QuoteOriginally posted by Steve H.:
Hard to beat Vaseline soaked cotton balls.    

Yip they work great! i keep some sealed in an old film canister, Some Rubber inner-tube, Bic lighter and a magnesium fire steel built into my knife sheath.

A Good Quality 1" Survival Candle is something nice to have in your pack if you have the room for it.

Pineknot and flint and steel

I carry a small bag of vaseline soaked cotton balls and a light my fire ferocium rod. Works great!

I make my own, similar to wingnut, using wax and sawdust (or planer shavings).
Instead of a dixie cup I pour the wax into the 12 cups of a cardboard egg carton. While the wax is still liquid I put the sawdust and two kitchen matches head first into the wax.
I cut the 12 starters apart after the wax is cooled.

I have never been more than a few miles from any road including my Canada trips. Maybe I should be better prepared but I only carry two Bic lighters in my pack and one old school book of matches wrapped in a ziplock inside my First Aid kit...

Other than some TP (inside the same ziplock as my book matches) I do not carry any tender.

I carry the usual, some char cloth, coton balls/vaselineetc. I try to gather a little dry tinder while roaming the woods. Of course a windproof lighter. I go with what the situation dictates.

But, if I absolutely need a fire RIGHT NOW, with no screwing around, I carry 2 road flares in my pack. They don't weigh much, will burn hot and for a 15-20 minutes,even in the rain. You can pile up damp kindling and the flare will have it burning in no time. I wrap them in plastic wrap and a baggie to keep dry. There is nothing that works better, or burns hotter.

If I'm making camp and in no hurry, I use my flint/steel/ magnesium to keep in practie. If I'm in a bit more of a hurry, I'll use the lighter. If I'm cold and getting hpothermic, its dark and I need fire NOW, I use the flare.

I second the "Blastmatch), also a zippo and some tetratrioxylene (sp) tablets that are used for the small military personal stoves. Used one in canada on a caribou trip had a fire 6' high when the calvary came across the lake in a boat in poor visibility to fetch my dads caribou.

I carry fule compressed trioxane.

With our Cub Scouts I used to have them pack the finest steel wool they could find and bring small 9-Volt battery, in addition to cotton dressed with vaseline.
Just push two terminals of the 9-Volt battery into the the steel wool and watch what happens. then blow a bit and add to the cotton/vaseline and your off. No wet matches to mess with. if hurt badly and you can get to the battery, just push the wool and battery together...worst case you can hold the battery in your mouth and you can light the steel wool very easily.

Eric - N9BOW

PS...keep them seperated... (steel wool and 9-Volt battery) It could get uncomfortably hot in your pack  

Eric - N9BOW

Personally I like this as an option in the pack.
http://www.amazon.com/9-Volt-LED-Flashlight-Kikkerland/dp/B001AED6JM  Provides light and I have a waterproof ignition system

Eric - N9BOW

All I carry is a knife, a stick of flint and I carry a perscription bottle of over the counter drugs(asperin, IB, ect) and keep the pills quiet by using cotton balls stuffed as tight as I can.  Cotton balls alone is enough, but relying on cotton worried me, so I learned to start a fire when everything is wet using only flint!  Man does that try your patients!

Birthday cake candles!     :D

Mish mash metal match, cotten balls.

In my opinion you should always have Three types of firestarting options in your pack at all times. Mine are a new Bic Lighter, Magneseum stick and flint and steel.

My friend "wihill" brought these over today, and let me tell u they are the cats meow! These burn 10 minutes, you can't blow they out, and they are waterproof. These sure beat my cottonballs! Besides that a box of 24 cubes of them only costs $3.50.
 

when i was in the usa a few years back i got a thing from Bass pro shop called light my fire and i use cotton balls and they burn just enough to get a good fire going. never leave home with out it.

here's one you might of seen or heard of,take a 9 volt battery and some steel wool.works great.

I have several kinds that I carry depending on the situation.  For my day pack I have a magnesium block, flint and steel.  It will catch cold wet asphalt on fire.  Never have had to use it in an emergent situation but it is comforting to know I have it.  In my saddle bags I also carry a zippo lighter, with fresh flint and a small bottle of lighter fluid, a bic lighter and some trioxane fuel bars.  The trioxane will burn with a hot blue flame for about 10 minutes and will start a fire anytime, especially good for damp wood conditions.  In my camp box at base camp I keep some less toxic firestarters I made  out of parafin wax, woodchips and a cardboard egg carton.  These things will burn with a yellow flame for about 6-8 minutes and are good for starting a fire in a woodstove of campfire with pine firewood, doesn't have to be real dry wood either.  It is always good to have some options for starting a fire, and there are several good ones here.

I just love a 20min fusee or road flare. You start whatever you need on fire with one of those. Started a beaverdam on fire while skinning a mountain lion one day, just about got wet on that one!