I camp/hike with a portable woodstove and have discovered that alcohol-based hand sanitizer gels like Purel work great. You squirt it on the wood and then put in the stove and woomph. Off it goes.
It is not something you'd bring along just in case you need to light a fire, but it does have other uses. I personally think a hand sanitizer is more important for preventing giardia than using a water filter - but that's just me (1 in 8 people is carrying giardia).
And hand sanitizer really does a good job with getting the stove going - so why not carry it?
Patrick
