Bee,

I am with you. The PF cotton balls burn great but are too messy. Also if they get wet they will not light with a spark. Using a small Zip-loc bag seems to be the best storage for tinder. The film canisters can be hard to open when cold. With the plastic bag you can see in and you can get into it with a knife if needed.

I suggest you switch from PJ cotton balls to Coghlan's Emergency Tinder. It burns for a good 5 minutes and will light from a spark no matter how long it is soaked in water. Just pull it in half and put the halves back togather with the frayed ends sticking up. It work the best of anything I have tried. A fat wood stick also works well. You scrape the side until you get a quarter size pile of scrapings. It will light with a spark. It only burns for about half a minute and it makes a sticky goo on your blade.

I read somewhere that instead of Vaseline petroleum you can use Neosporin and that way you kill 2 birds with one stone, have a fire starter and also something to desinfect and clean a wound. I have never tried that myself but I will sometime. Have anybody try the Neosporin impregnated cotton balls?

I have yet to find these. Tried Wally's, Bass Pro, Acadamy Sports, etc.

Any other ideas for a source? Can they be ordered on-line and shipped?

We have them, in Phoenix, at REI and Sportsman's Warehouse. You can order them from REI on the WEB. They only cost $3.00 for a package of 10. Please try some, if you can, and tell us what you think.

I have tried it and it does work but not quite a well as PJ cotton balls. It has been suggest to keep the antibiotic in it's package and the cotton ball plain until you need them. Then you can use them how you need them. I'm not a fan of that idea. I don't won't to be concerned if I am raiding my FAK for fire or vice versa. Somethings are too important to be "too clever by half."

But won't the subsequent burns from trying to treat a wound with a burning cotton ball full of Neosporin be problematic?

I'm here all week folks. Please tip the waitstaff. LOL

Seriously though, what if you need both first aid and to start a fire?

I've tried everything discussed so far, and am happy with PJ/Cotton..to catch a spark and then light tinder. I have soda straws stuffed with the PJ/Cotton stashed all over my kit. That being said, just for the "back up" knowledge, I tried out the following (remember, my criteria was to catch a spark and then flame enough to ignite tinder):
1) Neosporin - on a piece of 4x4 gauze. Worked fine. The Neosporin was in a foil pack. It has a petroleum jelly "base" anyway.
2) 4x4 gauze pad rubbed with Chapstick. Worked fine. Again, some of the lip balms are petroleum based, some are carnuba wax based. Both have worked fine for me.
3) Alcohol Prep Pad (alcohol, not benzalkonium chloride) Just opened and hit with sparks.. great blue flame and it started tinder just fine! These little pads are stowable everywhere!.

If I use a match, lighter, or some other actual FLAME (not spark): I light a ranger band sized strip of bike innertube. This will start fairly poor tinder. Stinks.. drips hot burning rubber everywhere (not a disadvantage, though).. but try it!

That's a great idea about the alcohol prep pads!!

I placed my cotton balls/PJ in a clear film canister... It works fine, and it looks nicer than a folded up snack-size Ziploc bag.

Just use your knife's blade or a small twig to take the balls out from the canister. Case closed. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Bee,

The craft stores sell bags that are very small and are just the right size. I pray your film canisters never freezes hard when you need to open it.