blastmatch - only use this if your tinder is dry...

[mfitzy111]

so a few years ago I picked up a blastmatch after hearing how good these worked...after two solid weeks of rain a buddy challenged me to go with him hiking and build a fire using no matches...he put up a rain fly rig using a tarp and setup with his harbor freight flint and knife - I picked up a few piles of wet leaves, and nothing anywhere out there was really dry. I tired for about 30 mins using a blastmatch and if you look at the picture the bottom under the rod has a steel insert. well that insert got super hot from sparking...instead of making a fire it melted out. I really am thinking it's my fault, but I can still use it with a knife to make sparks for a fire. it just failed as it fell apart. anyhow not sure how many people on these forums have this, or if it wasn't ever real popular so maybe no one noticed..but I thought it was a good $25 product that was solid- until it broke. bad deal. 

EDIT - forgot the link so you can see what it is...
https://gear.com/products/ust-blastmatch-fire-starter?currency=USD&variant=41839177400493&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google+Shopping&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=17230785334&utm_content=142332437651&utm_term=&gclid=Cj0KCQiA6LyfBhC3ARIsAG4gkF-E2KCQnU6IbiZLQ3uP3YfH20YsFUUm-SyF8JIBuiS1FCyMUi5TwEQaApEsEALw_wcB

[FeedingFreedom]

Should always carry some dry tinder as part of your fire kit. I keep some stashed away in most of my pouches and packs, and even on the corkscrew of my Swiss Army knives. Just a plain ferro rod is good enough, the blastmatch seems overly complicated. We were hiking in the Catskills during the rain that caused the 2006 floods, we made the last stream crossing just in time, set up our group tarp, and proceeded to light a fire in one try after the area had received 6"-9" of rain in 24 hours. No matter how wet it seems, there's always enough dry (enough) stuff to get a fire going to the point where it will either burn the damp stuff, or dry it out before burning. At least you made the discovery in fairly safe conditions, lesson learned.

[JohnyMac]

My favorite fire starter is just plain cotton balls in a old medicine bottle laced with petroleum jelly. Everybody knows this trick so I will not go into details. Like FF though, I have these plastic bottles liberally placed amongst all of my kits.   

[mfitzy111]

Good call. I've since gone in to saving dryer lint - add some of that vaseline and it's pretty good starter, another option is that lip balm mixed with dryer lint..the basic idea was to not carry anything and start it with little or no matches- my buddy used to always do the 1 match fire thing. @feedingfreedom yep - 100% agree on carrying something after that experience...


~ Mfitzy111

[FeedingFreedom]

Bag of 100 cotton balls is 96 cents at Walmart. Dryer lint is kinda nasty if you consider  what's really in it. Do you really want to be breathing that smoke?

We grab some of those big bubble tea straws whenever we come across them. Stuff a petroleum jelly-soaked cotton ball in a length, then heat crimp the ends shut. You'd be amazed at how many you can carry, just stuck in little nooks and crannies in your gear. When you need them, you'll remember where they are.

[Nemo]

Forget the dryer lint.  Cotton balls and Vaseline.  Smear up a fair bit on the cotton and work it around.  Get some straws, regular or fat straws (1/2 inch dia.) as you desire and cut pieces about 2 inches long.  Squeeze an end with needle nose pliers leaving an 1/8 out of the pliers.  Melt that closed with a lighter, pack it full of the greasy cotton then do the other end.

When needed split open the straw, stretch out the cotton into fairly thin wad and strike some sparks.  Thinner is better generally.  With that cotton and a spark stick and you near have an underwater fire going.

Same as FF above just a hair more detail.  But the underwater part is all my claims.

Nemo