The other day I found a box of strike anywhere's in the hardware store (inventory glitch, they got a case it was the last one left), so of course they are getting varnished. Last night when I was checking to see if I had enough varnish left in the can to do this, I had an idea so I dipped a couple of cotton balls and let them dry for 24 hours.

Downside: Not very compressable.

Upside: It BURNS!! I brought a match to one of these guys, and it was burning in maybe two seconds, and it kept burning for about three minutes. A nice yellow flame, no sputtering, no drop in flames until just before the very end.

Beats anything I've ever done with a pj ball by approximately 50% burn time and it was throwing more light the entire time; and purell on a cotton ball isn't even close. I took the second one, poured water over it, shook it dry, and it took off almost as easily as the first.

I'm going to let the third continue drying, to be sure, but I think I've found a nice all weather tinder. I'm also going to try dipping some sisal cord.