Cold Weather Metho Stove Fire Starters [split]

[Son of a Beach]

Much easier to carry some cotton balls impregnated with Vaseline (petroleum jelly) light one of those and drop it into the Trangia. That will do it...
(you only need about 1/3rd of a standard ball. Make sure that it is cotton not synthetics)
Franco

Great idea Franco. I wonder if Cheezles would work too? They're great fire starters (yes, I'm a pyromanic), but would probably leave more ash/soot than cotton, I suppose.

[Franco]

Cheezels ?
Apart from weight volume is important to me...
And no offence but I am not a fan of "food like" products...
(for a long time I had in mind of suing McDonalds if they ever mentioned "food" in their commercials, but they never do)
Franco
Some use paraffin or wax instead of Vaseline.
.

[Son of a Beach]

Hey, I never said anything about eating them. But they burn for ages. In fact, you could just about ditch the metho, and cook on a pile of cheezels, I reckon (if you didn't mind the soot).

[sthughes]

So why did we carry all those heavy heat beads into Scott Kilvert Hut if Cheezels would have done!

[Ent]

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Last edited by Ent on Tue 16 Nov, 2010 1:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Singe]

Cheezels ?
Apart from weight volume is important to me...
And no offence but I am not a fan of "food like" products...
(for a long time I had in mind of suing McDonalds if they ever mentioned "food" in their commercials, but they never do)
Franco
Some use paraffin or wax instead of Vaseline.
.

just like if you ask for an 'ice cream', when they repeat your order back it's changed to 'fifty cent cone'

Clothes dryer lint w/ some paraffin is apparently a common fire lighter overseas where wood fires are allowed - would basically be cotton wool I suppose but a nice way to use something that would generally go to landfill. Better to just use a hills to dry the clothes in the first place of course; and they probably only needed to be washed because of the campfire smoke smell

[Jellybean]

...
And no offence but I am not a fan of "food like" products...
(for a long time I had in mind of suing McDonalds if they ever mentioned "food" in their commercials, but they never do)
Franco

Me neither! There used to be a rumour that the reason Kentucky Fried Chicken now goes by the acronym KFC is because the product can only be very loosely described as chicken!!

[tasadam]

Great idea Franco. I wonder if Cheezles would work too? They're great fire starters (yes, I'm a pyromanic), but would probably leave more ash/soot than cotton, I suppose.

Here ya go Nik...

Fire risk!

cheezels-fire.jpg (82.23 KiB) Viewed 16736 times

A hole lot of fun indeed!

[Son of a Beach]

Yeah... now it just needs "Keep Out of Reach of Children".

[Nuts]

OK, this is getting off the topic, I'm off to complain to the site admin.... er...arr...

[tasadam]

OK, this is getting off the topic, I'm off to complain to the site admin.... er...arr...

Thanks for pointing that out.
Perhaps I can start a Cheezels topic. Hhmmm, where to put it?
Doesn't really fit in Controversy Corner. Um......
Can't really put it in as a Food topic when their discussion is flammability.
Hey, if you had enough Cheezels to make a campfire to cook on, you could start a topic "cooking food with food".
Then, that's making the assumption that you can call Cleezels "food".
OK, back in the corner for me....

[tasadam]

lol
This topic split off on me as I was in the middle of replying.

[Son of a Beach]

OK, this is getting off the topic, I'm off to complain to the site admin.... er...arr...

There's just no pleasing some people!

(Good point though... topic has now been split.)

lol
This topic split off on me as I was in the middle of replying.

The hand is quicker than the eye.

[Franco]

Final bit about fire starters ( I promise)
Clothes dryer lint works if it is from natural fibers, not that good from synthetic.
(hence the hint about using pure cotton ...)
And yes get a clothes line if you can.
Franco
In London we lived above a KFC. We were convinced that it was fried rat (plentiful in the Old Brompton RD basements)
BTW, the real "secret" ingredient in KFC is Accent (aka MSG...)

[tasadam]

Final bit about fire starters ( I promise)

Doesn't have to be now that there's a specific topic for it.

I found it was very cold in the Walls recently, water bottles froze in the tent again (don't like it when that happens).
I have a shellite stove - shellite is somewhat more volatile than metho.
It lights okay, temp doesn't make a lot of difference. But you need to get a flame to light it with.
My lighters I use in the bushwalk stove kit are Cricket brand ones, with the little button that you need to press in before pushing the electronic / piezo striker down to get it to light.
I use them so the button doesn't get pressed when it's stored in the kit with the stove, so it doesn't run out of gas.
It was so cold I could not get either of these lighters to ignite, and had to resort to using a match. I carry waterproof matches and a striker for them in a film cannister.
The lighters, in the pocket for a while, worked again.

Now I am thinking about one of these.

The flame is more like a blow-torch than the flame of a standard lighter.

[Franco]

A mate was using the MSR XKG at between -30- and -40 in Alaska and I am pretty sure it was with white gas (Shellite) but I cannot remember what he used to light it .
I used the cotton ball thingo to light the White Box stove below zero (not much below...) . It is a very tricky burner to light otherwise .
The stove supplied with the Caldera Cone has a priming dish built in and some put a bit of fuel there and light that however the other way is easier and faster particularly with cold fingers.
Franco

[corvus]

Now I am thinking about one of these.

The flame is more like a blow-torch than the flame of a standard lighter.

[/quote]
Adam,
We have found these to be excellent
http://www.tamarmarine.com.au/Site/TAMA ... %20170.pdf
Silva Helios Storm Proof Lighter
corvus

[Ent]

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[corvus]

HI Corvus

Brilliant and at Tamar Marine. Now to go shopping

Cheers Brett

I guess you bought a Helios Srormproof Lighter being that you were in Tamar Marine today.
Will you be game to try the bucket of water test
corvus

[Ent]

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Last edited by Ent on Tue 16 Nov, 2010 1:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[corvus]

Brett ,
Next time you are in Devonport for a weekend let me know , on my short walk the other day in the Don Reserve I encountered ten different birds and the Flora is getting to the nice to look at stage .
Best of all on this walk we get close to a really expert Coffee provider who may just invite us for a brew
corvus

[Ent]

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Last edited by Ent on Tue 16 Nov, 2010 1:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Franco]

Well I asked my mate about what he used in Alaska with the XKG. It was one of those Light My Fire Fire Steel.
That worked every time ( he was melting snow/ice, so several liters per day)
Franco