mastertangler wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2010 at 5:45pm:

Doc this is interesting to me.The nylon sheathe of the knife I recently picked up has a small velcro sealed pocket about the size that would fit a small leatherman. I am interested in putting an emergency fire kit in there. What would you use? Good waterproof matches I suppose but the striker is the weak link there IMO. The accelerants tested were likely under ideal conditions :question. I wonder how the test group would fare under wind or even rain? My buddy put together a tiny kit for me with matches and a striker in a mini zip-lock along with a tiny bottle of white gas. Last I looked the white gas had evaporated even though there was tape to prevent accidental opening. There are some commercial stuff available. I have also heard vaseline and cotton balls mentioned. Sort of want to stay away from anything potentially messy or odorous though. What should I use? Anyone? It has to be able to survive a dunking.

Petroleum jelly (Vaseline) on a cotton ball will ignite with little effort using fire steel.  I do carry a small lighter, but like you said it could be wet from a dunking.  Fire steel will work, even when it's wet.  Also, I feel that I have a better chance of manipulating a fire steel striker,even if my hands are cold and wet.  

I would recommend fluffing the cotton ball fibers just a bit before ignition.  This makes it easier to get the fibers to ignite ... down side is that in this de-compressed state, it will burn a little quicker.  Still, the impregnated cotton ball will give you something like 3-5 minutes of flame.  (This test was outdoors, dry with little wind.)

The "candle test" above are indeed in ideal conditions (indoors).  However, if I can get the accellerant ignite (by some means), it could also be useful in fire starting.  Also, keep in mind that my choices for accellerants was based on items that I might actually have on me while traveling in the back woods ... although vegetable oil was a bit of a stretch.

BTW:  My thinking on using a shell casing also involved a reasonably crush proof container for a few matches.  I found a rounded rubber "stopper" that fits the 44 mag shell casing.  Actually, what I found was a like a rubber door stop tip that is a snug fit inside the casing ... making the container at least water resistant.

dd