PROJECT 20

TWO TYPES OF HOMEMADE FIRE STARTERS

The ability to make fire is an essential survival skill, and when looking at the history of the development of civilization, we could not have developed without mastering fire.

While fire making can be dangerous, it is that danger that must be addressed in order to create well-adjusted children that can handle the world’s dangers resiliently.

In order to learn to master fire, we are going to make two different types of fire starters that act as “training wheels” to help create fire easily.

Type 1—Petroleum Jelly Soaked Cotton Ball

Type 1 Materials

This type of fire starter works very well, and the tiny filaments in the cotton balls work very well to collect sparks from things like the earlier Keychain Ferrocerium Rod.

Material:

•   Cotton balls

•   100% Petroleum Jelly (non-mentholated)

Tools:

•   Ziploc bag

Procedure:

Kneading in a bag is the best way not to make a mess

1.     Scoop some Vaseline into the Ziploc bag (a tablespoon per 4–6 balls seems to work well).

2.     Add cotton balls.

3.     Knead until well mixed (but don’t totally saturate the ball—you will need some dry inner fibers to catch a spark)

Grease-soaked ball pulls apart and catches sparks

To use, pull out a ball and gently pull it apart to catch sparks from your keychain firestarting rod—or you can leave whole and light with a match.

A ball made this way should burn for about 4 minutes, giving plenty of time to catch pencil sized and smaller dry twigs on fire.

Type 2—Wax Soaked Lint Balls

Type 2 Materials

Wax soaked lint is a little hard to make, but it burns hotter and longer than the first type. It is better suited for car camping as it is also bulkier and heavier.

Material:

•   Dryer lint

•   Paraffin wax

•   Paper egg carton (not the Styrofoam plastic ones)

Tools:

•   Double boiler (or pot and smaller Pyrex measuring cup)

•   Scissors

Procedure:

Fill individual egg cartons with dryer lint

1.     Fill individual egg cartons with dryer lint.

Melt wax in double boiler

2.     Melt wax in double boiler by placing wax chunks in the smaller container, placing the smaller container into the larger pot, and then filling the larger pot with boiling water until the level is approximately ⅔ the height of the smaller one.

2.1.   You do not want to get any water in the container holding the wax, and you don’t want the water to boil over into the wax pot.

2.2.   The boiling water ensures an even heating so the wax does not overheat and ignite.

Carefully pour melted wax over the egg carton

3.     Carefully pour melted wax over the egg carton until the lint is fully saturated.

4.     After the wax cools, cut out the individual egg cartons to make 12 individual fire starters.

Once wax cools, cut carton into individual fire starters

Lesson Learned:

Is there a cost difference between the two starters (calculate per unit cost by dividing the cost of the material by number of starters made)? Is there a difference in quality, ease of use, and effectiveness?

This project shows that there are many ways to accomplish the same thing, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, but one is not always better than another.