Here is a fire kit that I put together. It is pretty complete with several different ways. In the first picture the deck of cards is there for size reference. There is redundancy in there. Mostly there are two different ways to start a fire using the various methods. Quick list of the contents: - ESEE Fire Steel and a steel striker along with a supply of char (braided cotton rope) along with a piece of flint - BIC lighters - Birch bark - ESEE Fire Kit - my version of the petroleum jelly cotton ball in the form of balls and discs (uses not just PJ but also wax/paraffin melted together) - extra ferro rod - Candiru and Opinel knives - pair of tins for making more char - Fresnel lens for solar fire starting (use the char, it works so easy) - 190 foot roll of waxed jute twine plus some unwaxed jute twine - Fatwood - Uberfire - Lifeboat matches - length of paracord for making bow drill or pump drill
As a youngster my goal was to make one match fires. Based on a match lasting roughly 15-30 seconds, I calculate that this kit could be used to start over a couple thousand fires. A two inch piece of the waxed jute would burn at least as long as a match. At 190 feet and 6 fires per foot, that is over 1000 fires just for that alone. Also having the ability to make more char with the tins and using the BIC lighters until they run out of gas and then using them just as a sparker for the char and PJCB stuff, maybe several thousand fires is possible as long as you prepare your tinder properly. Using the char and the ability to make more, the Fire Steel and C-striker with the ferro rods and BIC flint, probably means that I might not ever need anything other than this kit for the rest of my life. Like that will keep me from making more of these things. lol
ATS's homemade tinders are no joke. He's sent me several of them to try out and I've started some fires in very wet conditions. The most recent ones were cotton disks that had been soaked in a dark red wax...i was in The backyard starting a fire with one when My son came up and asked why I waa trying to light a piece of pepperoni on fire....so now at my house thsts what they are called.....the pepperoni firestarter lol