Steel Wool Life Hack: Lighting a Fire in 3 Easy Steps

Have you ever been stuck while camping or wanting to light a fire, only to find you don’t have a lighter or matches? Whether you’re at home or out camping, you most likely have some steel wool lying around for cleaning and possibly a 9V battery to power something. And that is literally all you need (along with some wood and kindling).

Step 1: Cover your steel wool with kindling

Okay, before that you need to find the steel wool. While any variety should work, steel wool suppliers and hardware stores should have a variety of options for your home supply, try to take the finest grade you can find. The finer the steel wool, the larger its surface area and the easier it will be to ignite.

Now that you have your fine steel wool, drop it wherever the fire should be and cover it up with your kindling.

Step 2: Press the battery to the steel wool

Your second component is the battery. While almost any type of battery will do, the easiest and most reliable variant is your typical 9V battery. Why? Because these batteries have both the positive and negative terminals next to one another for easy access.

When you press the battery to the steel wool with both terminals connecting properly, you should see a glow begin to spread through the steel wool. That is because the flow of current between the terminals has heated the fine wool (thank goodness for good steel wool suppliers).

Step 3: Blow on the fire to get it going

As with any fire, a breath of air will help fuel the smouldering embers forming in your kindling to get a true fire started. The current in the steel wool will move all the way through and around the heap that you put down, heating all of the kindling, so you should soon be able to add more fuel to the fire.

Is steel wool a lot more useful than you might think?

Yes! There are so many great uses for steel wool and its related products, such as what you’ll get from quality grease eliminator manufacturers and knitted mesh suppliers like SMI. Knitted mesh, especially, covers anything from steel wool to demisters and scourers, useful items all around the home and workplace.

Get in touch with a quality knitted mesh supplier today to find out just how useful steel wool and its relatives could be for you.