CHAR CLOTH
I haven't seen anyone even mention it - it's what the old timers ( trappers with sparkers) used to start fires.
You can make it by taking a tee shirt cutting it into 2" by 2" pieces (or whatever fits into your container well), putting a huge bunch of it into a small air tight paint container, poking a single hole in the top with a nail, and then putting it on a camp stove on high and watch smoke roll out the hole, when it slows down stop and let it cool. What you get is cloth that looks like charcoal but feels like material of a propane lantern - and it catches sparks and glows as the embers start to catch.
Go to this site and you can see somebody is making some
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Char-Cloth/Heck of a fun thing to play with, and who doesn't have old Tee shirts .
