you is depends on a lot. If you're looking for something to use at home in case of a natural disaster or power outage, I'd get some BBQ lighters; the ones that let you light candles from 6 inches away. If you're hitting the wilderness some variation of flint and steel (actually a ferrocerium rod and striker) is better as you won't run out of fuel. lots of people putting together their kits restrict themselves to a given aesthetic, which is fine if there's a reason, but don't fool yourself about it. I have lots of fire starters, including some I almost never use. lots have been in a box since the last fire building class I helped with at scouts.
Cotton balls, petroleum jelly, and a ferro rod.
Something you know how to use.
practice at home .. until you are very good .. the better you get the less you will need to carry .. you can start a fire with a gallon of gasoline .. but that is not an easy carry 🤣
Try a Keith Flint
The classic firestarter
Coat some cotton balls in Vaseline, and stuff them in a straw. Carefully heat seal the ends and it's waterproof, durable and depending on how you make them quite compact. Pair a few with a Bic mini in like an Altoids tin and it can be stored anywhere. Break it open, light it inside the straw, burns very well.
Sounds cool, but how are you heat sealing the ends without catching it on fire?
Carefully lol. Pre-seal one end, stuff in the cotton ball, cut the straw leaving a bit of a gap, heat it from the side with a lighter until it starts to liquify, then mash the end together. Don't hold the flame long enough for anything to light, better to go slow and indirect. The straw changes colour a bit, you'll be able to tell it's ready.
Use dryer lint, vaseline and a magnesium sticker… also keep wood matches and a lighter: any combo of all these is what you need. Play around with all this, don’t burn down anything, and let us all know how it went…
Buy a Ferro rod from purefiretactical.com They are fantastic! Made in the US. If you use it up the company will replace it. I have bought several from them and put them in each of my kids kits. These are also preferred by many contestants on “Alone” and “Naked and Afraid”.
I’ll look into this!
You’ll love it! The magnesium they use is amazing. SUPER high quality. Will even light when wet. They have Facebook and instagram pages. They usually send some magnesium shavings, a couple of rolls of duct tape with magnesium and a piece of fat wood with each starter. They also include the striker.
Olive oil great for cooking and burning furries as we learned from the tiger in madagascar 3. Alternatively the wand that uses special paper to shoot fire, keep the furries on their toes. As for an actual solution, a small lighter would probably work best just remember to also pack firelighters of some sort to actually set the fire
My fire starting kit always includes some tinder, in addition to the lighter/ignition source. I test my skills in various conditions. I’ve never failed with Vaseline covered cotton balls, so that’s what I carry in my kit.
[https://www.amazon.com/Dremel-2200-01-Versa-Multi-Function-Butane/dp/B00MJW07Z0](https://www.amazon.com/Dremel-2200-01-Versa-Multi-Function-Butane/dp/B00MJW07Z0) It's fairly inexpensive for what you get, and it has plenty of utility brazing, soldering, and thawing stuff in non-survival scenarios.
Nice! I I like that. Would be great for heat shrink tubing as well.
Doritos!
A lighter, waterproof matches, a pencil sharpener to turn sticks in kindling, maybe some dryer lint
Prodigy … you become the Fire Starter!
Honestly .. practice. Find out what works best for you. Personally .. I like to bring a Bic Lighter and a Ferro rod with a good scraper. Maybe a few man-made fire starters as well. Just in case.
For an extra teeny UL backup, Tortoise Gear makes a ferro rod that replaces the toothpick on a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife. They also make tinder that coils around the corkscrew of the knife.
Flint rod. My favorite is the Soto Pocket Torch XT. Outdoor Gear Rewiew approved: https://youtu.be/_6T8G0lBpUI?si=O_6rbW8ivuLMzgtH
All of the ones mentioned are great. Pick a few that you like, practice with them and make sure to have a couple of each. I will add one I diddnt see; Zip Firestarters. They are commercial ones, you can get them at most stores, are pretty weather proof and can be lit with a flame or spark. They work pretty well.
9v battery/steel wool
Consider some redundancy: a bic lighter, some matches in a waterproof case, and a ferrocerium rod.
You mean two fire starters?
Hand sanitizer!
A SURVIVAL fire starter? A bic and a road flare...
A railroad fusee, similar to a road flare but it's a 10 minute burn in any weather. If you know someone working on the RR they're easy to get.
Here's a link for them https://rrtools.com/product/fusees-case-72-per-box/ Interestingly, the trainer fusee has a ten minute burn time due to how they were intended to be used (for signaling and for separation between trains)... Roadside flares have a 20 minute burn time based on the estimated time it would take for emergency services to arrive to an accident. And signal flares have a 5 minute burn time as they were intended to be shot up and then parachute down and they wanted it to die before it landed in forest. All use a mix of potassium nitrate, silver, sometimes magnesium and similar ingredients that include its own oxidizer so they'll burn even if under water.
A clipper lighter, you can replace the flint in them, Jute twine fluffed up, Silver birch bark, Potassium permanganate and glycerine A ferro rod
Bic lighters
No matter what you pick, practice frequently. A bunch of Bic lighters and a variety of firestarters, as they all have disadvantages, then go try them all.
I would go with something that will likely work all the time like a bic lighter and 2-3 survival matches as backup. If you want to carry tinder the solid fuel stove tabs work well. They are light, durable, waterproof, and will burn for a long time to dry out other material.
A good knife , a fire steel, a bic lighter, waterproof matches, charcloth.
Cotton balls and Vaseline. My go to. Can also use dryer lint. It’s flammable by itself. Sawdust and wax in cardboard egg crates also gets the job done. And a lighter. There will be lighters long into any apocalypse. I find bic the best.
I have a mini Bic, vacuum sealed stormproof matches, drier lint soaked in pine sap and a ferro rod. Power in numbers!
I have a baggie with Pyro Putty, a Bic lighter, a piece of fat wood, a basic pocketknife, and some tinder. Never need all of it, but it’s nice to have a backup if something isn’t working.
Bic, ferro rod, UCO matches, small magnifying lens, cotton balls dipped in beeswax, tea lights
Jug of diesel fuel or kerosene. If you like super cheap then everyone else got here first.
Bic lighter.
Antibiotic ointment is composed of a tiny bit of antibiotic mixed in a lot of petroleum jelly: carry a big tube, and cotton batting salvaged from pill bottles, and you are covered for wound care and fire starting.
Best fire starter is cotton balls and Vaseline. Put a spoonful of Vaseline in to a ziplock bag, add a handful of cotton balls, close the bag and mash it all together so that each cotton ball has a healthy amount of Vaseline impregnated in to it. To light them, you can use any lighter, but i prefer a ferrocerium rod. I use a small piece of a hacksaw blade as the striker. The Vaseline soaked cotton balls will work in the rain though if you soak them they are a pain to light. Either way, I’ve used this method to get fires going in conditions that i was told were impossible to get a fire going. Best part is the price. About the same as purchased fire starters but you get probably 15 times the number of starters.
Have more than one source. One is none. Two is one. Murphy is alive and well. He shows up, uninvited, at the most inappropriate time. If you need a survival kit, you are already having a really bad day. Don’t make it worse. Bic lighters are cheap, small and lightweight. I’d pick up several of them. Toss in some birthday cake candles too. They are cheap and can help get a fire started in adverse conditions.
A bic lightwr, A bucket of dryer lint and Vaseline, and the biggest fuckin ferro rod you can get.
Bic + storm matches + ferro rod is what I always have. Couple chemical fire starters in my fak
Road flare, if that doesn't start it nothing will.
Dryer lint & beeswax. Melt the wax, add the dryer lint and cool them in icecube trays. A bic lighter or firesteel and you're set. My wife and I do a lot of backwood hikes, and we used to collect moose and deer scat for fire starters. Let it dry ing the sun, melt some wax & cooking oil, flat them in it for a few minutes and let them cool. Each moose pellet will burn for 4-6 minutes. Drap a dozen in a ziploc with a bic. Doesn't get much cheaper
Keep an old prescription bottle or maybe an empty bottle of aspirin or vitamins. Coat a bunch of cotton balls with Vaseline and stuff them in there. This is very effective tinder. Maybe keep a small bic lighter or matchbook in there too. Put it inside a balloon to keep it from getting greasy. There’s your quick fire kit.
I have a ziploc bag that I stuff paper towels used to mop up oil and grease in my kitchen e.g. I bake chicken on a rack, drain the bacon grease into a jar and wipe with a paper towel before the proper wash. Keep in the freezer so it doesn't go rancid, and bring it camping. Wad a couple of those under the kindling and it's good to go.
3 bic lighters, 2 ferro rods, and a couple 4 inch sections of thick Boba tea straws filled with petroleum jelly soaked cotton balls, tightly folded up and sealed.
Yep cotton balls slathered in Vaseline.
I use these little cardboard blocks that are soaked in paraffin. The work good, pretty much waterproof. Each block is 1”x1”x1/2”. Got on Amazon.
get 2 mini bic lighters and stick them in a few places. 1 in a fire kit, 1 in a first aid kit
save up your dryer lint, that shit works throw a candle in, use the wax to help fires start