Tru dat. Merino wool is nice.
A number of years back I could not find wool socks that were actually composed of a sufficient percentage of wool so as to be useful, nor could I find much in my size.
So I started knitting my own. 100% merino wool made to custom fit me.
Unfortunately, it’s takes me about 6 months to finish a pair (I knit well, but I’m slow), but they last for so many years that even at that snail’s pace I could amass a collection.
Discussing the multi-purpose use for socks got me wondering if there’s a fatty food which could be improvised as firestarter. Firestarters often have petroleum oil in them, which makes them great for fire but not so great for eating. Are there foods that could be used in a pinch to help start a fire? What about nuts or peanut butter?
Here’s my go-to:
Liquid cooking oils burn very nicely. That was the operating principal behind olive-oil powered oil lamps which are, apparently, as common as dirt in archeological digs in some parts of the world.
Solid oils can burn, but some of them have trouble starting until hot enough to be liquid.
The vaseline-on-cotton trick works nicely, and is hot enough to liquefy solid animal fats.
Never heard of anyone trying to use nuts or peanut butter for that.
Fritos corn chips! One of those small snack-size bags fits nicely in a pack and it really doesn’t matter if they get crushed while hiking. Have enough oil content to get a nice flame going even in damp conditions. Probably do need to use a match or some sort of lighter to get it started, but they do burn well once lit.
You don’t want to waste food, and especially calorically-dense fatty foods, as a firestarter. @DavidNRockies suggestion of petrojelly macerated into cotton swabs is the standard weatherproof firestarter you can make at home, but even better it to learn how to find birth bark, bulrush, fatwood, and other fire starting and sustaining materials from the environment.
Stranger
Tuna canned in oil would be dual purpose ttho it depends on how hungry you are….fire would take precedent tho.
Drain the oil into tinder - eat the tuna.
Cans are generally weight-prohibitive for backpacking in the mountains, especially when you have to haul all of your trash back out. Lightweight, collapsible pouches are better.
And like @Stranger_On_A_Train said, if you are in a situation where you have to make a fire in the wilderness (which is generally only allowable in designated camping area sunless you are in an emergency situation), you don’t want to waste food, not even the oil the tuna is packed in. You have no idea how hungry you might get before getting yourself out or being rescued. It’s far, far easier to find fire-building materials in the wilderness than food.
And better still to bring dedicated fire-starting materials. If I had no other choice, I might try your suggestion, but I wouldn’t plan it that way (i.e. intending to use my food as dual-purpose fire starter).
one frito can get a good fire going. you don’t need to use the entire bag.
We get tuna in olive oil in sachets which are a nice size tho less oil than a canned version. Empty sachets are burnable or very light to pack in and out and about the same cost per 100gm as canned. Quick easy no prep protein fix ….but not a lot of oil as a fire use but I agree dedicated fire material best….I was just answering the question posed as dual use.
Certainly dedicated fire starters would be best, but my wondering was more about what foods could have a secondary purpose of being used as firestarters. Much like socks have a primary use of going on your feet but can also be used as improvised gloves in a pinch. If I take a tumble and lose half the contents of my pack, including my gloves and firestarters, I can improvise gloves and firestarters if I still have socks and a bag of Fritos. Like with trial mix, I would guess that certain ingredients would be more flammable than others. By picking a trail mix that has lots of flammable ingredients, I have something that can primarily be used as food but with a backup use as a firestarter. But if I pick a trial mix that doesn’t burn well, then it can only be used as food. It won’t have that alternate capability.
Along those lines, for the example of the firestarter made from vaseline and cotton balls, I would think it’d be better to make them when needed rather than pre-making them. Take a small tube of vaseline and some cotton balls so you have the most options. If you need a firestarter, mix them up. But otherwise, keep the vaseline and cotton balls separate so you can use them for other purposes. The vaseline can be used for lip balm, anti-chafing, waterproofing, wound coverage, etc. Cotton balls can be used for first aid. Even if you don’t have cotton balls, just the vaseline alone can be mixed with whatever combustible material you have on hand to create a firestarter. But if you take along pre-mixed vaseline and cotton balls, they become a single purpose item. They will have limited backup uses.
While foods like tuna packed in oil would burn well, they wouldn’t really be the best to take hiking. They wouldn’t be very easy to eat on the trail. But they would be good if you were boating or going off roading where weight and space aren’t as much of an issue.
Very easy to eat even with fingers. Very little weight, very high protein. Nothing to prepare. Zero carbs tho cept for the oil. Lots of variety other than just tuna. Good fat content
tuna generally has a higher protein content than trail mix. A 3-ounce serving of tuna can provide around 21-25 grams of protein, while the protein content in trail mix varies significantly depending on the specific ingredients
10 sachets of tuna weigh 2lb and very easy to tuck in as packets are flexible. The 10 empty sachets would weigh 2.5 oz total and can be burned or rolled up very small. You would not want to leave empty sachets unwashed around a campsite or in a backpack as big attraction for critters. My dog is all over me when I open one.
I did actually have my fire kit but the wind was so strong that it was hard to stand so lighting a match just wasn’t going to happen. Also there was nothing but rock and snow and torrential rain.
I did just get back from a great and successful hike to Landslide Lake and Berg Lake in Strathcona. I feel pretty much back to normal emotionally. My poor friend is still too traumatized to even talk about it and has sworn off hiking.
Congrats on getting back on the horse successfully. That’s huge!
It’s really easy to make a few of these, stick them in a small medicine bottle or a jewel bag, and keep them in a little firestarting or med-kit. You could still use them for applying the petroleum jelly, but in general the obsession some people have with [trying to make everything multi-purpose]( More parachute cord goodness ) often ends up with ‘tools’ that are actually pretty useless for any purpose.
When backpacking or camping I carry a firestarting kit with firesteel, storm matches, and a plasma lighter all in a small pouch along with some tinder and char cloth, and if carrying a belt knife I’ll usually put a plasma torch or small firesteel with tinder in the sharpening stone pouch on the sheath, or else have this in my chest rig. It’s just faster and less messy to pull out and use an already prepared firestarter rather than having to break open my medkit, dig out the components (disorganizing and potentially dropping or contaminating items within) and combine them together, and frankly if I’m needing to make a fire with a firestarter instead of preparing natural tinder there is probably something approaching an emergency in progress.
In the backcountry I always carry a lightweight tarp or emergency reflective Mylar® shelter; faster than trying to make natural shelter and more reliable than looking for fuel to sustain a fire. The amount of extra weight is minimal and it can serve as both a sunshield, rain/snow shelter, and signalling device (if you pick a bright red, orange, or yellow color).
Stranger
Awesome for you. In time this will just be a great story to tell people.
Yes, that is true. But who’s going to carry just one corn chip?
That’s awesome!
Glad you and your friend are back with us. Congratulations for waiting until after the rescue to start a thread.