Paracord Core as a Fire Starter

Perry

Formerly Cuberant
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This guy makes a pretty good case for using the core of paracord as a best, budget friendly fire starter. Anyone had any experience using it?

 
Yes I have as a test, and it worked... at least on the brand I used. But it's kinda of an opportunity cost sort of thing. The times I've needed paracord as paracord are far far greater than the times I've needed it for a fire starter. My go to fire starter is still Vaseline soaked cotton balls. It is good to know that paracord can be used in a pinch though.
 
I am a Vaseline-soaked cotton ball guy too. I was thinking if one were to prep the paracord core ahead of time and stash in a container it might be handy.


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I liked in the video that a big wad of it burned for so long. I imagine that would be a simple way to get something going if things were damp.
 
Something about burning plastic to start a fire feels wrong to me, but maybe it's just from being in Boy Scouts. But I guess it's a small amount of plastic. You could probably burn a Ziploc bag or a granola bar wrapper to start a fire too....

I'm in the petroleum jelly and cotton balls camp as well.
 
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Something about burning plastic to start a fire feels wrong to me, but maybe it's just from being in Boy Scouts. But I guess it's a small amount of plastic. You could probably burn a Ziploc bag or a granola bar wrapper to start a fire too....

I'm in the petroleum jelly and cotton balls camp as well.

Same kinds of thoughts here as well. Plastics give off toxic fumes when combusting. For that reason I don’t like dryer lint either. There are so many good materials for this but plastics are not one of them.
 
Same kinds of thoughts here as well. Plastics give off toxic fumes when combusting. For that reason I don’t like dryer lint either. There are so many good survival bracelet materials for this but plastics are not one of them.

I feel like this depends what kind of situation you're in obvsly. but when time and resources aren't on your side, you gotta do what you gotta do.
 
Come to think of it I usually cut a cross out of cutboard and wrap my 550 around it, that it doesn't get tangled and you can use the cardboard to burn
 
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