What To Carry In A Firestarting Kit

I review some of the items that I put into a new firestarting kit that I will be carrying with me on day hikes and overnight trips. More tips, tricks, and gear reviews available at www.thegearhouse.com.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• light my fire
• mayadust
• mayasticks
• firesteel
• light my fire firesteel
• tinder
• firestarting
• fire starting kit

[slippery999]

I agree you should have different methods of starting a fire but aren't all your eggs in one basket or box in this case? What happens if you lose it or you can't get to it? You could lose your pack crossing a river, drop it whilst climbing or even leave camp for a call of nature and get disorientated. Better to keep some items on your person. Also you can use small strips of rubber from a bicycle inner tube, light it with a match or lighter and it burns even when wet. Stay safe.

[thegearhouse]

Def. a good point, keeping something on you and having redundancy is always a good method to practice.

[thegearhouse]

Glad you like it. If you are going to use twine, know that it burns real quick, faster than the cotton balls. So be sure you have a decent fire structure built and possibly some other firestarter available for when it lights.

[dukcaboose]

awesome kit...but a suggestion is to include vaseline or just saturate the cotton with vaseline...(100% petroleum jelly) it lasts about 1-5mins while burning depending on the size and amount you add to it.......just plain cotton balls light up easy, but they burn out really fast, too

[dodgercharger2002]

fire piston, but a very nice kit :)

[robbabcock1969]

...Warm it with your body, but it will work. I'd highly recommend some UCO Stormproof matches. They're surreal.

Again, I like your idea but if you have an advanced box like that you could add some advanced fire products to mix.

[robbabcock1969]

I love that waterproof case! I have many different brands from Otterbox to Pelican but that one's new to me. Nice.

A good kit, but to me the Maya Dust is worthless. It takes a lot of space and is simply shaved fatwood- and you already have fatwood. You could add a two or three Esbit Fuels in the same space and have a much more certain (and powerful) fire.

Next, book matches are a waste of space IMO. Replace them with real matches.

A BIC lighter is mandatory. At low temps you'll have to.

[swilliams2482]

That is one well stocked kit. Very nice.

[Hobojoe308]

Cool kit but Zippo has never let me down

[generic109]

Carrying a lexan box to carry fake wood into the woods! With two additional containers! Much of that stuff in the box, like the firesteel and the round container are OK to get wet. Why would you get a container larger than needed? Your pack must weigh 200 pounds. If you take all that weight and replace it with a pack of esbit or a bottle of alcohol,you will not only have a firestarting kit, but you would have fuel for a week! Those things don't need tinder. You call these things "essentials"?

[generic109]

This seems to add a lot of unnecessary weight and bulk. Here is a kit that is redundant and not nearly as heavy: firesteel around the neck, bic lighter in the pocket, film canister packed with cotton balls. You can put petroleum jelly on the cotton balls ahead of time, or use what you would bring anyway in the field: lip balm, bug repellant, fly floatant, etc. A few esbit tabs is a good idea because they can be used not only to start fires, but as quick, emergency fuel. Dual purpose is the way.

[samee71survival]

@slippery999 While burning innertube can be usefull, the fumes prouduced are posiones. It can cause breathing difficulties for you and your party. Remember to sit upwind to avoid breathing in the fumes.

[cyclist01222]

Bic has never let me down. Nice kit.

[Furbacher5]

Try using dryer lint instead of cotton dryer lint works much better