Well, for the surest ignition, I carry a film cannister of Accurate Arms Old No. 9 gunpowder. You set this in a bed of tinder, even somewhat moist tinder, and it will catch the lightest spark and produce an intense heat that will light up any fire.

The old boy scout standard, dryer lint with candlewax melted into it.

I like to collect the dried pitch off of douglas fir trees and such. It makes a really nice fire and catches easily, though it needs a bit of an accelerant at first. My best combo is a chunk of bark with some pitch laid in it, with a small pile of gunpowder in the middle. A few dry twigs handy, and you've got yourself the makings of a good fire.

I guess growing up a pyromaniac did have it's pluses. My brother and I sent enough babysitters home never to return, that's for sure.

Want something that will start a fire only when it is wet, pack a load of carbide with you. Just be careful lighting it off. I've managed to light a pile of carbide that I dripped a little water on and have it burn for a good 10 or 15 minutes. Of course, that was controlled conditions. If the carbide gets too wet, you could end up with it making more acetylene than you want. Hmm, maybe that is not the best suggestion after all... <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

Oh, man -- you sure we didn't know each other in a prior life? My great uncle, whose idea of a vacation was to go keep camp for pack trip elk hunters for a month and a half every year, used to carry carbide. [For the uninitiated: carbide powder mixed with water produces acetylene gas, as in oxy-acetylene welding torches].

We got to a bad camp outside Coleman, Texas one really nasty night. Wet 20*, sleet, and lots of wind. There was an old school bus dropped there, shades of "Into the Wild." It had a cast iron pot sheep hearder's stove laid on a piece of oil field plate, and a bunch of wet wood laid up outside. Rastus [Rastus McIntosh - white man - given name - go figure, I never was able to find outwhy they named hum that] laid a good bed of kind of large kindling, said 'stand back, struck a match which he laid in the damp fire bed still burning, and sprinkled carbine powder on that semi-wet wood. I am surprised the cast iron stove survived. The fire lit. We got warm. I don't have the cajones to carry carbide powder.

"I guess growing up a pyromaniac did have it's pluses."

That reminds me of my younger pyromaniac days. We used to play around with Sodium Chlorate (weed killer) mixed with sugar 50/50. That was some neat burning stuff. Don't know if it would catch a spark from a fero rod though. Maybe from one of those big honking BlastMatches. These days playing with a mixture like that would probably get you branded as a terrorist, but back in my youth it was standard fair for bored teenage boys!

Some alcohol swabs (prep pads) from the Walgreens carry flat and make a nice backup tinder. They'll light pretty easily from a Sparklite, and they cost about $3 for a whole bunch. And you can clean a booboo with 'em, too.

There's Tinder Card which I reviewed in this thread .

I can usually get paper to light, if I scrape it into shavings with a knife.

The stuff I actually rely on is TinderQuik, that you know about. And the gas in my cigarette lighter - that ignites with a spark too <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

As will the meths in a Trangia stove if it's at all warm. That's actually quite significant. You can get the stove lit and boiling water with just its fuel and a sparky thing. With Esbit-style hex tabs you need a good flame to get them going; even a cigarette lighter is hardly good enough if its windy.

Want to play chemist? Try potassium permanganate and glycol (antifreeze). Be sure to keep them in appropriate leak proof containers in different sections of your pack...

M

I couldn't argee more. Alcohol swabs are a great dual use item which is while you'll always find them in all but the very smallest of my kits. They catch even the smallest spark very easily and are also great for their intended purposes in a FAK.

Just found this [color:"blue"] http://www.frontiersurvival.com/firerock6oz.html [/color] on the internet last night. I havn't tried it, but it looks interesting.

An interesting product, and a decent website.

Hmm, I wonder what they're using as the binder/accelerant?

15-20 minutes burn time. That's promising. I wonder how waterproof/windproof it is. Someone should try this stuff out and let us know. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />