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Posted

Was told "Esbit" fuel is hexamine and have been trying it in a purple strobe comp. It comes in little rectangular hunks and I've been using it for decades in a little model steam engine my mom gave me too long ago.

 

Anybody know if it really is pure hexamine? It grinds up nicely to a fine powder that doesn't seem waxy.

Posted (edited)

No kidding, esbit is what i use too!

you know, im pretty sure esbit was the first brand of hexamine based fuel tablets

 

after a quick little search, i have found that one ingredient, included in esbit is trioxane, which makes fuel tablet easier to light up, since it is generally more flammable that hexamine , kinda like a priming agent.

Edited by oldmanbeefjerky
  • 1 month later...
Posted
I love hexamine. Fantastic fuel and flame enlarger. Big minus is that it's not safe to use with chlorates, though.
  • 2 months later...
Posted
My hexamine doesn't seem like that great of a fuel for non-pyro applications, maybe i just haven't "gotten after it" good enough, idk. My question is about hexamine versus hexamine nitrate in such products, anyone have any insight into the possible confusion of the two products?
Posted
I really have no idea what you're trying to ask.
Posted

the wetter the smellier though, when dissolved it stank 100 times stronger than it did slightly cakey powder

 

Hexamine hydrolyzes in water into formaldehyde and ammonia.

 

I learned that tidbit from Uncle Fester!

Posted

To clarify my earlier post, my hexamine doesn't seem particularly flammable; It burns when a flame is held to it, but goes out when removed.. It doesn't seem like a particularly valuable solid fuel for heating rations, ect, in non-pyro applications (but i recognize that its characteristics fill a certain niche within the Art).

That said, I was wondering if these camper fuel tablet/firestarter products might actually be hexamine nitrate, instead of strait hexamine, which is what I have; This seems plausable, and would actually explain a few things for me personally, like experiments i have tried that did not work out the way i had predicted.. or the hex i ordered not behaving the way those tablets i had years ago did.

Posted

Hexamine fuel tablets consist of hexamethylenetetramine & 1,3,5-trioxane

 

 

Posted (edited)

My hexamine fuel tabs evaporated into thin air. They were the military version sealed in green foil packets.

One day I was rummaging through some old gear and thought my box of fuel tabs felt awfully light.

I tore open one of the foil packets and found nothing but some residual dust.

Explain that one to me???

Edited by killforfood
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