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I am looking for feedback on the 2 options of fire starters from Ultimate Survival. I will be lighting cotton balls soaked in Vaseline or esbit cubes.

BlastMatch
Sparkie

I would like some info good and bad from actual users or some other single handed fire starters, that you have had good success with.

http://www.equipped.org/firestrt.htm

I have used the Spark-Lite and those work ok. I don't think you are going to be lighting Esbit tabs with any sparker type fire starters I have been around unless you are shaving them down in to dust which kind of negates the one hand deal.

My only experience with one-handed fire starters is with BlastMatch/ WetFire Tinder. That combo does indeed work one-handed, every time I've tried it. The plastic case that guides the rod on the BlastMatch can fail if you push the striker down the rod with too much force perpendicular to the rod, as proven by a bunch of eager scouts on their wilderness survival trip. I don't think an adult would break it in that manner though. When that happens, it is no longer a one-handed device but still works with a knife as the striker.

take the little chrome shield off an empty BIC and it will make enough sparks one handed to light the VSCB's.

Works even better if it is not out of fuel.

There is a survival kit rigged in to a little package that is worn around the neck (seems like the "chain" is a wire saw) that uses a sparker off a cigarette lighter. Seems like it is connected to the Ranger Rick guy somehow.

1+ vas. cotton balls.

Good one!

Little four-ought steel wool under the cotton ball and touch with 9 volt battery.

Or make a home made match filling a large plastic straw cut to about 4", fill with cotton/Vaseline and while holding each end with long nose pliers melt each end sealing it.

In the field cut off the end pull out and fluff it and use the steel wool and battery.


Phil

Hand sanitizer.

Yes, using a magnesium bar/striker, I always had trouble getting vaseline-soaked cotton balls to light. Put some hand sanitizer on the cotton ball and it lights quickly.

I have a couple of "Light My Fire" flints. They work very well, and seem to spark better and hotter than my magnesium sticks.

I carry the vasaline cotton balls and the strikers light it fine. You just have to pull out a little tuft of the cotton to catch the spark and act like a wick. I fluff the "wick" a little to further help catch the spark.

Steel wool is great, but burns (actually oxidizes) fast. I use it to light another source before it burns out. It can be lit by the sparking tool, lighter or batteries.

I have a few of the little fire sticks from walmart. Just cardboard soaked in parafin, esbit tabs and a candle stub. I keep it all in a little ziplock snack bags in each of my packs.

While you in the woods wath out for the dry pitch hanging off pine trees. They really burn great!

Maybe its not within the realm of this conversation but a 15 minute road flare will get the job done in short order with about any wood you can scrape up. Thats my emergency, I broke my leg and cant collect the best of wood, or I just crawled out of a frozen stream and I'm loosing dexterity quick, fire starter.

I also carry magnesium, flint, vasaline cotton balls, 2 or 3 Bic lighters, ect.... for starting camp fires. Dang hard to beat a few Bic lighters for starting fires.

go to a plumbing supply house and get some Oakum,it's rope treated with some flammable substance,fires right up with a sparker or a bow drill,and then you also have a piece of rope handy too.

The cotton and vasoline works as does steel wool and a 9v battery. I was waxing my traps and took strips of cardboard and soaked them in the wax, they light quickly. I store them in a ziplock bag inside a tupperware contanier.

Grab the cotton ball between thumb and forefinger with both hands, one on each side. Pull it apart, and as it separates you'll have one half in each hand with thin little wisps of cotton extending toward the middle. Stick the two halves right next to each other on something solid with the wisps pointing up, and drop your spark in there. Works every time, as long as the cotton ball is fully saturated with vaseline, it takes a gob the size of a grape for each one.

I have seen some post issues with Magnesium, but what about fire steel? I made a typo, I meant Wetfire/Weber cubes. I have tested both cubes and cotton/vas in controlled environments.

But, that doesn't do me much good in the real world!

Thanks for the information!

Tep.
*Fluff* the VCBs, scrape some Mg onto it and then spark it. As guaranteed as it can get.

Also practice at home.

I carry two disposable lighters and they have never failed to allow me to build a fire. That includes hunts in deep snow and heavy rain. Pine needles, pitch, and/or lunch trash has always met my needs.

I carry two lighters because I have had lighter fail in the past. Base camp always has several more lighters plus stove fuel.

I have a Blast match and it works with one hand. As for tinder, Vaseline + cottonball combo is a win. Just pull them apart first. One a side note these work good for chapped lips too.