I keep Sure2Burn fire starters packets and a bic lighter in my hunting gear as my "sure fire" emergency option. I have a ferro rod on my knife and cary jute twine for a second option.

I love the Sure2Burn packets they pack small, work everytime, dont dry out, I have never had one fail. They make fire starting kinda boring, cause they just plain work; but that's exactly what I need in a real emergency out in the woods.
I highly recomend these in any kit...

I know some people are really excited about this product, but I'm a bit skeptical. I wouldn't care so much if we were talking about fire starting for a weekend barbecue. Lack of fire in a survival situation can end a life.

One poster went so far as to say this product does not dry out. Really? What are the details of that analysis? How long did you have this product? Under what conditions? Was the inner material exposed to air? A reader's life may depend on your answers. You might say, well, the reader should test on their own, but the reader may be a novice and may not know any better.

Here's an example comparison to PJ cotton balls. There was a PJ jar and some cotton balls package sitting in a shed behind my parent's house. The stuff must have been sitting there for over 25 years. My parent's house on Mt. Hamilton freezes in the winter and gets blazing hot in the summer. The shed had been hosed down at least once a year for general cleaning. I'm sure whoever was cleaning was not too careful about keeping dry the tools and other things, including the PJ jar and cotton balls. I know this because I cleaned that shed several times. As you may have guessed by now, the PJ and cotton balls ignited right up from a spark as if I had just bought them from the drug store the same day.

Since this is a survival forum, sometimes we talk about things on which a person will be betting their life. I would bet my life on PJ and cotton balls. Can you say the same about this Sure2Burn product?

I can say that I have been using them for YEARS, and have had zero issues. The argument about them getting exposed has no merit for me. They are sealed for a reason. So I am suppose to trust my life on Cotton balls setting in a shed for 25 years... are you F-ing kidding me. I care enough about my life to check my gear regularly. If I ever found a packet with a hole I would replace it (I have not yet, but I would)
I do this stuff, its what I do, not just talk about it on the internet. I hunt, I scout, I'm out in the bush alone A Lot. If I scream NO ONE will hear it, yes, you can say I bet my A$$ on my gear.

Good to hear about options for fire starting, thanks.

I'm going on a week-long camp trip (car camping in a state park so not especially perilous) in August and plan to play around with several fire starting options - some dedicated fire making products as well as pj-cotton balls, steel wool and magnesium.

I, too, am especially keen on the cotton balls and petroleum jelly. Cheap, easy and innocuous to have those products at home, in the car and in a pack -- and they are multi-use so I have them around anyway.

If I can get some Sure2Burns before the trip, I'll try them out.



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Just what I needed for my lunch break a trip to HD.

Thanks for the info.
Lee

I've broken about a zillion Weber cubes. They burn even better that way, albeit a lot faster.

What is your carry protocol, Yee?

I have some of them which have been stored in kits since January 2009. They were not treated with kid gloves, but they were not pounded or stomped on either. I was going out to teach my Scout troop wilderness survival in March this year, one task of which is to start a fire three different ways. As a test, I used all of my Sure-2-Burn packets, just to see how they held up for 3 years. All of them lit with no problem. Several I opened up and tested with various spark type fire starters, and they all lit. I don't think I would trust them if they had been exposed to air. None of the packets had opened up though. They store nice and flat, they are flexible, and they are light. All of that said, however, I always carry multiple types of tinder in my kits: Tinder-quick, cotton balls and petroleum jelly and then something else like the sure-2-burn or Esbit cubes. I don't like to be in a position of being dependent on one method to save my life. Just like carrying multiple tools to start the fire: lighter, storm proof matches and a spark type fire starter.

>I've broken about a zillion Weber cubes. They burn even >better that way, albeit a lot faster.
>
>What is your carry protocol, Yee?

You are absolutely right. They burn MUCH better broken. They, however, deteriorate much faster broken. More exposure to air.

As far as my carry protocol, I noticed that it is possible to carry TWO weber cubes in the small pocket behind the USGI canteen carrier.

The cubes themselves deteriorate when exposed to air. The aluminum foil covering is rather flimsy. I cut the Weber tray into individual cubes. I attempted to ameliorate aluminum foil failure by covering the weber cube tray with candlewax.

The two cubes were placed into a single ziploc bag rotated 180 degrees with each other and placed into the canteen carrier pocket. The canteen carrier was worn on weekends for about a year without any attempt to protect the weber cubes.

The result was somewhat pulverized weber cubes, not satisfactory for emergency use due to likelihood of deterioration from air. For routine use, they lit up fine. Subjectively, the cubes did not last as long.

As a matter of interest, since I was thinking about it AND it was pouring outside this evening, I took petroleum jelly/cotton balls (about 3 years old!), Weber cubes (1 year old), Sure2Burn (new) outside in the pouring rain and attempted to start a fire with just a ferro rod and striker.

Difficulty was encountered with the Weber cube. Sure2Burn failed (but I didn't try too hard). Petroleum Jelly/cotton ball lit up on one strike. When tired, hungry and scared, which one of the above is likely to work?

Admittedly, I have the MOST experience and MOST comfortable with PJ/CB. I would RELY on PJ/CB if my life depended upon it (there is NO data out there that suggests that PJ/CB deteriorates under ANY known circumstances, it is just messier). I like the convenience of the Weber Cube for its ability to boil a single cup of water. I suspect that Sure2Burn would fair better in the pocket outside of my canteen carrier but it is too small to boil a full canteen cup of water.

All three have their advantages and disadvantages.

Conway Yee

Considering things further, I have a followup question.

I have been EDC'ing a small off brand BIC. The reason for this is that they can be modified to allow "blowtorch" mode.

The manner of EDC is the least hospitable to man. I make a small loop of the outer sheath of paracord and tape it to the body of the cheap lighter with about 6-12 inches of duct tape (Gorilla brand). The excessive tape is to dual use the lighter.

The lighter is then attached to my keychain. I have found that each lighter has a functional life of about 6 months. Since I do not smoke, this amounts to 1-2 uses of the lighter before failure.

This is unacceptable in terms of reliability. Does anyone know of a way to carry a cheap lighter in one's pocket without it falling apart? Perhaps a case of some sort?

The failure mode seems to be uniformly the metallic part of the lighter surrounding the flint wheel. I have attempted to tape the metal to the body without success.

Conway Yee