I keep most of my PSK on a keychain and in my wallet. I liked the way the coated cotton works , but i hate the mess of trying to get them out of a kit. So I hit on a discovery, chapstick burns like crazy!!! I keep a chapstick on my keychain and the other day i was practicing my fire making skills and had a hard time catching the plain cotton ball with a spark, little windy. long story short... i grabbed the chapstick smeared a cottonball with it and tried to spark it. WOW!!! it caught right away!! and burned hot and for atleast 2 minutes.
Just thought i'd pass it along

Great idea!

I've been looking for something that can be coated on wet kindling. I'll give my ChapStick a try.

Thanks!

Were you using "chapstick" brand or something else. The reason I ask is some are petroleum based and some are wax based. I've tried it and had mixed results, so I'm wondering if there is a difference in performance. Thanks.

I never knew there was a difference in chapsticks.. the one i used containes padimate 1.5% and petrolatum... 44% Just looked

I did it 3 times .. using 100 cotton balls. each time they started very quickly ,almost as soon as a spark hit it. nice flame ,almost a 2 min burn time for each test. I did fluff it up pretty much before i hit it with a spark.

hope that helped

I must have used the wax based stuff. Thanks for the insight.

I favor Vaseline Lip Therapy Petroleum Jelly. It comes in a small, 0.35 oz tube, and I add it to the cotton ball just before use. No fuss, no muss. You usually find it in drugstores right next to Chapstick.

Hmmm,

I'll bet the Carmex I keep in my pocket would work pretty darned good, too. It is a combination of petrolatum and wax, but seems softer than most chapstick type lip balms. Plus it is a lot more aromatic. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />