How to Make Vaseline Cotton Balls for Tinder

averageiowaguy

averageiowaguy

Joined
Mar 22, 2011
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A very quick video on how to make Vaseline cotton balls. Actually I show how to make an entire tinder kit in about a minute. The intended audience for this video is someone who has read about Vaseline cotton balls but who is wondering exactly how they are made. Up until a few years ago I just used plain old cotton balls until I read about Vaseline cotton balls. Enjoy!
[video=youtube;-tKi2u0YVGs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tKi2u0YVGs[/video]
 
Cool video :) It's funny how folks new to this trick over think it so much that they have issues getting the Vaseline into the cotton ball. I do mine up in a sandwich baggie. I put a dollop of Vaseline in the bag then add cotton balls(10-15). Then knead it till there are no more Vaseline globs :) Usually only a minute or two to do.
 
Bill Siegle said:
Cool video :) It's funny how folks new to this trick over think it so much that they have issues getting the Vaseline into the cotton ball. I do mine up in a sandwich baggie. I put a dollop of Vaseline in the bag then add cotton balls(10-15). Then knead it till there are no more Vaseline globs :) Usually only a minute or two to do.
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That is a very good idea! I'm stealing it the next time I need a batch.
 
Ya'll are goin' about this the hard way. It's much easier to melt your pj in the microwave & pour it into a ziplok of cottom balls. Then knead it. No muss. No fuss. PJ soaks into the cotton a WHOLE lot easier & more thoroughly this way! You'll get a much better burn time from each cotton ball as well.
 
Bowman1911 said:
Ya'll are goin' about this the hard way. It's much easier to melt your pj in the microwave & pour it into a ziplok of cottom balls. Then knead it. No muss. No fuss. PJ soaks into the cotton a WHOLE lot easier & more thoroughly this way! You'll get a much better burn time from each cotton ball as well.
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That's a great idea!!! Next time i'm making up a 'batch', i'll be cookin' away!
 
I use Liquid Parafin (Parmasutical Grade Mineral Oil) \thicker than Baby Oil
I take a plastic waterproof match container
Fill it half full with the oil, then fill the container with cotton wool
The cotton really compresses
I then keep topping up with the mineral oil

A small amount of soaked cotton when fluffed burns a long long time
The plastic match boxes are a couple of dollars in REI and places like that,
and they come with a plastic seal between the lid and container, make sure it is seated correctly

This method only take a few minutes
And topping up the container after use is really easy
 
Jeez it has been a while since I whipped some of these up. Good tips here, thanks. When I first did these years ago I believe that I melted a block of parrafin wax and sloshed them around. Simpler and easier tips here.
 
I tried the melted vaseline dumped over cotton balls in a bag. I'm not sure which cotton balls got hit by the molten vaseline and which didn't. LOL! It gets soaked up really quickly by the first few cotton balls. I'm sure those ones at the top are going to be like dynamite. :)
 
I've been back here in the stoneage carrying little baggies full of dryer lint and wood shavings!
I am about to raid my medicine cabinet.
Thanks for the vid.
 
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I raided my wife's makeup drawer and she only had flat cotton squares.

So I took one piece and wiped some vaseline on it, then covered it with another piece like a sandwich.

Just before lighting, I fluffed up the cotton and hit it with a spark. Burn time was 2 minutes+

So no kneading or melting needed, and its not a sticky ball to handle or store in a bag.
 
Fluffed cotton takes a better spark from a firesteel.
Does anything burn longer than cotton?
 
completely saturated cotton balls are harder to light if you cant pluck up some dry cotton to catch the spark.
 
angle iron said:
completely saturated cotton balls are harder to light if you cant pluck up some dry cotton to catch the spark.
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That's been my experience as well. I still carry some this way, but I add a non-saturated cottonball to each bag of soaked PJCBs. That way I can get them lit easier.
 
I just take a jar of generic vaseline, put it in a pot with shallow/er water on low on the stove & melt the vaseline to liquid. Then carefully remove & dip cotton balls into it. Works excellent. Had no issues starting it with a cheap HFreight firestarter. Burn time was a consistent 12 minutes. I made like 200 of them for the 2012 WNY Knife Gathering, as "thanks for showing up" gifts.
 
averageiowaguy said:
I tried the melted vaseline dumped over cotton balls in a bag. I'm not sure which cotton balls got hit by the molten vaseline and which didn't. LOL! It gets soaked up really quickly by the first few cotton balls. I'm sure those ones at the top are going to be like dynamite. :)
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Yupper, I did it myself yesterday. I've never heard of melting the vaseline before, pretty cool tip. The entire result was much cleaner than my prior slathering everything up with this goo.
:D :thumbup:
 
upnorth said:
Yupper, I did it myself yesterday. I've never heard of melting the vaseline before, pretty cool tip. The entire result was much cleaner than my prior slathering everything up with this goo.
:D :thumbup:
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Terrill Hoffman just warned me to be careful with this stuff in the microwave. Apparently it can catch on fire and when it does it smokes your whole house up for weeks. The ladies evacuate.
 
averageiowaguy said:
Terrill Hoffman just warned me to be careful with this stuff in the microwave. Apparently it can catch on fire and when it does it smokes your whole house up for weeks. The ladies evacuate.
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Yeah this is true, but it only takes a few seconds in the nuker but you definitely should keep a close eye on it. If you've ever nuked peanut butter, (I work in an environ where I used to hand make peanut butter crackers for 20+ psych patients at a time) it re4acts a LOT like peanut butter in the microwave. A little time goes a long way!;)
 
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