It's important to have some good tinder. A great project for the budding outdoorsman is making your own tinder while learning how to start a fire without matches. Try the cotton ball and vaseline tinder method. Just get a cotton ball and some vaseline. Get the vaseline throughout the cotton ball, but don't oversoak it so it's too wet with vaseline. You'll need to pull the cotton ball apart a bit to expose the individual threads and throw a spark from you new fire starter. You'll be amazed at how quickly it catches fire and how long and hot it burns. This is a great project for scout troops as well.

The homemade cotton ball and vaseline tinder is great, but can be messy. Go ahead and also try one or more of our compressed tinders. Another great project is to try different fire starters and tinders to see which works best for you. Again, the bottom line is to learn how to make a fire with your fire starter long before you have to start a fire in a survival situation.

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