Thanks for sharing many great ideas here. Many food or other common items often brought on campouts can also be used to start a fire in an emergency. Below is only a small list of what is almost a limitless number of sources. Corn or potato chips (it is the oil they were cooked in) marshmallows ziplock type baggies nylon camping articles such as jackets, socks, stuff sacks, tarps etc cooking fuels such as alcohol or blazo (white gas). gasoline found in a pickup or car, four wheeler/ATV, snowmachine, boat, airplane motor oils cooking oils poly tarps almost all cordage whether made of synthetic or natural fibers. food or candy packaging materials such as plastic or paper/cardboard materials

Good ideas, Mark! Don't forget the pencil sharpener. Great for making shavings.

I've been following your channel for several years now and have enjoyed each and every video you've made. I've also learned something from each one. You present practical ideas and explain and showcase products in a very entertaining and understandable manner. Thanks and please continue with the videos. By the way, the scenery in your videos is beautiful!!

NOTE: the waterless hand cleaner is also good for removing sticky sap from hands. Dissolves it. Also sanitizes mess kits & sporks after “camp washings”. Courtesy of Half Vast Flying

Great video Mark and super ideas! I agree dollar stores, discount stores, and thrift shops all have many great deals not just fire starting but also numerous other items that are great for hiking, camping, bushcraft, etc. Again super video and thanks for sharing.

Mark, I found that, if you only put a dab of petroleum jelly the size of a lima bean on the centre of the pad and fold it, they will last for some years in a bag without becoming messy. Leaves plenty of dry fibres for a quick light. I call them Jelly Sandwiches. As for the sparklers, sometimes it's all about the fun. I'm going to get some.

I tried a few different ones in the course of a few years and the most effective one is a small jar of sawdust saturated with kerosene. It does not spill and half a spoonful of the stuff will light first time round with a spark from the ferro rod.

The dollar store is a good source of small tin containers for making char cloth and carrying your fire kit, can find them in the candy section (just eat the mints first) or the craft section if you want larger ones. Great video as always, thanks for sharing Mark.

About finding fatwood - I live in the U.S. in East Tennessee on roughly nine, mostly wooded acres. There are pine trees everywhere. There are fallen pines, stumps, etc. all over the place. I have been able to find a TOTAL amount of fatwood that would equal maybe the size of a fist all combined. It also isn't very good fatwood - doesn't have a very strong 'turpentine' smell and the volatile ouls it does have will often dissupate within a couple of weeks. The point is that, as you alluded, not all species of pine trees will yield fatwood. What I have found, though, is if one of those non-fatwood pines has an injury and is leaking sap then that pine resin makes a great fire starter/flame extender. Even after it has dried and hardened you can scrape some off or break it up and it will light although you might need something quick lighting to get it going and use the dried resin as a flame extender. With the heat the dried resin will melt and that is when it really starts to burn.

Something that I haven't tried, but may be worth a mention is trick birthday candles which are nearly impossible to blow out. They are, basically, a firestarter protected from water by wax. Thanks, Mark. Interesting topic!👍

Morning Mark. Yup, I mentioned it when I saw fat wood in a store, and not the woods, and was wondering if it was real. Then I thought what about all those other cheap things. My favourite of all time (so far) is a dollarama one. It’s jute cord, soaked in paraffin from melted candles. Once they’re made, you need to fluff up one end and light with anything, though they seem to light better after it’s been used once already. You can make it a few feet long if you want, and thick or thin chord, and it’ll burn for a really long time. They’re pretty wind resistant and can be used many times over. They’re also alss weigh next to nothing. Thanks Mark!

The wood fibre fire starters are all I use. For bbq and fires at home but also when camping.

Back when you first showed your Ikea twinge stove, I share your video with my Scout Troop, they found utensil holders at the Dollar store. they made a challenge camp where they bought all of there cooking equipment at the dollar store. They were four patrols and there roles were other than pots and pans they were to use different items. It was quite interesting to see the various items they used.

I’ve bought pillar candles from Goodwill and I use Jute, Sisal or hemp twine in about 48” lengths that I tie into figure 8 hanks for a more uniform size/shape and I soak the hanks in melted wax for a good long while. Lift them out and put them on a piece of cardboard and put them in the fridge to rapidly cool. You can make a BUNCH at one time and have a freezer bag full that lasts a very long time. Cut off a length of about 3”, more if your tinder is not really dry, fray both ends to expose finer fibers and they will ignite from a ferro very easily. Gotta fray the ends well enough for best results. It can be used as a full on bird’s nest too if needed. Since the wax is melted away, I use the makeup pads to dip in the wax too. Put them on the cardboard to cool and when you’re all done, the cardboard is now soaked enough with wax to be cut into small squares and are great flame extenders too. Little trickier to light with a ferro but definitely doable. Mark, I mentioned that I’ve kept wood pellets in alcohol and in Heet for starting a wood pellet fire in my Firebox stove. I spotted CHARCOAL wood pellets in my Walmart and will be soaking some in the alcohol products to see what happens. I’ll let you know. Oh yeah, I liquify my petroleum jelly and dip makeup pads, put them on cardboard and fridge to return to a firmer disk and do a quick dunk into the wax and place them on the cardboard, then fridge and soon enough I have a bunch of those too. An afternoon of tinkering with melted wax and cheap natural fibers and the pads fit in various plastic containers that chewing tobacco and nicotine pouches come in. The Zyn containers are a locking design and work well for the disks. I also keep fatwood scrapings in the Zyn containers and don’t have to worry about the container opening on its own. Does anyone here have experience using the charcoal pellets?

Nicely done, Señor Mark. Other idiomatic options that may be available on the cheap at discount stores: tiny birthday candles; oily corn chips like Doritos; cardboard packaging; cosmetic "wax" (beards etc)... the possibilities are endless for the intrepid experimenter. For my low money, petrolatum/cotton are the absolute no brainer, along with gelled alcohol in my FAK. Great project!

That was fun, Mark. I have pretty much the same items in my local Dollarama. Found some other camping items there too that surprised me. I would suggest lip palm. Now I must look for the fat wood there!

Right on Mark. I've been doing the petroleum jelly and cotton balls for awhile now and it has never failed me. The cotton readily accepts a spark from the ferro rod and the petroleum jelly is just plain flammable. I actually just recently put together a match kit to go in my fire kit as I realized that was a method I have never really practiced. Now that I've won the fire kit from Nova Scotia Bushcraft there on Facebook I will be practicing flint and steel soon enough. Thanks for sharing Mark. I enjoyed seeing the options you found.

Hmm sparklers , I never would have thought of that ! When you mentioned fatwood I did a double take ! I go to the Dollarama all the time. I've never noticed fatwood being sold before . I really enjoy your Saturday videos . Cheers !

When using a ferrocerium rod, instead of pushing the knife forward, while holding the rod, hold the knife near the target and pull the rod backwards. It makes aiming the sparks much easier.

Great video Mark, my son has the same match holder/whistle and carries it proudly anytime we go out in the woods.

As others gave said, it seems to be getting pretty easy to find fatwood in grocery stores here in the US. It is stocked with the charcoal briquettes and wood pellets.

Nice finds Mark! I like those longer wax-wood ones. I’ve never noticed them at Dollarama before but they would have the advantage of allowing you to light a stove or get the fire down into a bundle like the long neck lighter would. I can see lighting one and using it to then light different spots around a fire build. Going to look for them next time.

At the Home Depot in USA you can buy 4 lb bags of fatwood for $10. They sell it as a grill starter/ recreational camper oriented item, but great for backpackers/bushcrafters.

Just as a heads up, Bic makes an EZReach lighter which has that long nozzle. I like those wax and paper fire starters.

I really enjoy your channel. You have given us some great ideas here.

Very good information for cheap fire starters, Mark. Vaseline cotton balls work great, one of the best and easiest ways to start a fire and very cost effective. Great presentation as always. Thanks.

I can readily find fatwood in my area, but haven’t had to hunt it due to a funny event. I was sent a huge box of fatwood (probably 25lbs) as a gift that was sourced from Orvis. I used it all the time to light my fireplace. About a year later another huge box arrived directly from Orvis with a letter saying they were sending me this new shipment due to the last one being lesser quality than they expected. Don’t know but it all burned! I still have half of it, and that is after using it for twenty years and giving some away 😂

I honestly haven't heard of using sparklers as fire starters before, but it's a brilliant idea! Love it. Thanks Mark. you basically could use a firecracker also, if you cut it open and pour the powder on your cotton pad. if you poured it on your cotton pad with Vaseline, even MORE effective for starting damp kindling.

Dryer lint is pretty good and free. Thanks Mark for the video.

i have done the vasaline and cotton balls before and used an old vitamin bottle to store them. Also the makeup pads put lighter fluid on them then dip in melted wax

Hi there Mark , don't know if you have Vaseline in this format in Canada, in the UK you can buy small tins of Vaseline, the tins are round and about 2 inches/50mm in diameter and 3/4" /20mm in height. Great for putting in your backpack and great containers for impregnated cotton pads when becoming empty. Depending on the type of cotton pads you have , you might have to trim them to size, but that only takes seconds with a pair of sharp scissors. I really like the practicality of your videos.

Excellent video. Fatwood at Dollarama Im heading there today to look. Thanks!

Single use alcohol wipes are very good fire starters and 100 to a box makes them very cheap. Hardware stores may have strike anywhere matches. Just bought some 900/$5 USA. I made some tea candle heaters out of beer cans. Place an unlit tea candle on the heater so the wax melts and you can water proof your matches.

Thanks Mark! Great inexpensive ideas!

We had the 99cents stores all over California, but they recently went out of business. One of the fire starters we had, were usually running around unattended by their parents……😘🤣 One of the places I can get fat wood is at my local grocery store surprisingly. I’ve seen videos where they soak those makeup pads into melted wax. I’ve used the remaining Sterno gel that was too low in the can to be effective for cooking, as a fire starter. ✌️🇺🇸🇨🇦✌️

Ive found cotton dental rolls in our reject shop here in AUS, like a little cigarette filter, those impregnated with candle wax and lighter fluid works wonders, like a little fire plug but 50+ made for under $4

I just recently made some fire starters out of using those pads and petroleum jelly, and what I did was I rap each one in duct or gorilla tape so they're pretty much sealed. They light very easily, burn well, and less messy. Again great video Mark as always!

G'day Mark, good one mate, yep fun and extremely useful at the same time, ...... and good on ya Jim !!! Its certainly important to differentiate between fire starters and flame or ember extenders and of course multiuse items are a winner. I use old bicycle tube "rings" as "ranger bands". Yes nasty black smoke, but work very well as backup. Mozzie sticks or coils. Garden twine/string. Dryer lint, though I've found it vastly inferior to cotton balls and vas. Btw I use old film containers, squash about 20 "wads" inside. Or Berocca, tubular aluminum containers, reckon I get 40 odd in those. Potato crisps, corn chips and nuts ; ) I do carry a Bic, though a refillable gas jet job is obviously more intense, reusable and doesn't care so much about wind. Also my BBQ lighter came with tiny refill tubes. I pinched one of those and "ranger banded' it to the jet lighter, (after making sure the nozzle was "directly" compatible). A fresnel lens does work, (they were literally giving them away at my local chemist), however the lens on my compass, (I think 5 x mag) is better. And a cheap "proper" magnifying glass, is best of the lot, on special @ Bunnings, (one of our chain hardwares here), for 1 AUD each at the time, ......... I got 3, I'm not quite at spectacles stage, but sure helps with the fine print as well, ....... certain flashlight maunals/spec sheets in particular ; ) You can do the ol' steelwool and battery trick, though with so many other options I dont bother, nor do I mess about with char cloth, but both still good to know in a pinch, as is bowdrill for the sake of a bit of cordage and some practice. Yep for sure hand sanitiser, gel is best, and from memory at least 70% alcohol, though why not just go with 90% +. I like beeswax candles, ..... though very expensive here ....... regular ones or tealight jobs are fine. I carry a 6 in. half round metal file for other reasons, though not difficult to get a spark from it. If you carry a notepad, or other paper/plastic product, can be put into service if need be. Btw; not essential, but I reckon bellows of some description are a worthwhile carry, an old FM radio antenna works well enough, just remove the mounting and solid end tip. Thats about all I can think of at the moment, but there MUST be a shipload more ; ) Cheers Duke.

I have it on good authority that Doritos, potato chips and Cheezies make great fire starters. All have lots of flammable oil in them.

Grab you a pack of Doritos or Fritos as a snack for a backup fire starter...lol. My Dollar Tree has 'canned heat', which is akin to Sterno. They also sell a small log that is a generic "duraflame' type fire starter (It not fatwood) that is impregnated with fuel. Finally, they carry an assortment of magnification sheets and lenses, if they were out of them a cheap pair of reading glasses could be had to sacrifice for the lenses if needed.

Been following you for some time now. Great content sir! I was surprised to find that fatwood here in Dollarama in SW Nova Scotia as well. I wish we had a natural supply here. Keep doing what you do. 😁

Thanks for this rather fun and informative video; I liked the sparkler trick--very cool. 👍 My goto is vaseline and cotton balls. 👌 Take care my friend and Cheers!

Rubber inner tube is the best fire starter, it burns immediately and even when it is wet or when it rains. (old worn inner tube is free) Just make sure you always have a piece with you. I make fire starters from makeUp cotton pads with Paraffin from Tea Lights that works great and no mess like with Vaseline (petroleum jelly) wood wool or wood shavings to light the BBQ also work fine

I've found birthday cake candles work really well! Cheap and functional.

Very nice

Duct tape - especially when cut into thin strips make for a good fire starter. Wax based lip balms work nicely. Hemp/jute twine. Dryer lint (from cotton clothes). FREE Cardboard saturated with wax and stored in a cat food can or similar. Batteries & 0000 steel wool. Oil from canned seafood to saturate cotton balls/pads. Tampons, feminine pads (yeah guys, don't get all hung up on that!) Strike Anywhere matches (to put into your match case). Mini Bic lighters that can be tucked into anywhere (also remove the steel band from the striker for better flame control). Hair gel for beards/moustaches (I haven't personally tried but it should work if wax based). Shoe polish.

Great Test & Demo Of The Different Items Found Thanks Mark ! ATB T God Bless

It may sound weird to say but having shopped in both Dollarama and the US Dollar stores, Dollarama is better quality and generally cleaner and better lit.

We have sap wood or fat wood every 10 feet in my woods. I cut a few chunks and put it in my go bag

Thanks Brother!! Great inexpensive Ideas. Get out there everyone. Cheers.

My local Dollar Tree (Ontario) has a Fresnel lens JOT brand in the stationary section . It’s about 5x8 & if the sun is out this thing works great 🔥

Not sure if you mentioned it (I might have missed it), if using a sparkler do not leave it in the woods after usage. Another idea is dryer sheets. Works better once they’ve been used. I’ve seen some at my Dollarama. Oh and the printed receipt you get can be put in your fire kit and be helpful to start a fire as well in conjunction with other ways. Thanks for sharing. Take care and stay safe.

I would put a small rubber band around the matches and strikers. Much less risk of them igniting by accident.

Good video and ideas Mark, thanks for sharing YAH bless !

Elastic bands are always useful and they burn pretty well. Also if you know anyone with a tumble dryer ask for a ball of lint AKA belly-button fluff.

I made a lighter I'll call it a "extension" by waxing jute twine and wrapping it around my bic lighter, then took a small piece of birch bark over that and secured it with a ranger band cut from a bicycle inner tube. All came from the dollar store except the birch bark lol.

Cheap perfume or cologne maybe, if they carry it and it's flammable.

👍👍

I keep 3 six packs of tea candles in my go bag

Not so such a fire starter as liquid fuel in an alcohol burner, is Lectric Shave. And it smells good too!😁

Ball of Sisal twine string. Peace

Steel wool and a battery. Electrical tape.

I think it was BigMonkey was annoyed by a bubble formed in his higher end compass. ~ Some physics going on. Above sea level, temp swings. ~ Same of said, having no affect. ~~ I always tap 'em anyway. (-:

After the covid scare, there was free hand sanitizer available. So do i have a lifetime supply or will the alcohol sooner evaporate out? These bottles have best before dates, not that many years, but if anyone has long term experience , please let me know.

Cheezies

Crayons?!

Duct tape