Mods, please feel free to move this, I feel it is hunter/Survival related, and should be left up somewhere.

I read some where once about how a certain common reloading powder (duplex powder) could be mixed with some liquid to form a solid useable compressed fuel for emergency fire starter..

Anyone know of a why to make this emergency fire starter???

Thanks everyone

Best o luck

Nate

I carry a couple of small bags of Doritos, man do they burn, and you can eat them in a pinch! :D
Small light, and they serve a dual purpose. JP

Well, all powders are flammable.... ????

So I'm not sure why you would bother to compress the stuff, if using it to start a fire.... :confused:

A great and lightweight firestarter that I've carried for years is an empty Copenhagen (still cardboard) box filled with 'Firestarter' log material. All you do is pop the top and set a match to it. Burns for along time, plenty long enough to get a fire started and everything but the lid burns completely away. Granted, you have to have someway of lighting it, but who'd go into the woods without a lighter or some waterproof matches? These will last for several years in your pack.

Dryer lint and vaseline mixed in equal parts. Carry it in a film canister.

Cheap, and I bet you don't have to buy anything to make it RIGHT NOW.

I carry some in my hunting bag, ATV, truck, survival kit, camper.

Burns like the dickens.

I carry a small can of sterno in my pack. Stuff works great for fire starter or you can burn right in the can if you have to.

Thanks everyone.. I do carry the lint and Vaseline. I'm going to have to try the Doritos trick, however, if I had Doritos, I'd eat them!!

I have been SAFTELY experimenting with one of the magnesium Fire sticks (not sure of the brand, but is all contained, there is a spring loaded rod that is Mag/Flint and the housing contains the steel. Makes a big shower of sparks that last longer that just flint.

This is carried as my last ditch fire starter (I carry butane lighter, zippo matches, ….)

However, during experimenting, I discovered that an easy to ignite, relatively long burning LIGHT substance would make this a more viable fire starting method. So I got out some FFG Pyrodex and while it is easy to ignite, it burns out quickly..

I recall reading and article (I think one line) where a duplex powder was mixed with something to form an easy to ignite, long burning “cake”…

So I thought I’d see if anyone else had tried this, knows how, or was smart enough to have saved the link??

Thanks again

nate

Smokeless powders will dissolve in acetone. For this purpose it will make little, if any, difference if a single-base or double-base powder is used. Just a few drops of acetone are sufficient to soften the greins and allow them to bond into a solid mass. What you then have is a solid lump of celluloid! Methyl Ethel Ketone (MEK) should work also. You can form it into any shape you want.

There are several good ideas above, any of which are a lot less expensive, and just as effective, than using smokeless powder @ $16-$20/lb. for such a purpose.

Cotton balls soaked in ether and kept in a sealed baggie. or steel wool also soaked with ether or alcohol stored in an air tight sealed baggie either will burn ether burns hotter than alcohol. Yhey willl start tinder if it is dry. The white powder inside fuze flares works too. that is magnesium I think.
Or if hunting and in real need of a fire loosen the bullet in a case. ( this can be done by inserting it in the muzzel and rocking the case a few times) pull the bullet dump the powder onto the tinder,insert the empty case into the firearm discharge the primer into the pile of powder you dumped on the tinder the flash will ignite it usually.

The steel wool (OOOO) and vaseline in a film container with a 9 volt battery works pretty good...

I usually carry trioxane tablets... they start with a spark, burn quite a while, burn very hot (you can melt lead with them) and are pretty cheap, around $.33 a piece. The downside is that they cannot be punctured, or they will evaporate, and you can't use just a little of it, or it will evaporate in a few weeks... You can get them at a army navy surplus store or online at sportsmansguide.com

Matt,

I've got a bunch of trioxane tabs, I'll give them a try.

Alk8944, That was what I was Lookig for, thanks. I've got a bunch of Pyrodex that I don't intend to shoot, I'll see if it works

Thanks all!

they most reliabel thing to use is strips of old car tires, they are water proof if you cut it thinly are easy to lite and burn fairly hot.

to tell the truth i have never found anuthing that works better.

well mabee phosphorus but thats kinda an inconvinience to get and a bit pricy

All of the above are good. One I use is calicum carbide (sealed in an air tight container). When exposed to water it release acadalyne (sp) gas, but the by product is sodium hydroxide (lye) so be careful where you use it. ;)
But one of the safety precautions I take is to take a couple of fusies (hiway flares) w/o the spikes, and put them in a garbage bag in the bottom of my back pack. They can be used to start a fire and/or signal for help or for illumination at night. :)

You could just find a birch... They're a pain to carry, though.

I feel sad for you fellers not fortunate enough to be living here in Dixie. "Fat Lighter" is readily available and a few shavings will catch up and burn in most any conditions. Laying on the ground in the woods it will keep a couple hundred years.

Plain old candle stubs, or those small, wide candles you can buy for use as votary candles or under food warmers, work fine, too. As well as an emergency firestarter, you get and emergency light source.

KenK ,I live down here and the stuff is almost any where you look, and works as advertized!