Best Firestarter

[casper_zip]

Howdy:

Wanting to get a good firestarter. There are many for sale, everyone selling, his is the "best." Please let me know your favorite, and any pros and cons about it. Thanks and all the best.

casper

[Buckskin]

BIC lighters are extremely reliable and cheap...

[BIG Dog454]

  +1 on the Bic.  add a little pine slivers and some K1 and you have quick heat.  Also cotton balls soaked with pariifin are great to get things going.  In me house stove I use those cardboard egg containers that you bye eggs in.
BD

[Ranger99]

i don't know if i use the "best".
mostly matches, special waterproof
matches, doans bar, flint and steel,
every now and again a bow drill just
for personal satisfaction.
tinder i almost always use dryer lint
because it's free and almost endless
in supply, sometimes vaseline cotton
balls, or char cloth every now and then.

[Casull]

+2 on the Bic lighters (or the really cheap generic versions).  You can pick up a 7 pack (used to be an 8 pack) at WalMart for $1.98.  Keep one in your pocket, a couple in your tackle box, a couple in your truck, and a couple in your fanny pack/backpack.  Always have one that way.  They'll light when wet (well, just shake the water out of them and then strike till they light - usually 15 or 20 times will light one even after submersion).  Despite what others might say, they will also light when cold too (down to at least -15 farenheit.  Just warm them in your hand and presto. 

[cudatruck]

Dryer lint is the best we have found for tinder. lights very easy with any spark or flame source. burns longer if you add some wax to it or vaseline. As for lighter, Bic is the best and a good ferro rod as a back up. I don't even carry matches anymore.

[FPH]

I fill egg cartons with dryer lint, then pour parifin over the lint.  You can break off the individual egg containers.....that and a bic lighter and you are good to go.

[burntmuch]

I keep a Bic in a ziplock bag with toilet paper in my daypack while hunting

[tacklebury]

I go nowhere in the woods without a magnesium firestarter.  I always carry knives and with that one thing, I've saved my life or at least my feet a couple times after going through ice.  It doesn't matter if it is wet, doesn't matter if you can find perfectly dry tinder.  Scrape off a dime size pile of shavings and just get a few match stick size twigs and if you can find dry stuff feel free to have it ready.  I usually ignite the magnesium, then grab the dry tinder and hold it just above the matchstick size twigs which are now burning a bit.  usually as it ignites through the dry tinder, it will have you a little time to start getting some larger twigs going too.  I try to stage my materials from smallest to biggest in a semi circle around me, so I know where everything is. 

[FPH]

I also always carry a magnesium fires starter along with a water proof container filled with parifin coated matches.  These two go around my neck and are always with me.

[JB Weld]

I cannot believe no one has mentioned "Fatwood".  If you don't know what it is just Google it.
A little can go a long way to getting a fire going.  You can take a small piece about the diameter of a pencil, use your knife to shave up several small legs (dont cut them off), and easily light it with your bic lighter, a match, or a Mg Rod.

The best thing about "Fatwood" is that it is tough and will light / burn even if it is damp.  A small stick in your kit can be used to start many fires.  Best of all it is free. 

[Dee]

I took the flint rod off a magnesium fire starter, JB Welded it to the side of a Sucrets tin, filled the tin with vasoline soaked cotton balls, and threw in a two inch piece of a broken hacksaw blade for a striker. In your pocket, or pack, it weighs almost nothin, and will light many fires in any kind of weather. Also carry every day, a Zippo lighter with a two inch wide bicycle inner tube band around it. This keeps the fluid from evaporating for over a month, keeps it from slipping out of my pocket, and the inner tube band can be used for other things. Can also use a bow drill.

[Bugflipper]

On this forum I posted a video of a magnesium fire starter test. The cheap chinese magnesium bars wouldn't light with a fire put to them, much less spark. If you are looking for a magnesium bar Doans is the one to get. Do not buy a shiny silver one as that is a chinese one. They simply don't work. I bought some little vials of magnesium shavings off a fellow on ebay, they work real good as well with a flint.

I carry a bunch of fire starters. Big lighter mentioned plenty. One called a peanut lighter. It's a tiny zippo style lighter with a screw on top. Is waterproof with a rubber O ring. Also carry some waterproof matches and hand sanitizer. A candle. And a mini torch. Also forgot some dryer lint and birch bark.

[Victor3]

I've used my magnesium fire starter many a time but forget it if it's windy. Most of the shavings blow away unless you can contain them inside of a bag or something. A big ferro rod (I have a 3/8" dia x 6" long one) and whatever tinder you have works better.

[Swampman]

BIC lighters are extremely reliable and cheap...

Yep keep them in your pocket so they will stay warm.

[BIG Dog454]

another good firestarter, is the twigs off of sassafras trees, they contain a natural oil and will light easily broken right off a live tree. I have tried this and it works.
BD