We have all known about a cotton ball saturated with petroleum jelly for tinder. It takes a spark easily, burns hotter and longer. I have just included in all my kits tubes of white petroleum jelly intended as lip balm. They are in durable, small squeeze tubes and are easily carried in any fashion.

Any thoughts or opinions?

I like taking Melem (http://www.melemusa.com/) with me.

Main ingredient is petroleum jelly, and also contains liquid paraffin, lanolin, steric acid and 'perfume'.

You can get very small containers of it, excellent as a fire starter, and useful for many things such as:
-abrasions
-acne
-blisters
-burns
-chapped lips
-mosquito bites
-poison ivy
-sunburns
-insect bites
-cold sores
-calluses
-psoriasis
-jelly fish stings
-sea itch (it works wonders for this... trust me)
-diaper rash
-nursing
-etc

Halfords Rubber solution makes for an excellent easy to find (in the UK) high performance fire accelerant. A little squirt of this rubber solution will burn for at least 1 minute and only requires a single spark from a firesteel. Bicycle inner tubes make an excellent tinder.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/store...12046_langId_-1

The Rubber solution is also useful in order to make bicycle inner tube puncture repairs if some patches are also available.

Man made:

A candle stub.
It is not for catching a spark, but sometimes it is what I use the match or lighter to light first.

Sometimes I can get a match to light but it does not have enough heat to start the fire burning. A candle stub lasts a long time, and gives enough heat to start fine tinder burning even if it is a little damp. Having melted wax to drip into the flame as it starts helps too.

The candle has other uses too.
I grab the cheap table candles when I see them on sale. The tall ones like you would put out for a romantic dinner, not the stubby emergency candles.
One of the dollar stores here sells a box of 24 for a dollar, so about 5 cents each.
I usually break them in half when taking them camping.

Next is whatever liquid fuel you might have. Lighter fluid, naphtha, kerosene (odorless paint thinner is a bit better refined grade of kerosene), alcohol, even gasoline if you are near a vehicle.
Most of these work best if you just drip a bit onto a rag so it burns like a wick.

Magnesium. You usually get this as one of those fire starter blocks. You can find it used in some car parts too.

Steel wool. Fine is better than coarse. Untreated is better than soapy. This stuff burns white hot when it gets going and you blow on it. It will start burning from a spark or a flame. The spark can be electric, like from a car or even a flashlight battery.

Naturals:

Birch Bark, you want the white shreddy layer. The stuff is full of oils and burns with a large smoky black flame. It will burn when soaking wet.
Cherry bark if it is shredded well. It is not as good as birch, but sort of like it.

The small dead twigs off the lower branches of a spruce tree. These are usually bone dry even in the worst weather and are full of resin.

Pine Rosin and the balsam gum from the blisters on a balsam tree. These are both resin and burn with a black smoky flame. Because they are resins they don't get wet.

Fat pine, lightning struck pine, pine knots.. This wood is very full of pitch and burns like oil.

If you look for a large cedar tree you will likely find one side is dry, even after a long rain storm.
The bark can be shredded easily and is very fibrous. It makes good tinder and moderate kindling. If you really shred it up it will even catch a spark for you. It will also wick oils.

Thistle down, Cotton wood down and cat tail fluff are very good but they need to be dry. Cat tail fluff will catch a spark and will burn with a blue flame almost like it was gas.

Birch hoof fungus. Some people call it tinder fungus. It takes a bit of work to prepare and is just for catching a spark.
You need to skin the outer layer and take the velvety layer from under it. Then you work it in your hands so it feels almost like a piece of felt or soft leather and dry it.
It will catch a flint spark and smolder, so I guess it is not an accelerant. It works like char-cloth.

I will have to try to find something similar here in the States. I think I may have to go shopping and then do some experiments with various off the shelf things available in most stores.

I liked the petroleum jelly because it is a nice small tube and even fits into the Ritter PSK.

I've found some tree fungus of some kind on a stump in my neighborhood. I hit it with a magnifying lens briefly and the stuff glows and smoulders like punk until it's completely consumed. I'm going to scrape a little into a pile and hit it with my sparker to see if I can get it going, too.

+100 on the candles. Maybe the greatest invention of all time.

What about chapsticks? I always have a tube of Natural Ice 15 SPF lip protector in my pocket. It's mostly lanolin, mineral oil and petrolatum.

I will have to see if chapstick burns and how well; and how easily it transfers to the cotton or other tinder.

It would seem that Vaseline-coated cotton balls are easy to carry - some stuff them in large straws (I think McD's has large straws), and, if you need Vaseline on your lips, just wipe a cotton ball on them.

In general the plan is to have the survival kit items as ready-to-go as is - rather than having to coat tinder (cotton balls?) with goo. Besides, at least in winter, I almost always have a stick of Blistex in my pocket. Its really dry in the midwest U.S.

Regarding the Ritter PSP - it already comes with 4 Tinder-Quik balls. It would seem that the limited space is better used up with other gear - BIC, LED light, purification tablets, ...

I have some petroleum jelly based items in almost all of my kits, inserted with the fire starting items. But instead of cotton balls, I use cotton gauze pads, because i like that they also have multiple uses. A strip of a cotton t-shirt should also work. Chapstick has worked for me too.

Chapstick works on cotton balls and lint for both sparks and flame - it just has to be "fuzzed out" quite a bit. Haven't tried with other tinders but the principles will hold true.

Wick and wax (as in any wick and any wax) will probably ignite. I've been told that earwax works, but I haven't tried that one...yet.

Although PJ works ok, I make my own fire starter from candles, wooden matches, sawdust and cardboard egg cartons

Easy to make.

3 matches cut in 3 pieces each per dozen egg carton...

Put the non-match pieces of the matches and sawdust in each egg carton cup.

Melt candles and pour into the egg cartons until full.

Let harden until almost solid

Insert the ignitable match ends in with the match end barely sticking out of the candle wax.

Let harden overnight then break the egg carton into 12 pieces.

Store in a plastic bag until needed. I keep 4 pieces as such in all my backpacks.

When needed, simply spark up the protruding match heads. These fire starters once lit will burn even in pouring rain on average 5 minutes. Throw some dry pine needles or pine cones on and you will have a good base fire to add to in no time flat.

That being said, If I have access to dry pine needles and pine cones...which can be found under any large pine tree, here is no need for supplemental fire starter.

Sounds like a good idea until they sit in a hot car for a few days.

No problem...after 2 summers now in the trunk of the car.

Where I live and travel, it may get to the mid 90's..if we are lucky for a few days, otherwise the high temp is around low 80's in the summer.

Actually, my favorite accelerant bar-none is your average can of Zippo lighter fluid. It will set a drinking fountain on fire and it takes up only a small amount of space in pack or pocket.

A little motor oil never hurts, even if you must get a small bit from your motor.

Hand sanitizer!

The plan was this:
1. Wait until dark.
2. Place mostly empty 1-gallon bottle of Purell hand sanitizer (67% ethanol) in the middle of my neighbor's driveway.
3. Drop a lit firecracker into the mostly empty bottle of Purell gelled alcohol.
4. Run out of range of the big, blue fireball I hoped to create.
5. Watch big blue fireball appear.
6. Continue watching as my neighbor runs out of his house to find his driveway engulfed in globs of flames.
7. Have good laugh with neighbor.

The plan was going smoothly up until step #3. It turns out even though the ethanol is gelled it has a very high vapor pressure. This resulted in the empty portion of the bottle being very rich in ethanol vapor.

Translation: the ethanol fumes ignited as soon as the lit fuse of the firecracker came into contact with them. Unfortunatly, the lit firecracker was still in my hand. As soon as the firecracker's burning fuse moved over the bottle's opening a burst of flame shot forth like a jet engine's afterburner. It was really cool, except for the resulting 2nd degree burns on my thumb and first two fingers. It also sped up the rate at which the fuse was burning. Luckily, I'm pretty good at throwing my body out of harm's wa...KABLAMM!!

The fireball turned out to be less spectacular than I expected. Most of the ethanol had been consumed in the first fire. The firecracker mostly just shot really hot, really sticky goo around. Potentially useful, but not very awe-inspiring. My neighbor didn't even come out to see what the noise was.

-Blast

Seems like someone is still trying to justify his moniker.

This is why sons #1&2 don't know about this website. They are bad enough without help.

Remind me to tell the MRE heater bomb story some day....

Lesson 1, never, ever drink hot tea while reading a post from Blast , unless you are willing to wipe the spray from the monitor, desk and keyboard.

Chapstick is one of my favorites.

One few people think of are the single-use alcohol wipes common to first-aid kits. A step up from them are the single use acetone wipes used to remove the glue from adhesive tape. Both are flat and light foil packets that wear well, stay sealed.

The single-use foil packets of petrolatum is a tiny tube of napalm.

Antibiotic cremes, like Neosporin, are mostly petrolatum.

Many sunblock cremes and tanning oils burn well. Nothing like the smell of coconut and exotic fruit to bring that topical smell to a sub-zero tent. Festive.

The powder out of a rifle shell?

Obviously, we would use whatever we could find when we needed it to start a fire. I was looking for ideas on things which are not normally thought of as fire starters and the dual use nature of some make them better. The lip balms are generally available world wide and can be carried without raising an eyebrow (no fire hazard). I have only tested the white petroleum jelly before. The other lip balms are a great addition. If you don't have it with you when you need it, it doesn't help, and lip balms can be carried in your pocket all the time; small, dual use and effective.

USGI (or similar) insect repellant. That bug juice, if squirted into a puddle, will put a match out. But squirt it on your tinder, touch a match to it, and whoof!

I recently watched a movie where the western hero, needing a fire badly, pulled the bullet from a cartridge, placed the case, powder still in it, on the ground, open end pointed at a tinder pile. While holding the cartridge stationary, he put a sharp object against the primer, when whacked it with something heavy. Primer ignited powder, powder ignited tinder. Anyone ever tried this???

That sounds like a bad burn or eye injury in the making! I've heard of pulling a bullet, stuffing a small piece of cloth into the cartridge case, chambering it and firing it at the ground, hoping the cloth will come out smoldering. I've never tried either one, although if it was on TV - it must be real!

I do know, from watching a friend years ago, that the brass part of a 12ga shotgun shell, laying unrestrained on the ground, will come back at you with great force when the primer is hit with a BB. Luckily for him, it got him on the front of his right shoulder, inches from his eyes...

If I could just interrupt this discussion for a brief moment and mention a recent discovery:

In addition to candles as one of humankind's all-time greatest inventions, I would like to add pencils. I like using them cuz, well, I'm a traditionalist at heart, and I like shoving them into my little electric sharpener. A moment ago, a light bulb went off in my head, and I emptied the little catch-tray in the sharpener of it's contents of pencil shavings. It proved to be an excellent tinder. I don't know if I've ever heard of anyone suggesting that as a resource. I imagine a little pile of pencil shavings and some Chapstick, suntan oil, hairspray, paint thinner, lighter fluid, or acetone wipe would make even better tinder.

Back to your previously scheduled programming.

AH, I understand.
You want the kind of stuff a terrorist might carry onto an airplane.

I am a bit leery of dual use products because if you are carrying it for emergency use you might find out it has already been all dual used up when you decide you need it.
---
You might find some of your wife's perfumes will burn just like rubbing alcohol.
A lot of perfumes are really high grade alcohol

+1 for Neosporin since I usually carry it anyways. Good for little dirty cuts, keeping hot spots from blistering, and in a pinch, can improve and extend tinder.

Keep in mind that Neosporin "ointment" is mostly petroleum jelly but the "cream" is a less flammable mix of wax, oil, water and pj.

Lot of people carry a pencil sharpener in the kit. Works just fine on pencil sized twigs and you can save the pencil for writing.

Yup, and in a jam you could even use the blade from the sharpener for cutting other stuff.

Ok...no one home and time for kitchen counter experimenting with some of the suggestions in this thread. Draw your own conclusions and do your own testing. I would be interested to see if anyone has different results.

Part # 1
1) Neopsorin (generic brand)

A dollop of cream on a good plate. I could not get this to light no matter how many matches I put to it. Maybe it is because it is the generic type...however it has all the same ingredients as the brand name Neopsorin...


Next up Hand Sanitizer (Thanks Blast, I like it). This one was the best.


It burns with a nice blue flame...and hot.


Next is Vaseline. It would not light on it's own.


However swabbing a couple of Q-Tips with Vaseline works.


The same Q-Tips did not light after they were sprinkled with water.


Mouthwash...had some unknown words on it so I thought I would give it a try...no flames with this though.


Aftershave...some old forgotten bottle of Stetson


It burns hotter then the hand sanitizer.


Back to the Vaseline, This time a bit of old 100% cotton t-shirt was coated and it caught fairly easy.

Ok...no one home and time for kitchen counter experimenting with some of the suggestions in this thread.

Part # 2

Rolled / dipped the shirt and Vaseline in some water and wrung any excess and it would not light again.


A candle stub dipped in water for 10 seconds then lit up with one match


Lastly...Hand sanitizer + aftershave + secret ingredient xxxxxxx and secret ingredient xxxxx2 (sorry kids and adult kids, no common household/camping ingredient names will be revealed) makes for one whump of air when lit and has the ability to slightly scorch the underside of the kitchen cabinet, ruin a plate and leave me with singed hair on my right hand...and leaves one sherpadog in the doghouse....all in the name of science and survival skills learning..


Don't try this one at home....ever

The whole time I was reading this, I thought "His wife is going to kick his butt".

Sherpadog,

We have a spare bedroom if you need it for a few days. You'll like it, it smells like gunpowder.

-Blast

You beat me to the punch


Mike

Thanks Blast, I will keep this in mind. The smell of gunpowder would be much more pleasant then the smell of combusted mixed chemicals lingering in the air here. Now I know why I never liked Stetson aftershave. It smells 10 times worse when it is heated up to 600 - 700F....

Now that is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks Sherpadog. I will be conducting some tests as well. I will be out of the country for about a month, but when I return I should have some time. The cotton balls with PJ and then dunked was good info. And no, Scafool, I am not looking for what a terrorist can carry on a plane, not that some PJ and cotton would do much to an aircraft except [censored] people off.. I am looking for what is commonly carried anyway and how it can be used. I travel very frequently, and having candles in my pocket with a PSK makes airport security nervous. A small tube of PJ or chapstick is no issue for anyone.

"...You beat me to the punch..."


But, did you beat his wife to the punch???

Wow... great thread. My first thought was "fire paste", but that isn't really easily carried as an EDC. Neosporin ointment is one I had not thought of; I have a ton of it in different kits already! And lip balm in the pocket is definitely a good one...

You just want him to visit you, so the both of you can play with fire together.

I was thinking of this morning....I love the smell of gunpowder in the morning and was also thinking that gunpowder + hand sanitizer + firecrackers = big boom, big flames.... I like it!

Um yeah, the kind of stuff a terrorist can carry onto a plane, right?

Sherpadog did a brilliant demonstration of aftershave. Perfumes and hair products are often just like that.

edit: airport security has relaxed a bit, but 2 years ago the airport security was confiscating lipsticks including chapstick from people just because they didn't know what was allowed or not allowed.


Edit: One list of permitted and prohibited items from 2 years ago.

Increased security and restriction of carry on baggage to/from USA
UPDATE:17AUG.2006
Dear Customer
Thank you for flying Japan Airlines.
In accordance to directions received from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, we wish to advise that the following restrictions have been placed on carry on hand baggage for all flights departing to/from USA.
Applicable Flights: All flights departing to/from any airport within USA (both International and Domestic)
Note: The same restrictions will apply to passengers after arriving at any airport within USA when connecting to other flights.
1. No liquids, gels, or aerosols are permitted in accessible property or on one person past the boarding gate hold area or the boarding gate except:
a. Baby formula/milk and baby food in small containers if a baby or small child is traveling
b. Prescription medicine (liquid and gel) with a name that matches the passenger ticket
c. Essential other non-prescription medicines not to exceed 4 oz. (120ml) per container, to include saline solution and eye care products such as eye drops and contact lens solution
d. Liquids (to include juice) or gels for diabetic passengers who indicate a need for such items to address their medical condition. Quantities are limited to no greater than 5 oz. (148ml) per container.
2. Passenger must NOT be permitted to take liquids, gels, or aerosols purchased inside the sterile area onboard the aircraft, except those items identified in 1. above.
3. For purposes of this direction, liquids, gels and aerosols include beverages, shampoo, suntan lotion, creams, toothpaste, hair gels, hair spray and other items of similar consistency.
4. Additional security check for all passengers and cabin-baggage shall be conducted at boarding gate.

I frequently fly with a test tube sized spray bottle of hand sanitizer that I picked up at Walgreen's. At 10ml it's well under the 3-oz. size limit allowed in carry-ons. (now is the time to use your new conversion calculators!)

I know current regulations require one to carry all your liquids in a ziploc and pull them out and put them in the tray for the TSA to easily see. However, I've forgotten more than once and the TSA never notices it.

This sanitizer is a liquid as opposed to the gel sanitizer that was tested above and it includes Aloe and vitamin E. The active ingredient listed is 65% ethyl alcohol. After giving it a test, I'd say much of the non-active 45% may be water. It would not sustain a flame on its own. Things would pop and sizzle and the flame would get bigger, but once the match was pulled away, everything would stop.

I have some hand sanitizer here that says it is 62% isopropanol alcohol (rubbing alcohol) and it burns nicely, but it is liquid in a pump bottle.

I guess the 65% alcohol sample you have not burning means people need to check their products like Sherpadog did, to make sure before trusting they will work.

I don't have any tiger balm salve around to try, but since it contains camphor, menthol, cajuput oil, mint oil and clove oil it might burn nicely.

Clove oil, the stuff for tooth aches, burns like lighter fluid does.

Round 3

I tested a few more ideas from this subject thread today. The reason why? While many people have some ideas how/what to use as for fire starter/tinders, there also many people who have not tested these ideas at home or out in the field as practice. With this testing the last couple of days it is plain to see that these ideas for fire starters/tinders are not going to help when you need it the most.

Of all the items I tested, there is only two that I always carry in the backpack, camping gear etc and that is a candle of some sort and a small bottle of hand sanitizer. All the rest that I tested, are in my opinion are not worth the time and effort to carry.

I would think that the biggest suprise to people is the complete uselessness of PJ coated cotton....whether it be cotton balls, cotton from the end of Q-Tips or a piece of old t-shirt. As you will see once again below, once PJ coated cotton gets any water on it, it will not light again. The old adage that cotton kills now also has a new meaning... at least to me.

Once again I would like to see other people's results of any testing they have done. My testing is only person's method, your testing may provide different results.

All the products tested below were purchased new today (needed them anyway) to ensure that no old products tempered the results.

In the below photos, you can see that I don't have that "used to be" nice plate from last night and the backdrop is not a clean white counter top either.....Don't ask, but taking test lab photos outdoors suddenly appeals to me.

Chapstick
Chery flavor was all the drugstore had.


As you can see, I cut the chapstick up into small pieces and tried to light it. All would do is melt then harden up somewhat just like candle wax.



Blistex Lip Balm.


Some people said lip balm would work, however it will not burn/catch at all, instead it eventually melted to a liquid.


PolySporin Ointment


I seen a couple of people mention the ointment makes a good fire tinder but I had no luck with it.


Vaseline...back to this again. The Vaseline I tested last night expired in early 2006. To be fair, I purchased a new container of it today.


Just like last night, no luck in lighting it up with a match.


Using a piece of cotton t-shirt with plenty of PJ on it, will light. ...but don't be fooled. It is not the PJ that catches, it is the cotton that actually burns and melts the PJ away as seen in the small puddle on the right foreground of the photo. Notice above the burning cloth, Less then 1-1/2 TBSP of water is being slowly dribbled directly onto the material and flames.


This little bit of water was enough for the cotton to soak up and kill the flame. Again after squeezing the small amount of water, the cotton will not light due to being wetted with the water above. This also serves to show that the PJ is not being helpful in starting a fire....which is contrary to many claims on many websites and forums that cotton whatever covered in PJ will burn even when wet.

We're glad to see that you survived the last experiments, keep up the good work. How 'bout trying some of the above added to
"tinder," to see if it will help the tinder take off and burn? As I previously stated, GI insect repellent won't burn by itself, but added to some twigs they really take off...

I could try that....couple of little problems though. I am a former firefighter and live just a couple of blocks from a fire hall...some members there know me and I know them. I also have a large amount of dead brush/tinder in the yard that would be perfect for testing with....You get the picture?

Maybe add this to the project


Fire Extinguisher
And if you keep performing experiments indoors try this wife extinguisher
Wife extinguisher

"...you get the picture..."

That's easy, just get some of that "dry smokless wood" that the hero in the Louis L'Amour novels always used...

Actually hoping to get out in the mountains this weekend. Our weather up until about 10 days has been the worst in 60 years and the avalanche warnings are now finally slowing. This is encouraging as this is the longest we have gone without any visits to our fav outdoor places in years.....Cabin fever is sinking in and one of the reasons for the photos of the paint can stove and testing of fire starters the last few days.

If we get out, I will do some testing and post the results.

A little video of the Halfords Rubber Solution ignition test can be viewed here at

http://www.amfearliathmor.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/firestarter.wmv 3.8 Mbyte file.

The core out of magic markers (permanent, black) burns real nice too. Nice hot blue flame.
I just found that out, but highlighters would not light for me.

Ever since yesterday I have been trying to burn all sorts of stuff like some seriously disturbed pyromaniac kid.

I would expect some of those things to need a wick. You need to turn the solid into a liquid and then the liquid into gas; the gas is what burns, hopefully producing enough heat to melt the solid and keep it self-sustaining.

Sometimes a used match will serve as a wick.

Just because something doesn't light with a match doesn't mean it is not a great fire starter / accelerant. You can put out a cigarette in Gasoline. Try dumping some diesel on the ground and lighting it, try it with kerosene, or wax . . . It won't light but it certainly does "burn" under the right circumstances.

Now like "Brangdon" said, some of these need a wick. Just to prove this true, take a cotton ball and light it. Time how long it takes to burn. Now saturate it with PJ and burn it. It will burn WAY longer.

Cotton Balls will also light after they've been wet but much depends on how they've be saturated and then after they've been wet they need to be torn and then fluffed.

I like the experiments, it's lots of fun and you learn a lot.

I carry a carmex. one time as a test, I had it burning for 20 minutes: see below for my 2006 post:

Everyone here is familiar with the cotton ball / vaseline fire starter, I assume. You know it will catch sparks when torn open, and give some good flame for around 5 minutes. Recently, an idea came to me while I applied some Carmex to my lips. this little canister of lip balm in my pocket suddenly set off a light bulb in my head. I headed for the fire place to experiment after first grabbing my pocket knive, firesteel and a cotton ball. first, I opened the carmex, then with the screw driver on my knife stuffed the cotton ball down to the bottom of the canister right into the lip balm. of course, this displaced some of the lip balm, which I just slathered on the side of the remains of the cotton ball, leaving some cotton exposed to fray and catch sparks. ignition was simple with firesteel (or match/lighter). what happened next was a slow startup, I almost thought it was going to burn out. maybe a different installation of the cotton wick would help, but I've only tried once so far. anyway, it started to pickup in intensity, until after a minute or so was 4" tall. THIS CONTINUED FOR 20+ MINUTES! Better performance than I've seen for any firestarter, bar none and yet much smaller. the entire container also melted down to nothing, as well as it's contents (although it held it's general form as it burned down). This was so cool, I thought. I carry this stuff anyway. I'd be interested in any tests others run with blistex and other brands, as well as approaches to the "wick". try it, you'll have some fun!

sounds like we'd have some fun if you were my neighbor

you need to get a fire place.

Update:

We went on an overnight hike and got home earlier this am as we have other commitments today. While out yesterday we had a chance to do some testing and experimenting without fear of the local Fire Department rolling their trucks.

Unfortunately there are no photos as the camera did not take well to an earlier adventure where I was putting it on the tripod. The camera decided to leap off the tripod and tumble down a 20' or so embankment....Now that we are home, the camera was fortunately easy to repair with the right tools. I will post a few photos of the hiking area that we managed to take before the camera decided that it was time to take a leap.
We may be going out again for a day hike next weekend and I will see if we have time to do some quick re-tests so that I can take some photos

In furthing the tests I did a few days ago, yesterday we spent about 1-1/2 hours in total trying different methods with the same products.
The ambient temperature was sunny and clear with temps of 4 - 6 C (38 - 40 F) and 87% humidity. The wood used was a mix of dry to medium wet pine, poplar and spruce.

In these tests, all the products were either slathered on the wood tinder or mixed directly in the tinder. The results were pretty much as expected and did not yield any suprises.

Here are the results of the products previously tested.

Neopsorin Cream:
This cream was both mixed into tinder or smeared directly on. We did not see any appreciable or usefulness of this. In fact, it appeared to hinder the fire more then anything as it acted as a barrier to the flame.
Conclusion: Not worth the effort.

Hand Sanitizer
As in the original test, this product was by far the best. The hand sanitizer is gelled and it does not take very much of it to slather onto some small pieces of tinder and light it up. In no time flat, the fire was blazing and it was also relatively easy to re-light after being doused with water. That being said, the amount of unburned gell remaining on the wood will decide how easy it would to re-light.
Conclusion: If you are going to carry a liquid type of fire starting accelerant, this is the product you want to carry. The small bottle which we carry, will in all probability and if used judiously will last for enough fires until you are back to safety or rescued.

Vaseline:
We tested this with a couple of different methods. First up was lighting cotton t-shirt material which we know burns ok. Again it was very noticable that the cotton material burns and the vaseline mostly melts away. While it was burning, we added wood to the flame and it eventually caught and did burn slightly longer and with more flame. Next method was to smear vaseline directly onto one end of a fuzzed twig about 14 inches long and 3/8 in diameter. I lit up one end of the wood with no vaseline on it and let the fire burn to the other end. Once it caught, again the wood burned and longer. Lastly, smearing vaseline directly onto several different sized pieces of wood then throwing these pieces directly onto an existing fire resulted in longer burning and fire.
Conclusion: I am not convinced that vaseline is the best accelerant to use. For all it's discussion on this forum and others, this is one method that I would not want to use...there are much better (and less messy/greasy) alternatives out there.

Aftershave:
Although it is not gelled, the aftershave being poured onto wood and lit, burns much like the hand sanitizer on. It did not readily survive being doused with water and re-lit (4 matches later). Although it burns very good, the smell is horrible and will help the meaneast, hungriest bear miles away from your camp.
Conclusion: How may people carry aftershave in their backpack or EDC? For those who travel for work and keep a shaving bag in the car, the afteshave may come in handy if you ever breakdown in the middle of nowwhere and need a fire for warmth, food cooking etc.

Candle:
As in the previous test at home, the candle performed almost flawlessy. It was easy to light intially and after being doused with water.
Conclusion: the candle is as basic as it gets. We always carry 2-3 small stubs in the backpack and though we rarely have had to use them, they have never failed us.

Chapstick:
The chapstick was a mixed bag of results. First we took a half tube of it and cut into small pieces and added to a very small fire. Although the fire perked up a bit, it was not what you would call a sucess. Next we warmed up some chapstick our hands the smeared onto some wood and lit the wood. Again there was no real big difference in the burn rate or time. Finally, smearing some more wood with the last of the chapstick then throwing this into an already burning fire made a noticeable difference but not a whole lot....That being said, the difference may be enough when you really need it.
Conclusion: Most people carry chapstick and while it is not the best out there, as I alluded to above, it may help when you really need it. The one major drawback is that the tubes of chapstick do not hold a lot. If you start with only 1/2 a tube then you need to get the fire started on the first or 2nd attempt.

Lip Balm.
This will not catch and burn on its own, however it worked ok when it is smeared onto very dry tinder then lit on fire. The balm burned longer and with more flames then the wood probably would of. Tossing small dabs directly onto the fire resulted in very small and brief spurts of flame intensity.
Conclusion: I don't like chapstick for my lips but I do like lip balm, hence it is in my EDC and our hiking backpacks. Although it was not the best accelerant, a small container lasts much longer then the chapstick does which in turn, increases the odds of successfully lighting a fire.

Egg Carton and Candle Wax Tinder
(see the posts I made a couple of days ago on making these)
As I demonstrated in my previous posts, these burn great and will make the differene in having a fire and not having a fire. These can also survive a good dunk of water and still re-light. In the field testing yesterday (and in actual use in past outings over the years), the results in using this method as an accelerant is flawless.
Conclusion:
The combination of the cardboard, wood shavings/sawdust, candle wax and embedded match heads make for an idea fire accelerant under the worst weather and enviromental conditions. I have only carried these and candles over the years and they have and will remain my choice of tinnder/ accelerants to use.

PolySporin Ointment:
No testing as we forgot it at home...


Summary:
I decided to test these many of the above methods as over the years, I have read many discussions on their abilities without hearing or seeing any actual testing out in the field.

All the above products / methods will burn under idea under controlled and idea conditions. Out in the field, these conditions are not perfect and with some of the above methods, I would not waste my time on or depend on being my fire accelerant savior....but thats just my opinion.

Your thoughts, experience and and results may be far different then the above.

Holy cow, this is true! I was looking for something more carry-friendly than Vaseline. I tried out Burt's Bee's. I carry Burt's Bees anyway. So, I'm getting at least 2-for-1. It's not as messy as Vaseline and doesn't seem to liquefy until it's burning. In contrast, Vaseline tends to run, thereby wasting fuel if you don't have a holder. I still like the Vaseline though because the bucket is so inexpensive.