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On the subject of backpacking...
I found a very light weight survival type gear...PING-PONG BALLS!
If you need to make a fire quickly, in wet conditions, ignite a ping-pong ball under some kindling. If ya have any cracked or spare ping-pong balls handy just take a cigarette lighter to it and be prepared to drop it quickly! Don't do this in the house over the livingroom sofa. Op |
On the subject of backpacking...
Mr. Opus McDopus wrote:
I found a very light weight survival type gear...PING-PONG BALLS! Don't do this in the house over the livingroom sofa. I take it this is from experience! Willi |
On the subject of backpacking...
Willi wrote:
Mr. Opus McDopus wrote: I found a very light weight survival type gear...PING-PONG BALLS! Don't do this in the house over the livingroom sofa. I take it this is from experience! You can make lightweight, cheap emergency fire starters from dryer lint and candle wax. -- Ken Fortenberry |
On the subject of backpacking...
Ken Fortenberry wrote in news:lHSFf.42178
: You can make lightweight, cheap emergency fire starters from dryer lint and candle wax. -- Ken Fortenberry Fine steel wool also-- no prep at all. -- Scott Reverse name to reply |
On the subject of backpacking...
"Scott Seidman" wrote in message . 1.4... Ken Fortenberry wrote in news:lHSFf.42178 : You can make lightweight, cheap emergency fire starters from dryer lint and candle wax. -- Ken Fortenberry Fine steel wool also-- no prep at all. Birch bark. No prep, no carry. Various pine barks, cones and needles are also very good. Wolfgang who hears that mice will also do in a pinch. :) |
On the subject of backpacking...
Ken Fortenberry wrote:
Willi wrote: Mr. Opus McDopus wrote: I found a very light weight survival type gear...PING-PONG BALLS! Don't do this in the house over the livingroom sofa. I take it this is from experience! You can make lightweight, cheap emergency fire starters from dryer lint and candle wax. I meant the part about the livingroom couch. Willi |
On the subject of backpacking...
Willi wrote:
Ken Fortenberry wrote: You can make lightweight, cheap emergency fire starters from dryer lint and candle wax. I meant the part about the livingroom couch. Willi The livingroom couch would be a combination of dog hair and spilled slurpies. -- Cut "to the chase" for my email address. |
On the subject of backpacking...
On Tue, 07 Feb 2006 01:49:32 GMT, rw
wrote: Willi wrote: Ken Fortenberry wrote: You can make lightweight, cheap emergency fire starters from dryer lint and candle wax. I meant the part about the livingroom couch. Willi The livingroom couch would be a combination of dog hair and spilled slurpies. Geez, Stevie, maybe it's time you called Steamatic or something...and lemmee guess - your bed is a combination of Lubriderm, tiny little cum stains, and lonely teardrops... |
On the subject of backpacking...
On Tue, 07 Feb 2006 01:26:41 GMT, Ken Fortenberry
wrote: You can make lightweight, cheap emergency fire starters from dryer lint and candle wax. I understand it's best if you use as much cotton lint as possible, if not all cotton lint. I haven't tried it, but on rec.backcountry they used to advise that. So clean your lint trap and run your cotton towels and tee-shirts through and use that lint. Otherwise, with a mixed load, you might be smelling the burning polyester in the fire. -- r.bc vixen. Minnow Goddess. Willow watcher. Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless. |
On the subject of backpacking...
On Mon, 6 Feb 2006 19:29:06 -0500, "Mr. Opus McDopus"
wrote: I found a very light weight survival type gear...PING-PONG BALLS! If you need to make a fire quickly, in wet conditions, ignite a ping-pong ball under some kindling. Coleman fuel in a squirt bottle... OR a highway flare. ; ) S.T.W. |
On the subject of backpacking...
"Mr. Opus McDopus" wrote in message .. . I found a very light weight survival type gear...PING-PONG BALLS! If you need to make a fire quickly, in wet conditions, ignite a ping-pong ball under some kindling. If ya have any cracked or spare ping-pong balls handy just take a cigarette lighter to it and be prepared to drop it quickly! Don't do this in the house over the livingroom sofa. Op What's so hard about starting a fire if you have a book of matches or lighter? Ping-Pong balls = less room in your pack. For our survival test, we were out in the wilderness for 7 days with just a small plastic magnify-glass. -tom |
On the subject of backpacking...
"Ken Fortenberry" wrote ... You can make lightweight, cheap emergency fire starters from dryer lint and candle wax. -- Ken Fortenberry My 'oh-****-kit' contains a half dozen cotton balls coated pretty well with vaseline. Works well. If you don't mind a few extra grams, Esbit tablets are pretty hard to beat as a fire-starter. Dan ...hope the peeper's healing well. |
On the subject of backpacking...
"Daniel-San" wrote in message et... "Ken Fortenberry" wrote ... You can make lightweight, cheap emergency fire starters from dryer lint and candle wax. -- Ken Fortenberry My 'oh-****-kit' contains a half dozen cotton balls coated pretty well with vaseline. Works well. If you don't mind a few extra grams, Esbit tablets are pretty hard to beat as a fire-starter. I'm into multipurpose. Ben's 100 Bug dope works wonders, as does a squirt of cooking oil. --riverman |
On the subject of backpacking...
"riverman" wrote ... "Daniel-San" wrote ... "Ken Fortenberry" wrote ... You can make lightweight, cheap emergency fire starters from dryer lint and candle wax. -- Ken Fortenberry My 'oh-****-kit' contains a half dozen cotton balls coated pretty well with vaseline. Works well. If you don't mind a few extra grams, Esbit tablets are pretty hard to beat as a fire-starter. I'm into multipurpose. Ben's 100 Bug dope works wonders, as does a squirt of cooking oil. --riverman Multi-purpose is great -- keeps the weight down and helps save pack space. My problem with it revolves around my extreme laziness. Not that I can't sit down and figure out what works as what, and what secondary functions item 'a' may have have, but it's the pure simple easiness of having a small sil-nylon sack with my emergency stuff contained. Example: Fall trip, I might not carry bug dope. I still have the same emergency firestarters. No worry about that. I rarely (if ever) carry cooking oil, so if I did once, and planned on that as a fire starter, I'd either be carrying two firestarters - or - next trip, I might not have one at all. Don't know if that makes a hill-of-beans worth of sense, but my emergency kit is pretty well thought out (trial and error -- mostly error) tampering with it could be bad -- for me. Dan |
On the subject of backpacking...
Mr. Opus McDopus wrote: I found a very light weight survival type gear...PING-PONG BALLS! If you need to make a fire quickly, in wet conditions, ignite a ping-pong ball under some kindling. If ya have any cracked or spare ping-pong balls handy just take a cigarette lighter to it and be prepared to drop it quickly! Don't do this in the house over the livingroom sofa. Op I read Frank Zappa's autobiography in high school, just because he sounded like a fun guy. It was a good read, and though I'm not a fan of his music, I am a fan of his writing. I think it was _The Real Frank Zappa Book_. He has a chapter where, as a kid, he tried to make a ping-pong ball bomb. I forget how he found out, but he was using a rat-tail file to grind ping-pong balls to dust and making that a prime ingredient in his experiment in juvenile pyromania. He was packing it into a can or something, sitting on the garage floor, and it went off. He says it picked him up off the floor and threw him across the room by his balls. He was surprised later in life to learn he could still father children. Steve |
On the subject of backpacking...
Good ideal , carry about 6 dozen in your vest and you won't need a life
preserver. |
On the subject of backpacking...
Sum Ting Wong wrote:
On Mon, 6 Feb 2006 19:29:06 -0500, "Mr. Opus McDopus" wrote: I found a very light weight survival type gear...PING-PONG BALLS! If you need to make a fire quickly, in wet conditions, ignite a ping-pong ball under some kindling. Coleman fuel in a squirt bottle... Joe's an expert with that Coleman Fuel..... And Asadi's got a "cute" trick...... Willi |
On the subject of backpacking...
Willi wrote:
Sum Ting Wong wrote: On Mon, 6 Feb 2006 19:29:06 -0500, "Mr. Opus McDopus" wrote: I found a very light weight survival type gear...PING-PONG BALLS! If you need to make a fire quickly, in wet conditions, ignite a ping-pong ball under some kindling. Coleman fuel in a squirt bottle... Joe's an expert with that Coleman Fuel..... And Asadi's got a "cute" trick...... The funny thing about that immense conflagration is that after it died down the campfire still wasn't going. The best firestarter I've used is fire "ribbon", which is basically napalm in a tube. It may not be the best thing for backpacking, though. And you can't carry it on a airplane, even in your checked luggage. -- Cut "to the chase" for my email address. |
On the subject of backpacking...
"Willi" wrote in message ... Mr. Opus McDopus wrote: I found a very light weight survival type gear...PING-PONG BALLS! Don't do this in the house over the livingroom sofa. I take it this is from experience! Willi No, not perzactly. The guyz at work like to get up a rousing game of PONG during lunch, and having participated on a couple of occasions, I witnessed one of the fellas ignite a cracked ball. The damn thing went up like it was filled with gasoline! It just hit me then that it would be good for backwoods survival, as I suspect a few balls would ignite wet kindling in no time. I haven't tried this yet, but plan to in the near future. Op |
On the subject of backpacking...
"Wolfgang" wrote in message ... "Scott Seidman" wrote in message . 1.4... Ken Fortenberry wrote in news:lHSFf.42178 : You can make lightweight, cheap emergency fire starters from dryer lint and candle wax. -- Ken Fortenberry Fine steel wool also-- no prep at all. Birch bark. No prep, no carry. Various pine barks, cones and needles are also very good. Even when saturated by rain? Wolfgang who hears that mice will also do in a pinch. :) You ignite mice by pinchin' them? Op |
On the subject of backpacking...
"Sum Ting Wong" wrote in message ... On Mon, 6 Feb 2006 19:29:06 -0500, "Mr. Opus McDopus" wrote: I found a very light weight survival type gear...PING-PONG BALLS! If you need to make a fire quickly, in wet conditions, ignite a ping-pong ball under some kindling. Coleman fuel in a squirt bottle... OR a highway flare. ; ) S.T.W. I think the emphasis was on "light-weight." If I carry fuel, I'll need it for cooking. If I carry a "highway flare," I ain't campin', I drivin'. Op |
On the subject of backpacking...
"Mr. Opus McDopus" wrote in news:S_8Gf.879$bW6.381
@bignews7.bellsouth.net: Various pine barks, cones and needles are also very good. Even when saturated by rain? I agree with your point. You don't carry a firestarter because you can't use natural materials-- you carry them because it sometimes seems like when you need natural tinder the most, natural forces collude against you. -- Scott Reverse name to reply |
On the subject of backpacking...
"Wolfgang" wrote in news:44qc5vF3g7gjU1
@individual.net: "Scott Seidman" wrote in message . 1.4... Ken Fortenberry wrote in news:lHSFf.42178 : You can make lightweight, cheap emergency fire starters from dryer lint and candle wax. -- Ken Fortenberry Fine steel wool also-- no prep at all. Birch bark. No prep, no carry. Various pine barks, cones and needles are also very good. Wolfgang who hears that mice will also do in a pinch. :) Believe it or not, Fritos make a fantastic firestarter. However, one good case of the munchies and you're up ****s creek. -- Scott Reverse name to reply |
On the subject of backpacking...
"Tom Nakashima" wrote in message ... What's so hard about starting a fire if you have a book of matches or lighter? If it has been raining for two days and there's not a dry twig to be found? And I did say ignite with a lighter? Ping-Pong balls = less room in your pack. Can you honestly say that 2 to 4 ping-pong balls would take up room in your pack that otherwise would have been used? Or are going to tell me that you wouldn't want to be weighed down by them? For our survival test, we were out in the wilderness for 7 days with just a small plastic magnify-glass. It's raining, you are huddled over a very small pile of twigs, you pull out your trusty plastic magnifying glass, and realize that you will first have to either part the rain clouds or levitate above the clouds to utilize your magic tool. I have no doubt that Navy Seals are prepared for anything that might come their way. However, I challenge any Navy Seal to light a fire with a plastic magnifying glass when there is no sunshine, unless he takes out his survival lighter and ignites the trusty plastic magnifying glass to start his fire. Op --maybe ping-pong ball shouldn't be sold over the counter?-- -tom |
On the subject of backpacking...
"BJ Conner" wrote in message oups.com... Good ideal , carry about 6 dozen in your vest and you won't need a life preserver. See this is what we need around he Intelligent thinkers! Thanks BJ, Op |
On the subject of backpacking...
"Mr. Opus McDopus" wrote in message ... "Wolfgang" wrote in message ... "Scott Seidman" wrote in message . 1.4... Ken Fortenberry wrote in news:lHSFf.42178 : You can make lightweight, cheap emergency fire starters from dryer lint and candle wax. -- Ken Fortenberry Fine steel wool also-- no prep at all. Birch bark. No prep, no carry. Various pine barks, cones and needles are also very good. Even when saturated by rain? Pine needles.....not very.....unless there's a nice blob of sap at the end. The rest? Yep. Wolfgang who hears that mice will also do in a pinch. :) You ignite mice by pinchin' them? Well, a pile of burning leaves will also do......in a pinch......but then you wouldn't need the mouse.....ainna? :) Wolfgang |
On the subject of backpacking...
"Scott Seidman" wrote in message . 1.4... "Wolfgang" wrote in news:44qc5vF3g7gjU1 @individual.net: "Scott Seidman" wrote in message . 1.4... Ken Fortenberry wrote in news:lHSFf.42178 : You can make lightweight, cheap emergency fire starters from dryer lint and candle wax. -- Ken Fortenberry Fine steel wool also-- no prep at all. Birch bark. No prep, no carry. Various pine barks, cones and needles are also very good. Wolfgang who hears that mice will also do in a pinch. :) Believe it or not, Fritos make a fantastic firestarter. However, one good case of the munchies and you're up ****s creek. The beauty of birch bark and pine cones......you ever eat that ****? :( Wolfgang who knows there ain't no dope that good anywhere on THIS planet! |
On the subject of backpacking...
"Mr. Opus McDopus" wrote in message ... "Willi" wrote in message ... Mr. Opus McDopus wrote: I found a very light weight survival type gear...PING-PONG BALLS! Don't do this in the house over the livingroom sofa. I take it this is from experience! Willi No, not perzactly. The guyz at work like to get up a rousing game of PONG during lunch, and having participated on a couple of occasions, I witnessed one of the fellas ignite a cracked ball. The damn thing went up like it was filled with gasoline! It just hit me then that it would be good for backwoods survival, as I suspect a few balls would ignite wet kindling in no time. I haven't tried this yet, but plan to in the near future. Ping-pong balls.......I've seen 'em burn.......nitrocellulose (or a close cousin) would be my guess. Start small. :) Unfortunately, they'd probably be thoroughly useless for starting wet kindling......they burn too fast. Well......unless you've got like a shoebox full or something. :( Wolfgang ducking and covering. |
On the subject of backpacking...
"rw" wrote in message nk.net... ...The best firestarter I've used is fire "ribbon", which is basically napalm in a tube. It may not be the best thing for backpacking, though. And you can't carry it on a airplane, even in your checked luggage. http://www.trackertrail.com/survival...dchocolatebar/ 100% guaranteed TSA friendly. :) Wolfgang |
On the subject of backpacking...
Mr. Opus McDopus wrote: "Tom Nakashima" wrote in message ... What's so hard about starting a fire if you have a book of matches or lighter? If it has been raining for two days and there's not a dry twig to be found? And I did say ignite with a lighter? Ping-Pong balls = less room in your pack. Can you honestly say that 2 to 4 ping-pong balls would take up room in your pack that otherwise would have been used? Or are going to tell me that you wouldn't want to be weighed down by them? For our survival test, we were out in the wilderness for 7 days with just a small plastic magnify-glass. It's raining, you are huddled over a very small pile of twigs, you pull out your trusty plastic magnifying glass, and realize that you will first have to either part the rain clouds or levitate above the clouds to utilize your magic tool. I have no doubt that Navy Seals are prepared for anything that might come their way. However, I challenge any Navy Seal to light a fire with a plastic magnifying glass when there is no sunshine, unless he takes out his survival lighter and ignites the trusty plastic magnifying glass to start his fire. Op --maybe ping-pong ball shouldn't be sold over the counter?-- -tom You could cut the pingpong balls in two and nest them together. A couple of dozen wouldn't take up much room at all that way. IF you fall in the water they are not gonna help you float. I would paint eyes on two halfs, that way if your sleepy at a clave or something you can put them over your eyes looking attnetive while you make a few ZZZs. A pingpong ball factory must be a hell of a place. Class 1 divisin 1 &2 group everything. |
On the subject of backpacking...
Daniel-San wrote: "riverman" wrote ... I'm into multipurpose. Ben's 100 Bug dope works wonders, as does a squirt of cooking oil. --riverman Multi-purpose is great -- keeps the weight down and helps save pack space. My problem with it revolves around my extreme laziness. Not that I can't sit down and figure out what works as what, and what secondary functions item 'a' may have have, but it's the pure simple easiness of having a small sil-nylon sack with my emergency stuff contained. Example: Fall trip, I might not carry bug dope. I still have the same emergency firestarters. No worry about that. I rarely (if ever) carry cooking oil, so if I did once, and planned on that as a fire starter, I'd either be carrying two firestarters - or - next trip, I might not have one at all. Don't know if that makes a hill-of-beans worth of sense, but my emergency kit is pretty well thought out (trial and error -- mostly error) tampering with it could be bad -- for me. Dan That makes perfect sense to me. My Emergency Kit contains a little brown packet of C-4 (the military uses it as an emergency fire starter), some waterproof matches, a couple of fishhooks wrapped in mono, a Red Devil lure, a tiny flashlite and some extra batteries, a candle wrapped in aluminum foil, a small roll of red flagging, and some string. But in 30-odd years of hiking and boating, I have never once needed to get into that kit; that was for world class cataclysmic emergencies, like being stranded without food or having to forfeit my pack and hike to some mountain top for helicopter rescue. At first, I figured I would use the kit whenver it was very challenging to get a fire started, but over the years, I found that I could always get a fire started, so that kit became some sort of 'kit of absolute last resort' that represented being ultimately prepared. I guess I really never even needed it, and certainly never to start a fire. In normal circumstances, I could just gather tinder and birchbark. In more challenging situations, I could gather dry tinder from under the tree canopy or use a page from a guidebook, or even sacrifice a ziplock bag as kindling (works great, btw). In extreme circumstances, like after a month of torrential downpours, I found that a little squirt of cooking oil or bug dope would serve as boy scout juice and get it going. So my 'dual purpose' stuff replaced my 'firestarter kit', and not my 'emergency kit'. As a result, I never carried a designated firestarter. Does that make sense? --riverman |
On the subject of backpacking...
"riverman" wrote in message oups.com... ...My Emergency Kit contains a little brown packet of C-4.... Oh man.....I can't decide whether I really DO or really DON'T want to be there when it sort of slips your mind and you put it in your carryon! ...that was for world class cataclysmic emergencies, Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. ...Does that make sense? Weeelllll........ Wolfgang who is going to guess that is NOT 100% tsa friendly. :) |
On the subject of backpacking...
riverman wrote:
That makes perfect sense to me. My Emergency Kit contains ... a Red Devil lure ... Unethical, impractical, and too heavy. It sounds like a meme to me. Who in his right mind would want to rely on a Red Devil (without a rod&reel) to catch fish? A handful of M80s would be a more lightweight and reliable solution. Gunpowder serves a double purpose as a fire starter. :-) -- Cut "to the chase" for my email address. |
On the subject of backpacking...
"riverman" wrote ... snippage Does that make sense? --riverman Yes -- sounds like we have similar thoughts regarding an 'oh-****-kit'. A glaring difference is not the style or the decision to have a kit ready to go, but rather the contents. Mine contains: A pole sleeve A mini-tube of Seam-Grip About 10 inches (+/-) of Tenacious Tape (someone's (McNett?) proprietary super tape) A mini roll of duct tape A small sewing kit (needle, maybe 10 yds of heavy thread, two safety pins) About 25 feet of 3mm cord Previously mentioned Vaseline fire starters A spare waist-belt buckle A plastic match-holder thingy with 10 storm-proof matches and striker Some of the parts for my water filter (intake ball and umbrella valve) All fits very neatly in a very small sil-nylon stuff sack, ALWAYS in the bottom of the pack, right behind my sleeping bag. With the exception of the super matches and the fire starter, my kit is mostly centered on repair. Seems to me yours is more centered on survival. Probably a function of where I hike v where you hike. Most of my BP trips are solo, but not so far from others that a 'true' survival situation is likely (National Parks, etc.). If one were to occur, the odds of it lasting very long are so high, I don't think it's an eventuality I need to be ready for. From what little I know of you, you're all over the globe. Sounds like your kit makes sense for your needs. Dan ....only four months to the June IR trip. Twitch, twitch. |
On the subject of backpacking...
"Scott Seidman" Fine steel wool also-- no prep at all. I hadn't heard of that one. I've been going to make up some based on a snoose can full of string and then filled with paraffin. But its been on my "going to do" list for about 10 years and it hasn't happened yet. I had a stash of snoose cans a friend of mine saved for me, but I think I lost them. jh |
On the subject of backpacking...
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On the subject of backpacking...
He should trade the Red Devil for a detonator or two. C-4 can be very
effective in "catching" fish.. It could be interesting going through the explosives detectors with C-4 in your luggage. |
On the subject of backpacking...
"Mr. Opus McDopus" wrote in message ... It's raining, you are huddled over a very small pile of twigs, you pull out your trusty plastic magnifying glass, and realize that you will first have to either part the rain clouds or levitate above the clouds to utilize your magic tool. I have no doubt that Navy Seals are prepared for anything that might come their way. However, I challenge any Navy Seal to light a fire with a plastic magnifying glass when there is no sunshine, unless he takes out his survival lighter and ignites the trusty plastic magnifying glass to start his fire. That's what I was thinking reading about the great shinny coke can experiment, I've really never NEEDED to start a fire when the sun was in all its glory- when I'm thinkin FIRE its usually cold and raining or a blizzard just dropped in to say hello when you're 5 miles from the car trying to track an elk, or in my case, trying to find evidence of an elk to track. jh |
On the subject of backpacking...
John Hightower wrote: "Mr. Opus McDopus" wrote in message ... It's raining, you are huddled over a very small pile of twigs, you pull out your trusty plastic magnifying glass, and realize that you will first have to either part the rain clouds or levitate above the clouds to utilize your magic tool. I have no doubt that Navy Seals are prepared for anything that might come their way. However, I challenge any Navy Seal to light a fire with a plastic magnifying glass when there is no sunshine, unless he takes out his survival lighter and ignites the trusty plastic magnifying glass to start his fire. That's what I was thinking reading about the great shinny coke can experiment, I've really never NEEDED to start a fire when the sun was in all its glory- when I'm thinkin FIRE its usually cold and raining or a blizzard just dropped in to say hello when you're 5 miles from the car trying to track an elk, or in my case, trying to find evidence of an elk to track. jh I saw a Mythbuster show on The Discovery channel where they were checking out fire starting with mirrors etc. They decided Archimedes could have burned the roman fleet with mirrors. ( I allways though it was a Persian fleet and they polished up their shield to burn the ships -but what accuracy on TV?). The did have one person start a fire with a lens made from ice. |
On the subject of backpacking...
"rw" wrote in message link.net... ...sounds like a meme to me.... Uh oh! Second sighting of a meme in as many newsgroups in as many days. Looks like somebody has rediscovered his stash of Dawkins comic books! Wolfgang it's like watching "cowboys in tinfoil suits" aficionados congratulate themselves on their TERRIFIC imaginations. :) |
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