instructables.com
It’s always fun finding new ways to start fire. No need to buy wasteful, often expensive firestarters at the store. You likely have everything you need already sitting in your bathroom.
1. Gather Materials
instructables.com
To make a bathroom firestarter, you really only need three things:
- Cotton (in any form, but most people tend to have the balls laying around)
- Alcohol (in any liquid form, but you’ll probably find rubbing alcohol in your bathroom)
- Petroleum (in any form, likely petroleum jelly aka Vaseline)
2. Tear Cotton Apart
instructables.com
Tearing your cotton apart will increase its volume, making it easier to put your petroleum jelly in it. Tearing it apart also lets it absorb more alcohol, which will make it shrink some.
3. Add Alcohol
instructables.com
Put your cotton in a cup, then pour alcohol into the cup. No need to put a lot of alcohol in there, just as much as the alcohol will absorb.
4. Mix In Some Petroleum Jelly
instructables.com
Pick up your cotton and mix the petroleum jelly into it. It’s easiest to just use your hands, but make sure to wash them before and after you’re done.
After mixing in the petroleum jelly, give your lump of cotton a good squeeze to get out any excess alcohol.
5. Light It Up!
instructables.com
Now you’re ready for fire! Put your soaked cotton on top of where you want to start your fire. You’ll want to have wood in with it to make sure your fire burns for a while.
You can light your cotton really easily using any lighter or match.
What’s really cool is your cotton burns in three stages. First the alcohol burns off, while heating the petroleum jelly. Then the petroleum jelly burns off, and finally the cotton itself burns away. It takes about 10 minutes for the entire piece to burn away fully.
Watch it in action in the video below.
h/t: instructables.com
