I was just reading a local paper where an eagle scout was stranded for 2 nights on a mountain. He used Hand Sanatizer Gel to start a fire! Anyone else tried this, or liquid nail or anything else that is NOT conventional?

I use Vaseline rubbed on cotton wool sometimes if there is a wind blowing as this helps the sparks to catch from a ferro rod...if it is raining badly I use rubber strips cut from old bicycle inner tubes and light them...they are better than waterproof and windproof matches...although lighting them with a cigatette lighter is best in the rain...but they easily burn and never go out. Good for a survival tin as the right size of inner tube can hold the lid in place if stretched over it.

However any oil based product will burn well...as will anything alcohol based if high enough in content...the soap gel is a good example and worth remembering that Napalm is a simple mix of pertrol and soap...

Also worth remembering that in Artic conditions most vehicles run on pure anti freeze...breakdown and get stranded...you can use this to burn the spare tire....great plooms of black smoke and works better than a flare for signalling any search party. Obviously the petrol or diesel could work just as well. The tire trick works well in the desert also...had a friend use this in Africa...the tires burn a long time and keep any preditors at bay...

good idea about the inner tubes. will have to try that one.

When I was in Boy Scouts we used to do fire building demos at the local nature camp. I would show them how to light a fire with steel wool and an old metal flashlight. Was always a crowd pleaser. (the crowd was 5th graders though...)

Hand Sanitizer does work personally you just need some wood and a match and a little patience to make a roaring fire but some people I do know use Hand Sanitizer. Hand Sanitizer gives off a little blue flame thats almost invisible in the day.

great thread gentlemen

I use dryer lint quite a bit for tinder. I keep a camerma film container stuffed with it in my various packs. I have used WetFire which is a chalky substance that comes in little cubes that you cut pieces off of to ignite. It's ok I guess, but I prefer dryer lint or vasaline soaked cotton.

I use dryer lint as well - if it's particularly wet or windy, I will add a squirt of denatured alcohol, which I always have handy when I'm hiking, as it's my stove fuel.

I like the lint suggestion....making good use of potential rubbish...

I believe I was told that the smoke from dryer lint can be somewhat toxic (if you have a lot of cotton clothes) by Andy Wayne... possibly.
I think it was on this forum.
I just use cotton balls now.

especially if i would be in a situation where I may only have a spark that I need to nurture into a flame, as I always end up breathing in some smoke and getting in my face.

I'm sure it's not that strong, but still somewhat toxic IIRC.

yea ive tried it only once just to see if it works and it dose

My 4-year old son asked me "What can start a fire?" exactly like that the other day...

I told him, "Heat, fuel and oxygen."

...

We didn't go into chemicals. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I have the same set-up, MM. Lint with ferro, and an alcohol stove just in case.