Step Eight: Put the Survival Fire Putty in Place and Light it Up!
It is best to put your fire putty on a log or other surface that can handle fire. In the image below, survival fire putty prepared with gasoline is on the left and the acetone one is on the right.
As you can see, the gasoline one produces a much higher and more intense flame, but they both work. Also, the acetone survival fire putty does not let off as much smoke.
In this particular experiment, the acetone putty burned for 4 ½ minutes in the rain before it went out. This gives you a good amount of time to get a larger fire going by placing kindling and wood over the putty. The gasoline lasted one minute longer if you need more time.
RELATED: How to Build a Smokeless Survival Fire [VIDEO]
Ultimately, the advantage of making survival fire putty with Styrofoam instead of simply pouring gasoline or acetone on wood is that the Styrofoam helps the fire burn stronger and hotter. This makes it much easier to get a solid fire going that, if well-tended, will last through the night. Make sure you are careful at all times while working with this substance as the base components are the same items that were used to make napalm!