Water Proof Firestarting Kit
Build your own Fire Starting Kit!
© Dollar Photo Club
Starting a fire when its wet and cold can be a challenge having a small box
of tinder to start a fire can be a life saver. There are all sorts of options to buy tinder but it can also be handy to know what you need to build a kit just in case you don’t have the chance to go buy one.
Just 3 steps to making fire starting kit
STEP 1 GET TINDER
Tinder you might find at Home:
- Dryer lint
- Toilet Paper
- news paper
- Cotton in the form of balls, Gauze or Tampons
- Wood shavings (pet bedding, from fire wood cutting, or pencil shavings )
Tinder you might find in nature:
- Cedar bark
- Cottonwood or Birch bark
- Cattails
- Grass
- Pine needles
Since we are building a kit to take with us since we don’t know what might be in nature at the time of need pick something that burns well that you have at home. See if you can make it more flameble by adding wax, alcohol or vaseline to it. This will improve the burn but also make it more waterproof.
- Dryer lint & cotton balls burn well, but alcohol or vaseline coated cotton works even better.
- Wax coated tampons without the applicator work great and even have a wick
- Wood shaving also work well when pitch vaseline or wax is added
STEP 2 WATERPROOF YOU TINDER
- Travelsize water tight shampoo bottle (dry and clean, stuff supplies inside, you will need to cut it in half to use the tinder unless the top is big enough to get the tinder out.
- sturdy zip lock, Alosak you may want to double bag
- old film canister
- Empty Hand salve or Lip balm tin that you seal shut with wax.
Now that you have your Tinder Kit, you will want to make sure you have some way to start the fire and add that to your kit.
STEP 3 Add a source for Fire
- Steel & Flint or some sort of striker
- Lighter
- Water Proof Matches
I prefer the striker option because it doesn’t need to stay waterproof so it can reside in my pfd, here are some options that I have found that are fairly light weight and do the job. I particularly like the mag bar because itcarries its own source of tinder: Magnesium, which you scrape off the bar.
