Playing with fire

[rabidsquirrel]

So today I was in a rush to get a campfire going. The pit was damp and so was the wood I had at hand. I decided to try out some used motor oil I've been hoarding in the garage. I thinned out the oil with about 1/3 part gasoline and soaked an old t-shirt in the solution. Long story short, I soon had a roaring fire. Without a doubt the best accelerant I've ever used. It burned long enough to easily establish a solid coal bed.

Anyone else have a preferred fire starting method?

 

[draketungsten]

A cottonball, vasoline, a ferro rod, striker, and increasingly bigger and bigger tender.

 

[jbell_64]

3 or 4 part diesel 1 part gas

 

[Mark-DuCo]

I use newspaper and kiln dried scraps from my workplace. Never really had a need to use anything else.

 

[w_ADAM_d88]

I pick up broken pallet scraps from the warehouse and save them in a large drum. Then just use newspaper to start it.

 

[Reno316]

Small metal can (like from canned diced green chiles), a bit of toilet paper, and a squirt or two of lighter fluid. The lighter fluid turns the toilet paper into a gel-like substance (almost like sterno) and it burns hot and long. Then build the fire around that.

 

[bdybdall]

Willie Peter

 

[amboy49]

So today I was in a rush to get a campfire going. The pit was damp and so was the wood I had at hand. I decided to try out some used motor oil I've been hoarding in the garage. I thinned out the oil with about 1/3 part gasoline and soaked an old t-shirt in the solution. Long story short, I soon had a roaring fire. Without a doubt the best accelerant I've ever used. It burned long enough to easily establish a solid coal bed.

Anyone else have a preferred fire starting method?

After reading this post for the second time it struck me - why would you be "hoarding used motor oil in the garage" ?

 

[rabidsquirrel]

After reading this post for the second time it struck me - why would you be "hoarding used motor oil in the garage" ?

I once had lavish dreams of building a waste oil burner. Or, I've been to lazy to take it for recycling.

 

[Bennettjh]

3 or 4 part diesel 1 part gas

That would get 'er going real good.

 

[96firephoenix]

roll of TP soaked in Isopropyl alcohol. burns hot and for about 20 minutes.

Other than that, paper towels soaked in bacon grease. It doesn't work so great, but at least it smells good.

 

[Slawburger]

roll of TP soaked in Isopropyl alcohol. burns hot and for about 20 minutes.

Other than that, paper towels soaked in bacon grease. It doesn't work so great, but at least it smells good.

The TP roll soaked in rubbing alcohol works best in a metal coffee can.

 

[Mark-DuCo]

roll of TP soaked in Isopropyl alcohol. burns hot and for about 20 minutes.

Other than that, paper towels soaked in bacon grease. It doesn't work so great, but at least it smells good.

I'm not sure, but I think purposely destroying bacon grease, or any part of bacon for that matter, may be punishable by death, unless the bacon grease is used to start a fire to cook more bacon.

 

[prescut]

this is pretty low tech stuff. gasoline is unsafe and poisons food.
draketungsten was right on with survivor recommendation. I carry candles for lighting and emergency starts in wet weather. It stays lit in the wind and soaks in quick. you really need magnesium kit with flint and you're good to go swimming with it.
lost
lost

 

[Slawburger]

I carry one of these with me Light My Fire - Swedish FireSteel 2.0 ®

There are lots of good firestarting techniques/materials:

1) Corrugated cardboard square (2"x2"), insert wooden matches in corrugations from both sides so only the heads stick out, dip entire thing in wax.

2) Small candles (or large decorative candles cut into smaller pieces when the Mrs. is done decorating with them).

3) Roll of newspaper strips tied with twine and dipped in wax.

4) Hand sanitizer (it's mostly alcohol), BTW stay away from the fire after using it or you might find a colorless flame on your hands (literally).

5) Cotton balls soaked in Vaseline and stuffed in film cannisters or straws.

6) Dryer lint.

7) Bark from a birch tree.

8) Pine sap and pine needles.

9) Fritos Corn Chips (plain not BBQ), that greasy feeling they leave on your hands is corn oil.

10) 9-Volt battery and steel wool.

11) Dead tree limbs and branches that have fallen but got stuck in the tree before hitting the wet ground.

12) Sticks under a tree that might have been sheltered from the rain.

13) Inside of larger sticks (split to get to the dry wood inside)

14) Make a fuzz stick (feather stick) by making shallow cuts on one end of a stick that produces a curly or fuzzy end.

 

[jblomenberg16]

I save my empty beer / soda carboard cases for helping get a fire going. Usually a little newspaper tucked into a few strips of cardboard folded over each other, and get a pretty good start. Bigger and bigger cardboard until the wood takes off. I did the motor oil trick and ended up with a bigger mess than it was worth.

 

[hooky]

A cottonball, vasoline, a ferro rod, striker, and increasingly bigger and bigger tender.

Dryer lint, candle wax, etc....

 

[Mgderf]

Liquid oxygen really gets a conflagration going quickly.
EXTREMELY dangerous, but loads of fun.

Kids, don't try this at home.

 

[Otis812]

I usually buy a box of Duraflame fire starters or something similar in a different brand. You get 12 to a box & it's usually under $10's. They seem to last for years if you don't use them. Just hold a match to the edge & it'll take off, then put it in the fire pit & put some kindling on it. From there you might go with the previously suggested LOx!

 

[Zoub]

Styrofoam dissolved in gasoline