Alternative Ideas

[flowerbug]

I told DH that we should start saving the dryer lint.

too much clothing is synthetics these days for me to tell anyone that they should be composted or burned (at home you can't get the temperature as reliably high as they can at a industrial scale incinerator). if you know it's cotton/hemp/linen/wool or other natural material then i'd use it.

 

[Mini Horses]

I have cotton fields and plenty everywhere from recent harvest! I keep the little cans of stuff like they use to heat on banquet lines, plus propane, grills and flint/steel if needed. Have vac sealed matches and lighters....lots of candles, camp stove, wood. I'm pretty ok. It's not a worry for me as I'm prepared.

 

[Okiepan]

Old cotton t shirts cut into pieces and easy to make into char cloth , which really helps when you use the tinder .

 

[Hinotori]

Small amounts of char cloth are easy to make poke a hole in the top of an altoids tin. Put in squares of cotton. Put in fire until smoke quits coming out hole. Cool fully before opening.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I just remembered another source of fire: A magnifying glass!

My house almost burned down because of a magnifying glass. Several years ago I came home from work and walked into my house and immediately noticed the smell of smoke. Couldn't find smoke or a fire anywhere so I was worried that there was a fire inside a wall. I called my neighbor to come over and he said the same thing. I called our volunteer fire dept and asked that someone come and look around and see if they could figure it out. As soon as he walked in my house he called for a fire truck. Still no visible smoke or flame but a very strong smell and the hunt was on. It took us a while to figure it out.

My son had set a large crafting type magnifying glass on a cabinet in the garage. The cabinet was right in front of a window. No problem for months - but the sun changes positions in the sky during the year, right? When it got to the point that it hit that magnifying glass just right - FIRE! There were peat pots sitting on that same cabinet and they caught on fire and burned to ashes - the only thing that stopped that fire from spreading was that the cabinet had a concrete backer board on top of it and, thankfully, concrete board doesn't burn (even though the wooden cabinet under it was scorched from the heat.

Fire dept was as shocked as I was when we figured out the source was that magnifying glass.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I tried my Swedish fire starter today. It took a few tries. I tried paper and then tiny wood shavings and couldn’t get it to catch. I kind of feel like I cheated because I resorted to a q-tip dipped in petroleum jelly and voila!

 

[Mini Horses]

That's not cheating! Knowing what works can be lifesaving. All survival skills are knowledge that is lifesaving. We just never know when we will need to use these.

And, certain wood on wood friction can start a fire. Harder but can.

Once you get a spark, feed it slowly. Don't smother it out. Learn to bank your fire so it can be reignited.

 

[baymule]

I haven’t had to start a fire without an accelerant in so long….
But gas grill until that ran out. Charcoal starter until that ran out.
Not for food fire-lighter pine slivers. Lighter pine is everywhere. If you don’t have any, cut a pine tree in October or when the sap is running, and you’ll have lighter pine shortly.

 

[flowerbug]

That's not cheating! Knowing what works can be lifesaving. All survival skills are knowledge that is lifesaving. We just never know when we will need to use these.

And, certain wood on wood friction can start a fire. Harder but can.

Once you get a spark, feed it slowly. Don't smother it out. Learn to bank your fire so it can be reignited.

i had to look it up what it was and how to use it:

 

[flowerbug]

magnifying glass was my favorite as a kid.