I don't think anyone mentioned that the goal with petroleum jelly soaked cotton balls is to have the PJ on the outside of the cotton ball and to have the inside of the cotton ball DRY (without PJ). That way you can kind of tear the ball inside out and the dry fibers will easily catch a spark, and the PJ will then allow the flame to last longer - like a candle & wick.

I fear use of white gas or other more volatile stuff would simply burn too fast - not to mention that it would be more apt to evaporate in storage and might be explosive under certain conditions.

I've always just used small freezer bags to make & hold the cotton balls. I put a hand full of balls inside the bag, add a glob of PJ, massage until its spread around, open & squeeze out the air, and then seal. It keeps my hands cleaner and makes a great storage container.

One last thought - I do NOT use my knives with ferro rods. I don't want to damage or discolor them. I find the strikers that come with the ferro rods work OK - you can "sharpen" them at a 90 degree angle on a nearby rock, if needed.

I use a firesteel (LMF brand) as my primary firestarter and have found that, in conjunction with PJ cotton balls, is a very simple way to get a fire going.

I think all the key points that I've found helpful through trial & error have been mentioned here, but they are:

• Keep the striker stationary & then pull the firesteel towards yourself. Before moving to this method I was forever knocking my carefully arranged tinder and kindling all over the place.
• Using the PJ cotton balls, pull the fibres apart & fluff up the ball ... also ensure there isn't too much PJ which will cause them not to take a spark (something I found out when I tried dipping the cotton balls in melted petroleum jelly ... I ended up with thoroughly saturated balls that would burn longer, but couldn't be lit with a spark)
• Using natural tinder, make sure it is very dry!

On that last point, I haven't got much experience yet using natural tinder exclusively, but one experience really showed me the difference between dry & kinda-dry tinder.

On one trip I decided to try making a fire from 100% collected materials, so we gathered up some wood & I found some Old Man's Beard to use for tinder - this was in the late afternoon on a fairly warm day. Everything went great, the Old Man's Beard took the spark easily and the fire was a success. The next morning I get up and decide to try the same thing. This time however, I simply could not get the Old Man's Beard to stay caught. After a while I gave up, pulled out the PJ cotton balls and got the fire going with some effort. See, the difference was everything was ever-so-slightly damp in the morning which hampered my firestarting efforts.

My big take-away from this was that if I wanted to use natural tinder, I should be collecting it and keeping it in my pocket or something to keep it dry rather than trying to simply collect it when I needed it.

HMMMMM....

Hmmmm....

How about using paper straws and waterproofing and sealing them using a wax bath. Adds some more fuel as well.

Wow, thanks for all the info guys. When I made the PJ lint balls, I saturated them, so I guess that's why they wouldn't catch a spark. My natural tinder was also slightly damp. Now I know better.

Try some Jute twine as well. Just cut up a couple 6" legnths and pull the fibers apart, and ball it up. I've never had a problem getting fire started this way.

I Always carry 25' or so of Jute twine in my bag just for its multi purpose ultility. I also carry about 25'-50' of Para cord, and 50'-60' of #36 Tarred Bank Line. They all have there place.

You can saturate a cotton ball two differerent ways. You can rub PJ into a cotton ball or you can dunk cotton balls into melted PJ. Both ways are messy. I prefer dunking because it makes a more consistent saturation. Cotton does not need to be "dry" to light, but as others have said, the deeper you saturate, the more difficult to light. If you choose to submerge, you will need a way to pull the ball out of the hot liquid because melted PJ even with as low of a heat setting as you can get, the PJ will eventually be too warm to your touch. When you pull the ball out, it will be too saturated to light, so you have to squeeze a lot of the PJ out. I've used different methods. My latest, which worked quite well was to use a garlic press (or maybe it was a lime press - I'm no cook). Experiment with the pressure that you apply on the press. I think I bought my press for $3 - $5 at Wallyworld. Create batches with varying pressure. The goal is to saturate as deeply as possible while still maintaining the ability to light with some margin of error due to weather, skill, patience, etc. Make absolutely certain that the cotton balls are 100% cotton and use the largest you can find, which will be marked something like "jumbo plus" or "super jumbo". I saturate to the point so that I get a burn time of approx 4 to 4 1/2 minutes. You can saturate a ball to the point that it will burn 5 1/2 to 6 minutes but then it starts getting trickier to light. With a 4 to 4 1/2 burn time ball, you have a fire starter that lights very rapidly and yet still has good burn time. When you're done, TEST your product! To light, gently stretch the cotton ball in all directions so that it makes a birds nest about 2 to 2 1/2 inches across then apply a spark or WWII flamethrower or whatever. And unless you want to sleep in the doghouse, don't use the ladies best pot. Buy a small aluminum disposable pan - at any food store in the cooking aisle. Store in a small ziploc.

xavier.ruiz@cox.net

I collected dryer lint while my wife looked on in disbelief and scratched her head.
Added PJ and tried to get it to ignite. No luck.
Bought a big bag of cotton balls for a dollar.
Added PJ to several and tried to ignite. Better, but tricky.
Too much PJ, hard to light even with a Bic.
Frustrated, I sprayed WD-40 on a cotton ball.
Ignites easily and instantly.
Burns very hot and for a long time.
Stuffed a bunch of WD-40 soaked Cotten balls in a one dollar waterproof match case.
2 years later they still ignite and burn furiously.
Easy, no mess and no 'magic' mixture as with PJ.

I'm more interested in how tinder behaves under non-ideal conditions where the user is careless. A good test would be to carry both PJ cotton balls and WD-40 cotton balls in unsealed containers for a few months, and be careless with the containers. The mineral spirits in the WD-40 would evaporate, but the question is whether or not the remaining oil would be sufficient to keep the cotton flaming for over a minute. I already know the PJ cotton balls would pass the test.

that would highlight the single biggest negative to the WD-40: it smells.