I've usually seen them put into a ziplock bag with the jelly and then sort of mashed around.


To me, pre-prepared stuff like the cotton balls are handy for hiking or camping or whatever, but not really a true practice of survival skills. Making fire with stuff you find in the woods is a lot more of a survival skill. I also suck at it. A lot.

Well, at the college I go to, their motto is "learn by doing." I did just that. I melted some petroleum jelly and saturated a cotton ball. I may have gotten some water mixed in with it, so I'll try again. So far though, it seems that saturating the cotton ball makes it so a ferro rod doesn't work too well.

I've usually seen them put into a ziplock bag with the jelly and then sort of mashed around.


To me, pre-prepared stuff like the cotton balls are handy for hiking or camping or whatever, but not really a true practice of survival skills. Making fire with stuff you find in the woods is a lot more of a survival skill. I also suck at it. A lot.

Don't saturate them buddy, you just want the outside well covered and then you can tear them open a little if need be to take a spark !

I find petroleum jelly soaked cotton balls all over the woods when I'm out there - you just have to know how to spot them in the wild. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Oh! Tell me more!

More seriously, though, I'd like to know where to look for fatwood! I have some that I found/bought at the grocery store, but I'd really like to know where to look for it in a tree.

Try some cotton balls soaked in paraffin oil, I keep them in an old pill bottle or similar !

Parrafin is the name for a large class of hydrocarbons, ranging everywhere from mineral oil to solid parrafin wax. Parrafin wax is used, amongst other things, in candles.

They worked quite well when I tried them last night. We left some of the cotton exposed without any wax on it so there is something to take the spark.

Just use an old pot or soup can or something to melt some old candles, and grab the cotton balls with tweezers or chopsticks, and dip them 3/4 of the way into the wax, then set them aside on some foil or something to harden. Much less messy than petroleum jelly and they burn for a long time.

i always bring pj cotton balls in the woods

I find petroleum jelly soaked cotton balls all over the woods when I'm out there - you just have to know how to spot them in the wild. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I've been using Burts Bees hand salve mashed into cotton balls. great for the skin, lips, face, and starting fire.

I also use it sometimes on knife edges to keep them from rusting.

Take the cotton balls and kind of work the jelly into them by tearing it apart a bit and working it in again. Now- palce them in a baggie or one of those orange match tubes that are waterproof. You can also make some nice firestarters by using old candle wax- wood shavings and some candle wicks. Simply melt the wax in an old pot on the stove and pour in a bit of the shavings- now take the wick from old candles and lay them in an empty egg caron- after the wax is melted- pour mixture carefuly into egg carton and let dry. After all is dry cut the 12 sections apart and you should end up with 12 dandy fire starters with a small wick sticking out of each one. This will stay lit for about 10 minutes allowing you to get a good flame going under any conditions. I just tell all the gals in the family to save old parts of candles for me and I make them for everybody <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />. Hope this helps- Thanks

I like burts bees products but won't buy them. They are very anti-ATV, 4x4 and a few other things that annoy me. Too bad their bug bite salve is great.