The firestarter's "cheat"

[Refrigerator]

BCBabe....as soon as I read his post Everclear I was thinking spiked watermelon. Way back when I wuz yunger....we took a Watermelon and cut a round hole on top keeping the plug. Poured Everclear down the hatch and plugged that ole watermelon and fridged it for 3 days...whoooooo geez I will never forget that one....whooo

[BCBabe]

O my... um, ok, let me up the ante, then....

It's called YUKKA FLUX. It needs a NEW, clean (washed) garbage can with a snap-on lid. It needs 5 gallons of Everclear, and as much melon and pineapple as you can stuff into the booze.

Now you let it sit, sealed, for 2 days.

On party day, add four bags of ice and a few gallons of soda water.

All guests must add something to said can as a condition of participating in the party.
Eating the fruit will get you so damned plastered you'll fall off your chair.

If I told you that my one granddad ran a potato still.... hahah.... and that the sour mash would burn right down to your toes... I remember watching the older guys jumping over a bonfire one night after getting into that still, and my gran goin' ape because those dummies had soaked the legs of their Levi's in gasoline beforehand.

Stupidity isn't always injurious or fatal.

[BCBabe]

And Dude, if you're going up to Alaska, inquire about what being "Hyderized" means.... one of the worst hangovers I ever saw my Dad sporting was because he'd been up there and been "Hyderized"; my mom had no clue why my siblings and I were howling with laughter when he came home as haggard and hung as a street bum sporting the official shirt for the experience.

[Grandpa]

Hope that garbage can isn't galvanized. The alcohol absorbs the zinc out of the galvanization and can sicken or kill you. We did that in college with a wash tub, half the dorm was in the hospital by morning. Watermelon is a much better "container".

[BCBabe]

@ Grandpa: nope, it has always been a plastic garbage can; galvanized ones aren't even sold where I am, they were outlawed years ago.

[le Metis]

For wet weather, my method is to split out a dead jack pine, and use cedar bark as tender

[oldsarge]

I picked up a gross of military heat tabs (Trioxelyne) from "Cheaper than dirt " surplus. Lasted me forever, still have some around too. I think "The Sportsman Guide.com" is selling them also. It's a whole case and a bit pricey. Heat tabs work great but they do give off fumes. Can't use then in an enclosed space. It's like getting hit with tear gas!

[TheMadPaddler]

Fatwood! Doesnt require waterproof storage and will always light with a match or a bic. It works as good a firelog pieces without any residue. one bundle about the size of a beer can will last me the better part of a season. I get mine from a local Christmas tree farm. When the sap rises on the previous year's stumps and boils out of the top, you slice off the jelly-like sap and set aside. Then simply cut off the stump and dry it. After seasoning just split it into slivers just under pencil size. When dried the sap (fat) makes the wood 'waterproof'. I have literally wiped the water off a piece and lit it with a match. I carry a flint/steel kit with charcloth and dryer lint as an emergency kit but rely on a bic and fatwood. You can also purchase fatwood bundles already seasoned, split and bundled online. Good luck and keep your fire clean!