Fire starters, what's Hot and what's Not.

Les Stroud used the Frito trick on an episode of Survivorman.  Not only do they make good kindling, but with their slow burn time, they can transport fire well if you need to move your fire to a different location.

Fritos burn like little oil lamps!

Got the Sparky that Warthog posted about and I like it!   Half the size and roughly 1/3 the weight of the Blastmatch, the Sparky is even easier to use.   The spark rod is not nearly as big and you don't get the same volume of sparks but they are the same type of super hot, long lasting sparks that the Blastmatch produces.   I will need to use it more to be sure, but the Sparky seems like another one to add to the Hot list.

A small bag of cheetos cheese puffs when ignited will get a regular fire going. Cheetos burn a good while, and hot too (I've done it).

I've got a cheap lighter, water proof matches, a magnifying glass and a zippo with extra flints of course. 
  
 

Godspeed

my prefered methods

flint and steel(any type, light my fire works, ut i usually just find flint as i go)
zippo, these things dont like to fail
fire piston; these things rule, freakin exspensive, but they work and dont break easy

"We will never defeat the enemy if we are at each others throats."
- Sean Kennedy
www.rantmedia.ca

In Girl Scout Leader training (I was the only male with 150 women for a weekend campout/training session--the things we do for our kids!) we made firestarters by filling cardboard egg cartons with sawdust then filling them with parrifin. They worked very well.

We also make cardboard/tuna can stoves as mentioned above and cooked breakfast on them.

Way back in Boy Scouts we used to whittle fuzz sticks for kindeling.

Flint and Steel , Cotton balls in Vasaline, Bic lighter, Fatwood tinder packed in Film canister. I guess i carry around 9 different ways to start a fire...

best makeshift fire starter is flamin hot cheetos

http://www.inquiry.net/OUTDOOR/skills/seton/rubbing_fire.htm

by Ernest Thompson Seton   

I have certainly made a thousand fires with rubbing sticks, and I have made at least five hundred different experiments. So far as I can learn, my own record of thirty-one seconds from taking the sticks to having the fire ablaze is the world's record (this was written in 1907; since then the record has been repeatedly lowered by others), and I can safely promise this: That every man who will follow the instructions I now give will certainly succeed in making a rubbing-stick fire.

Take a piece of dry, sound, balsam-fir wood (or else yucca, cedar, cypress, tamarack, basswood, or cottonwood, in order of choice) and make of it a drill and a block, thus:

The drill should be not more than five eighths of an inch in diameter and 12 to 15 inches long. The larger your drill, the harder you have to work. There is no use in having an immense pile of powder to get a spark. If the drill averages five eighths of an inch in diameter, is perfectly straight, and tapers off at the top nicely, it will revolve smoothly and bring your spark quickly. The drill should be held perpendicularly and should be held solidly by the hand resting firmly against the shin bone. The drill should be placed in the bow so that the loop is on the outside of the thong away from the bow. This prevents the drill from rubbing against the bow.
Block, or board, two inches wide, six or eight inches long, five eighths of an inch thick. In this block, near one end, cut a side notch one half an inch deep, and near its end half an inch from the edge make a little hollow or pit in the top of the block, as in the above illustration (cut 1 b).
The notch should be cut into the board deeper at the bottom than at the top, and wider from a side view at the bottom than at the top. The narrower the notch is, while allowing the powder to drop, the better. The notch should be so cut that when the hole has been drilled, there will be just a little slit running from the side to the center of the hole through which the powder drops down. The wood must be cut smooth, or the spark may stick and not drop below. I have found it best to have the notch face me rather than have it the other side of the board away from me. I have noticed that the average person leans his drill, which causes it to push against the outside rim of the hole and to break the side away. Usually it is better to start your hole above the notch and then open up the notch until it connects with the hole.
Tinder. For tinder use a wad of fine, soft, very dry, dead grass mixed with shredded cedar bark, birch bark, or even cedar wood scraped into a soft mass.
A meadow mouse's nest does very well for tinder. It is easy to get a number of them after the snow has gone from the wet meadows in spring time.
Bow. Make a bow of any bent stick two feet long, with a strong buckskin or belt-lacing thong on it (cut 1c).
Socket. Finally, you need a socket. This simple little thing is made in many different ways. Sometimes I use a pine or hemlock knot with a pit one quarter inch deep, made by boring with the knife point. But it is a great help to have a good one made of a piece of smooth, hard stone or marble, set in wood; the stone or marble having in it a smooth, round pit three-eighths inch wide and three-eighths inch deep. The one I use most was made by the Eskimo. A view of the under side is shown in cut 1 (fig. d).
The hole in the soapstone should be large enough and deep enough to hold the upper point of the drill solidly without slipping out. The socket itself should not be held in the fingers but in the palm of the hand. Never let a light muscle do what a heavy muscle can do. There is a very general tendency to let the wrist get away from the shin bone, which leaves the hand wobbling, unsupported in the air.
The Foot. The foot is placed close to the drill, with all the weight on the ball of the foot, the heel off the floor so that you can regulate the pressure by the raising and lowering of the heel.
Now we are ready to make the fire:
Under the notch in the fire-block set a thin chip.
Turn the leather thong of the bow once around the drill: the thong should now be quite tight. Put one point of the drill into the pit of the block, and on the upper end put the socket, which is held in the left hand, with the top of the drill in the hole of the stone (as in cut 2). Hold the left wrist against the left shin, and the left foot on the fire-block. Now, draw the right hand back and forth steadily on level and the full length of the bow. This causes the drill to twirl in the pit. Soon it bores in, grinding out powder, which presently begins to smoke. When there is a great volume of smoke from a growing pile of black powder, you know that you have the spark. Cautiously lift the block, leaving the smoking powder on the chip. Fan this with your hand till the live coal appears. Now, put a wad of the tinder gently on the spark; raise the chip to a convenient height, and blow till it bursts into flame.
N. B. The notch roust reach the middle of the fire-pit.

You must hold the drill steadily upright, and cannot do so without bracing the left wrist against the left shin, and having the block on a firm foundation.
You must begin lightly and slowly, pressing heavily and sawing fast after there is smoke.
The Spark. When you get your spark, hold your left hand on the board as you take your foot off, and tap with the right hand (to loosen any spark that might hang onto the notch) before lifting the board. When you put your tinder on the spark, hold it down in the back and on the sides so that you will not blow the spark away.
If the fire does not come, it is because you have not followed these instructions.

The Birch Bark Roll 

To be armed is to be free

I've done the "snack chip" as a test, it's OK.

I really like the Storm Proof matches.


Most firestarters I carry I also make (cottonballs in vasoline, paper/wood shavings/paper/dipped in wax ... )

I find the Sparkie by UST doesn't work that well, sure it has a lot of hot sparks but they seem to just blacken my fire starting tinder rather than catch a flame. You have to keep at it before you get a flame.
The Aurora firestarter on the other hand seems to catch great flames with any tinder I use, it takes one or two strikes and you have fire.
The best firestarter I have used so far, quick and easy.

This may have already been covered, but one of my "secret" fire starting weapons is liquid hand sanitizer. It takes a spark well and burns for a few minutes with a nice blue flame. You do want your stuff together since it will only last a few minutes.  Good luck and have fun.

Quote of the week: Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on long after others have let go the cause.

A nice list, but don't be so quick to discount the Doan magnesium bar. What I like about it is that it is a self-contained and nearly indestructible unit (the genuine Doan, not the Chinese knock-offs), that offers a ferro-rod and "tinder" all in one package. Yes, the "trick" to using it lies in learning how to efficiently shave off enough magnesium (with a sharp knife and good technique, this is not especially difficult), and placing these in a good tinder bundle (shredded juniper bark is dynamite!) prior to striking your sparks. Like with most things, practice helps. If the wind threatens your pile of shavings, anchor them with a bit of bug-dope, chapstick, vaseline, or even spit. The magnesium shavings will ignite even if damp. I have started many cookfires with this little tool.

The Doan bar is lightweight and only costs about 6 bucks. This makes it easy to stick one in your pocket and another in your pack to guarantee that you can always make fire when you need one. It is not perhaps the easiest tool to master, but it does work very well. Even the boobs on the TV show Survivor can start fire with one!

Ti lite


These are the bbq firestarter blocks i was talking about.


The stuff you're talking about isn't available over here, i think i'll import some of that from the US.

In Canada they go by the brand name ZIP fire starter. We use them for the BBQ or wood stove. They seem to be a light hexamine material soaked with kerosene. Just break off a large piece and light. They are stinky and I don't recommend them for hiking. I recently found some indiviually wrapped cubes that may work out better. Zip lights easily from a lighter or match, but I have not tried it with a fire steel.

Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die. And none are fit to die who have shrunk from the joy and duty of life. Both life and death are parts of the same great adventure."-Theodore Roosevelt.

'the strong do as they wish, and the weak suffer as they must'' the maxim of Thucydides

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Quote of the week: Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on long after others have let go the cause.

I make my own firestarters.

I take some of those rediculously sulfur and wax coated coghlans' matches, snip off the end right up to the very end and cut those into small bits.

I then entangle the huge match bodies in cotton, sprinkle on the wood clippings and wrap it into a square with a paper towel.

I then cover it with elmers glue and let it harden, and store them in zip lock bags until they are needed.

jsquared


I've done the "snack chip" as a test, it's OK.

I really like the Storm Proof matches.


Most firestarters I carry I also make (cottonballs in vasoline, paper/wood shavings/paper/dipped in wax ... )

I have to agree, the cottonballs and vaseline are very dependable especially when cold and wet, using some scraping made before you need them helps from a magnesium bar, I just take a drill and make my own ribbon and have two pill bottles and my SRK and I have yet to start a fire that can be seeen from outer space, or just enough to heat a impromptu shelter with a a hole and tunnel for air, they work and that's all you need,for it to work. Practice before you need helps too! But I don't need to tell anyone here that, just like being thorough. Oh and coffee creamer spinkled over small flame works wonders as well does orange peel. First post so maybe rambling will bow out now. Thanks for sharing all your awesome ideas Sarge

I live according to the following words written by Eleanor Roosevelt and tweaked by me; "I have gained strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which I have really stopped to look fear in the face. I have found that one, I myself, must do the thing which you think you cannot do.
Matthew H. Tartaglia

I already have a zip-loc bag filled with dryer lint. 
I'll have to add some Cheetos and the cottonball/vaseline combo as well.
With all of this info, none of us should ever be caught unprepared.

For those of you who can make a lot of spark with firesteel but can't light fire with it, you are probably doing it wrong. It took me a while to get the technique right, but your goal is not making spark, it's getting hot sparks onto fuel.