Comments

1. On January 28, 2021 at 8:56 am, Ned said:

   Great idea.

2. On January 28, 2021 at 8:58 am, June J said:

   You can buy the larger diameter plastic straws to have dual use item- second use for medications like Tylenol or Advil or any useful survival med.

3. On January 28, 2021 at 10:30 am, Paul B said:

   Good idea. Going to need to make some. Would have been handy when I was doing stuff with the Scouts

4. On January 28, 2021 at 10:46 am, John said:

   Always good to see good common sense applied to making needed things inexpensively.

5. On January 28, 2021 at 5:28 pm, Lee Fulton said:

   I made a bunch of these a few years ago and really like them. They work well and don’t need a container so you can keep 2 or 3 where every you think they might be handy. If you are going to keep some in a vehicle don’t pack the straw full. I left about 1/4 inch of room and haven’t had any problems.

6. On January 28, 2021 at 6:41 pm, Buck Turgidson said:

   Also: use dryer lint, rather than cotton balls.

7. On January 28, 2021 at 7:44 pm, MTHead said:

   Aesop heats his vaseline. It soaks into the cotton without working it. I like the straw casing casing a lot. Thanks!

8. On January 28, 2021 at 7:45 pm, Tony Manero said:

   Bore cleaning cloths (chopped up t-shirt) work well, you can soak them in something flammable if you wish.
   Bolt out pack contains striker matches in waterproof containers with striking pad included, those long fire place lighters NIB, packs of lighters without the child safety hindrance, candles, boxes of kitchen matches.
   Someway to keep the fire hidden at night would be handy, maybe use a Sterno set up?
   Repurposing is always a good idea and esteemed party member CPUSA comrade kommissar Barnie Sandlers approves, quit smoking back in the late 1990’s but will use cigarette pack cellophanes for magazine/muzzle dust covers with rubber bands.

9. On January 28, 2021 at 8:56 pm, Seamrog said:

   Dryer lint is a great idea. Would have never thought of that.

10. On January 28, 2021 at 10:04 pm, Ozark Redneck said:

    Excellent! Thanks for sharing. Like PaulB said, would have been a useful tip for the Scouts years ago.

11. On January 29, 2021 at 6:45 pm, Geoff said:

    As long as you have a lighter you can find something dry to start a fire. Small twigs from a dead tree or dead leaves on the ground. In a real pinch just use a piece of your clothing. Especially a cotton T-shirt. You can always replace it.
    Don’t over think it!
    And if you happen to be someone who smokes, you have cigarettes or a cigar to start a fire.

12. On January 30, 2021 at 7:15 am, Alfred said:

    Outfit in Texas – http://www.wowplastics.com – has ‘Colossal’ plastic straws, .425″ in diameter, multiple colors from black, white, red, green, etc. to neon pink and green, 8.5 inches long, $12.70/thousand. Also, 1K of 6 inch long in 4 neon colors, $9.90. UPS shipping on 1K is as much as the box of straws, but 25 people sharing the cost is 40 straws per person at $1. Now all I need is 24 more people……

13. On January 30, 2021 at 1:50 pm, Silence DoGood said:

    Paraffin burns longer than vaseline but is harder to light. You can get a pound of wax paraffin at WW for three or four bucks. Or most grocery stores (look in the canning supplies section).

    And dryer lint is a free alternative (and IMHO superior) to cotton balls.

    Roll the lint into “deadlocks” and submerge them in molten paraffin. Once they’re soaked, lift them out (with needlenose pliers or similar), let them drain a moment over the pot, then set aside to cool. Once they’re cool you can stuff them into the drinking straw and compact them a suits your bent. Experiment with the size of your “dreadlocks” until they’re suitable for stuffing into your particular straws.

    If you want to hybridize them, make a small bit of tinder using lint and vaseline, then put that bit at one end or the other of the tube and mark that end so you’ll know that’s the end for lighting. Or put a vaseline bit at both ends.

    A note of caution regarding paraffin. Take great care when melting paraffin because after it melts (~150°F) but long before it begins to boil (~700°F), it will begin emitting an invisible, odorless and highly flammable gas that is heavier than air. Which means that if you continue increasing the temperature once it has melted, there will be no visible sign — no warning whatsoever — that it has begun creating this dangerous gas. The pot you’re using probably will keep the gas contained for a while, but once the paraffin is hot enough it will produce more of this gas than it can hold. Then it will overflow the top of the pot and being heavier than air it will immediately roll down the sides and onto the burner, which will ignite it. And when it does, the flame will rush up the sides of the pot and down into the molten wax, setting the whole mess alight. Then you’ll have molten paraffin being spattered all over the room. I had this happen once trying to reconstitute some chunks of dried-out shoe polish (which is mostly paraffin) in a long-neglected tin.

    Using a double boiler removes all the risk because you’re using an outer pot filled with a medium (water) that can’t exceed 212°F, and there is no emission of flammable gas at that low of a temperature. Melt the paraffin in a smaller pot floating in the pot filled with water (simmering, not boiling) and it will only get to 180-190°F. And for making tinder you don’t have to get it any hotter than barely melted. I typically heat it to 180-190°F because I use paraffin for a mechanical lubricant, and the extra few degrees keeps it liquid until it has penetrated into the deeper recesses of the mechanism I’m lubing before it cools and solidifies.

    But if you choose not to use a double boiler, at least keep a large domed lid on stand-by to drop over the molten paraffin to contain the fire. And whatever you do, don’t try to put it out with water. The water will vaporize instantly and cause a steam-powered explosion of BURNING molten paraffin.

14. On January 31, 2021 at 5:25 pm, bobdog said:

    You can always use a piece of C-4 as tinder. Not recommended by the military, but it works.

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