Trioxane fuel, is it good?

[meisterdg]

I have been thinking about getting some trioxane fuel bars, are they worth the price? I was thinking for putting in the pack to light fires in the winter when the woods are wet. Any one have experience with these? SG has them for about 40cents each, which would be a good cheap emergency fire starter if they work well.

Also, anyone know of a good place to buy them, I have only seen them in the Sportsmans Guide catalog.

[ggiilliiee]

save your money ....those dam things are toxic ....poor heat ...noxious fumes ...not verry wind proof .....your food will taste like three mile island ....you want a good emergency fire starter ....brake fluid and powdered pool chlorine ....seperated into air tight vesels....just addwood mix the two and get back a bit....30 seconds..... big fire!!! .....just dont breath the initial fumes...... wind and weather proof oh yeah .....

[mparrish]

Used them in survival schol to get a small fire started. That was about it. Sucked at warming a cup of water.

[Da Nerd]

They are better than wet toilet paper.
Some surplus ones have been shipped around so much they are turning into powder instead of a bar..

[buckshot007]

About the best fire starter there is costs almost nothing.

Take an old inner tube and using scissors or a sharp knife (Get your Mum to help you with this kids) slice the inner tube into thin strips, match thickness is good.

These are weatherproof and will get any fire going. They do stink a bit when they burn though.

[Brass Rat]

Get yourself a Swedish Fire Steel to go with them, you can dunk both in a pail of water, shake them off and have a fire going in no time.

I do agree that they do nothing good for the taste of your food, but if you let the fire burn down to coals before you cook there will be no taste or odor left.

Using pieces of fat lighter is just as bad and they don't burn down nearly as fast.

[gordo63]

There is a Swedish cook thingy that basically is a cylinder with a thermos fitting inside and a cup on top. When you take the thermos out, place a fuel bar in the bottom, it will bring the cup of water to a boil in no time. Other than that, I haven't found much use for the fuel bars. Like said above, many of the packages have only powder left by the time people like you and I get them.

I find that cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly works as well as anything for fire starting.

[doktor_ecchs]

Some will probably laugh at this but I use a few dried cattails in a sealed container. The fluff makes great tinder, and cattails grow all over the place around here...:wink:

as ever,
Dr. X :fal:

[meisterdg]

thanks guys for the info.

I believe the bad taste and odor would be because trioxane breaks down into formaldehyde, and that stuff is very nasty.

I heard rumors that the military was discontinuing use of trioxane and going to an alcohol based fuel, and that is why so much trioxane is on the market right now. If the rumor is true it is about time they came up with something different, since trioxane fuel bars were invented back in the early 1930's.

[Ssarge]

What really, really pisses me off is they had warehouses filled to the brim with that crap. And you know in my 7 years in the Army I never saw one bar of it! I averaged over 300 days a year in the field with the 1-7 Cav 1st Cavalry Division, much of it eating cold C rations during both the test to see if Ft. Irwin would work as a National Training Center and the Divisional Restructure Studies. All you had was your Korean gasoline stove, with no gas or a B Rat can with a little sand and diesel or just burn the C rat box to take the chill off the C rat, or just eat the shit cold. (usually the latter) Our heaters didn't work for shit in the states, all the good ones were in Germany and Korea, so no exhaust to heat them. You didn't dare put them in the engine compartment with the terrain we were running around. Basically every time I see that shit for sale in a surplus mag it's like a bull seeing a red flag! :redface:

[iocane]

would any break fluid work

[danimal]

as mentioned most are powder... thats because one little pin hole in the foil and the trioxane will evaporate! hexamine bars are better but any of the home-made wax and tender or petrolium jelly and tender works just as good
I use dryer lint and wax

[GOVT1911]

a good, cheap firestarter is take one of those little paper cups that you put ketchup in at fastfood joints and fill it with melted wax. Just light the paper cup and it burns hot and long enough to light wet wood. A small improvement is if you mix sawdust or small wood chips with the wax. They don't take up much room at all and don't require any special handling/storage.

[GySgt D]

I had a bunch of them on order with SG about three months ago, but they canceled my order. They said that they didn't expect any more in.

Perhaps a shipment came in??

[jimbeam]

Originally posted by danimal
as mentioned most are powder... thats because one little pin hole in the foil and the trioxane will evaporate! hexamine bars are better but any of the home-made wax and tender or petrolium jelly and tender works just as good
I use dryer lint and wax

+1 on dryer lint, cheap, lightweight, and flamable.

[daemon]

no one has mentioned a 9 volt battery and steel wool. And drier sheets work better than the lint.

:cool:

[fusalautoleger]

hey i liked hexamine any one know where to get some

[fusalautoleger]

but thats why we used c4 to get a boil going.

[Deltaten]

Firestarter....

90 second magnesium flare! :D Lights damm'd near anything.

Next best is an old GirlScout trick..
wrap a strip (wide as the can is hi) of corrugated cardboard (corrugs across the strip)around itself till its the size of the can and stick it into a small tuna can. Fill w/parrafin and a pc of cotton clothesline centered as a wick. Once it gets going, it's almost un-extinguishable and gets hot enough to cook from a messkit..almost ;). Sure will heat a canteen cuppa hot enough to burn yer durned tongue!

I watched flashx use about 15 of those damm'd triox bars to get a cuppa coffee luke warm. ALl he succeded in doing was singing his fingers. I won't waste the$$ on 'em.

Paul