Continuing on along the field-based emergency preparedness kick I seem to be on, my latest obsession seems to be on "fire and light."

So, you are ditched and you'd like to have a little light, or a small flame that you can use for a little heat (I remember my dad talking about using a candle to heat his pup-tent during WW II).  Perhaps you want to dry out some small tender in preparation for making a larger fire.

Here is my small fire/candle trial setup:  a piece of cotton yarn for a wick and a 44 mag shell casing for a fuel holder.  (For those not familiar with a 44 mag round, the casing is approximately 1 1/4" long with a 1/2" diameter ... makes a fair metal tube with one end capped.)  In each case, the candle was ignited by using a butane lighter flame for less than 5 seconds--in most cases, less than 3 seconds.  If the accelerant is not listed, either I haven't tested it or it wouldn't stay lit for at least 30 minutes, without re-light or tending.  Keep in mind that I'm only considering things that have a good possibility of being with me/on me during a canoe-type trip.

Listed in order of flame strength:

1) petroleum jelly -- produces a strong, but initially sooty flame; container very near empty in 30 minutes
2) chapstick -- produces a strong, clean flame (only slightly less flame than petroleum jelly; container about 2/3rds empty in 30 minutes
3) alcohol-based hand sanitizer -- produces a small, nearly clear flame; container 1/2 empty after 30 minutes
4) vegetable oil (olive oil) -- produces a tiny, clean flame; container only 1/4 empty after 30 minutes.

I did run another test on a tube-dispensed sun screen, containing cocoa nut oil and other ingredients.  It would ignite and produce a strong sooty flame, but would not stay lit for 30 minutes.  As a side-bar test, I put the material (perhaps the diameter of a quarter and twice as thick) into an disposable aluminum-lined cup cake tin and ignited it.  It burned vigorously for about 5 minutes, but produced lots of soot.  It could make a descent fire starter.

BTW:  Many of my initial ignition test were more kudlik-style (tilted bottle cap and wick).  Many items burned a bit more effectively in this mode because of better air/fuel mix, but it was more difficult to judge burn time per unit of fuel this way.

dd