Hey, all!

Thoughts of bushcraft/firesteels/etc. lead me to some simple experimentation this afternoon.

Please note all tinders were timed three (3) times each to get a overall average "burn time."

No fuel was used and the tinders were ignited in a small, oval concrete flower drainer (the size of a dinner plate). All tinder was purchased within the last 2-3 months.

Weather: overcast, 77 degrees, 4-6 MPH wind.
Tools used: "Light My Fire" brand (Scout model) firesteel.

Tinder #1 lightly Vaseline-saturated cotton balls (inside fibers were dry to the touch) with an average burn time of 3 minutes, 5 seconds. Produced second largest flame. Average scrapes from firesteel was just 2.

Tinder #2 Coghlan's "Emergency Tinder" with an average burn time of 3 min 55 seconds. This produced the third largest flame. Average scrapes from firesteel was 2-3.

Tinder #3 "Tinder Quik" brand fire tabs with an average burn time of 1 min 10 seconds. this prodcued the smallest flame of all tested and took 6-8 scraps from the firesteel to ignite.

Tinder #4 Coghlan's brand "Fire Sticks" (brown in color, looks like impreganted sawdust, found at just about every Wally World), cut into one-inch lengths and then separated 6 times. This tinder would NOT take a firesteel spark no matter how small I cut the pieces so a strike-anywhere match was the only way I could ignite it (firesteel was used with ALL other tinders tested).
Average burn time of 4 min 25 seconds and produced the largest flame of all.

Far from scientific but wanted to share my results.

Cool stuff! thanks for testing these. I'm a cotton ball person myself, but thats some great info

I usually use cotton balls and fatwood.

Thank you.

I've done a great deal of tinder testing and reviewing, too. A big overview of my results can be viewed here:

http://www.mikespinak.com/articles/Essays/e996thepsk.html#firststagetinders

I don't want to sound too critical, but you are testing pieces of tinder of dissimilar size and weight to achieve your results. For me, at least, it is more interesting to equalize by volume or by weight, and test burn times and flame output per the same quantity of each. When I need to start a fire, I use the amount necessary, regardless whether it is less or more than a single officially sized piece.

Also, keep in mind that there's a variety of other parameters to assess as significant for tinders, such as waterproofness, windproofness, durability, packability, ease of preparation, etc.

Additionally, not to sound rude, but: If it's taking you an average of two strikes to ignite a vaseline soaked cotton ball and 6-8 strikes to light Tinder-Quik, then there's either something suboptimal with your tinder prep, or with your firesteel technique, or both.

Personally, my choices for best tinder, all factors considered, are:

1) Fatwood
2) Tinder Quik
3) at this point, there are many I view as about equal, overall: vaseline soaked cotton balls, trioxane, methanol, etc.

Hmm thanks for that link Evolute..

anyone know if ponderosa pine works for collecting fatwood?

No offense taken. I used (size-wise) what I considered to be the minimum amount of each and probably should have eliminated the Coghlan's Tinder Sticks as lighting them with a steel was impossible.

While I am redundant with my PSK firemaking tools (lighters/matches/magnesium/etc), I think it's good to be able to make as little go as far as possible (i.e. the Tinder Quick/Emergency tinder could easily by halved maybe quartered, "just in case").

As for weatherproof, mine is kept in sealed plastic containers so I have no idea why the Tinder Tabs were such a bear to light in comparison to the
others.

All in all, I feel the Coghlan's "Emergency Tinder" to be the best (commercial tinder) in terms of being weatherproof, duration of flame (just using one piece), and portability.

Thanks for you honest critique, Evolute.

Just did some testing today of cotton balls rubbed in petrol jelly. I must say, the prep work was one of the grossest things I've done in a while, but the results were excellent. I would safely say that adding the jelly increased the cotton ball's burn time threefold. Def. plan on adding jelly to the cotton balls in my PSK

the only "down side" I've experienced with vaseline/cotton balls is having them "leak" in extremely hot weather. Those plastic 35mm film canisters are OK BUT a truly air/watertight container (i.e plastic match safe with rubber seal) works better and lessens the chance of getting vaseline on your other PSK gear (not that it would damage much).

That’s one thing I dislike about the PJ and cotton balls. While it works well, it’s very messy. For general fire starting, I usually just use cotton balls and fatwood. I always use a firesteel to start my fires, and I never have problems using cotton and fatwood. Usually a finger size piece is all that’s needed.

If wild pines don’t grow in your area, you can buy fatwood at Walmart like I do. I also carry Burt’s Beeswax daily, and I could always add that to the cotton if I needed to as a fire starting aid. A good tip I heard from Mike (thatmguy) is to use those little packets of Neosporin crème. It contains PJ, and it makes it a duel use item, for 1st aid or fire starting.

fatwood at wallmart <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> what is the name it is listed under?

This 'un:

in the firplace bits section right?