I am a big fan of using cotton balls loaded up with petroleum jelly.

Doing several demonstratons at a sportsman show recently my ignited cotton stayed lit for an average of 4 minutes, the longest was 6 minutes.

Still, I keep a bunch of different fire starter materials in a zip lock bag that goes in my pack.

Blake
www.outdoorquest.com

Although I seldom use "tinder" of the type you are talking about for fires that count, I carry and have used both Tinder Quick and cotton balls with Vaseline with great effect for test fires with spark type starters in all types of conditions.

I don't use these types of tinder because I usually (except when practicing other techniques) light my fires with a match (occasionally I do use a Bic). Using very small pine twigs or fuzz sticks I rarely need anything more. If things are wet, I use a 3x3 square of old t shirt material that is soaked in wax.

Respectfully,

Jerry

My experience has been similar.

I rely on the Tinder Qwik, as I find it reliable and non-messy. I bought a bag of 50 from somewhere a while back. I also have some tinder card, which I tend to use more often because it's not as good (eg not water-proof) but good enough and I might as well use it up.

Think of the magnesium as something similar to the head of a match. It can help to convert a small spark into a very brief flame to light something a little bigger and longer burning.

Don't count on it to do anything else.

Anyone tried petroleum jelly and jute twine? Or wax and jute twine?

I haven't had any luck with waxing jute twine...somehow I'm getting too much wax soaking in and it won't burn. Jute works very well but sometimes it's hard to keep it dry, and it really has to be dry. So far, PJ cotton balls, waxed cotton and Tinder Qwik have been my best options. Plain cotton balls also work well but burn pretty fast. The round cotton facial cleansing pads also work pretty well.

BTW, the Weber grill lighting cubes are fantastic tinder but have been a little hard to work with until now. The problem is that when exposed to air they seem to "corrode" or the volatile flammable part evaporates. Cubes that have been open for a month are very light and will hardly burn at all. And they leach thru some kinds of plastic that I've tried to store them in.

But I might have solved the storage issue. Last nite I vacuum sealed a box of them into various size packages and with different techniques. I did a few single packs, and a few muli-packs (either 3 or 4 to a bag). Some of them I vacuumed "naked" and some I wrapped in tin foil first. And most of them are double vacced, that is one vacuum sealed bag sealed into another bag. This should hopefully eliminate leaks and preserve the cubes. I dated them all so that I can monitor them for degradation over time.

For those who aren't familiar with the Weber cubes they appear to be virtually identical to WetFire Tinder, except that you can get a 24 count package for about half what an 8 count of Wet Fire costs. If my DIY packaging holds up then I will definitely have a new "go to" survival and camping tinder.

I'll try to get some pictures of the posted later tonite.

Well, no time like the present! Here's some pics. Sorry in advance for the blue hues...I had been taking pics indoors and forgot to change the camera settings.

What is tinder card? This is the first I've heard of it?

Our Scout troop recently gave me a woven jute survival bracelet as a thank you. It looks just like the gorgeous paracord ones the guys around here make. Too nice to ruin just to try it out so I'll have to find some more. I've never tried it. Am I right to assume I use it like tinder-quick, and spread it out to make sort of a little nest to catch the spark?