Natural Tinder

[JameyStanley]

Any body got any good Ideas for natural tinder? And I don't mean Vaseline and cotton balls, or dryer lint or anything like that. I am talking about stuff you find in the woods. Such as cedar/ juniper bark, cat tail, thistle down stuff like that. What have you guys tried? What works? What doesn't work? Where do you find it? and how do you prepare it to take a spark?

 

[Barney]

There are some mushrooms that when dried or found dry can hold up sparks for hours, even when stored in your backpack, as can be seen in one of Bear Grylls episodes.

 

[ChadTower]

Anything dry and with a lot of air inside it is a good candidate. That's why you often look in the trees first. It's off the ground. The key is finding it dry, fluffing it up so there is enough to keep lit for a minute or two and enough air in it to keep that tiny coal and expand when you blow on it.

Maybe the most important part of it all isn't the tinder but your patience. You have to be willing to blow a tiny bit... let the coal expand... blow a tiny bit more... let it expand... eventually let it heat up the bundle until the material combusts. That's when you put the second layer of material on it or stick it in your teepee/log cabin/pile/whatever you prepared.

 

[GROUNDpounder]

Use cat tails, dead trees use your knife and skim them making rolls of fibers, mushrooms (the ones that grow on trees) many different plants give tinder.

 

[ChadTower]

Use cat tails, dead trees use your knife and skim them making rolls of fibers, mushrooms (the ones that grow on trees) many different plants give tinder.

You can skim dead trees with a rock, too, if saving the knife is a concern.

 

[outwest]

I have always heard that Cattail fluff is pretty decent to work with but I have never used it myself. Maybe the next trip out we can remember, each time we do its always after the fire is already going.

 

[ChadTower]

What stops you from continuing to experiment after the fire is going? That is when I learn the most.

 

[Michael]

Dry grass works pretty well. There's a big clump of the stuff near the spot where my brothers and I camp that has been starting fires the past couple of trips.

I've heard that fine slivers of fatwood are excellent for making fires. I haven't tried it, but I know of a fallen pine tree that I can get some from, and I plan to test it out.

 

[Dura Mater]

Here are some of the most common tinders around me (Midwest) weather permitting.
Left to Right: goldenrod, thistle, milkweed ovum, cattail, and a birds nest (happened to come by an old one)

Some of these are flash tinders meaning that you better have a secondary tinder ready right quick. They will all work charred except for goldenrod, I cannot get goldenrod to take a spark but it burns long and hot when in the raw, go figure. I also have some cedar for inner bark but many trees will provide useful inner bark.

Now I'll share my big secret with you all... you don't need to look for tinder regardless of the conditions. There is ALWAYS dry tinder right under your nose. Inner heartwood scrapings from any standing dead wood will provide everything you need for a fire including tinder, kindling, and fuel. Just split it down to get to the inside and scrape the blade of your knife at a 90 degree angle to make fine scrapings (not feathers, that's the next step).

The following picture is a test of some wood I was experimenting with, there should be a much larger pile to start a fire but that wasn't the intent here.

 

[rayne]

After you use the fluffy stuff to get the fire going, I have always found cedar chips work quite well to increase and hold the blaze while larger wood takes the flame. Cedar, green or dry works well. Dry works better of course.

 

[Pathfinder1]

What stops you from continuing to experiment after the fire is going? That is when I learn the most.

Is that what your avatar is depicting? LOL

 

[Pathfinder1]

Hi...


All good suggestions. I'm a bit surprised that nobody mentioned birch bark...which also is a very good tinder...dry, of course...as has been stressed above.

 

[ppine]

I like evergreens with a lot of volatile resins, like cedar and juniper. An old stump with pitch in it is great. Birch bark if I can find it. Pine cones and dried needles.

Great knives by Ghostdog. Very utilitarian, but beautiful execution.

 

[ghostdog]

Like ppine says, resinous woods like pine or juniper. This is where your most valuable tool comes in, the knife. You need a blade that takes a very fine edge and holds it well. Shave paper thin curls off of your chosen dry wood. These will take a spark into flame quickly. Experiment with your local materials. This is easy to do in your backyard and a good place to hone your skills. I see other good ideas and materials on this thread.

Blind Horse makes a good little knife for this, their amazing little Bushbaby. It is full flat ground with a very thin edge. Here it is next to a SAK Farmer for size. The blade steel is 01, good carbon steel.

Also look for a knife with a Scandinavian edge, or as they call it, a scandi edge. A lot of the high end Scandinavian knives are expensive, especially now that the Euro is so expensive. About 8 or 9 years ago I sent off to a place in Finland and got the materials to assemble my own for 20 bucks. Prices have most likely gone up and I think now one can find most of this stuff in the US. The beautiful wood, the extreme curly birch is becoming much harder to find but you can use other woods too. The blade I used is a Lauri carbon blade and I made the nickel silver bolsters with a piece of stock I got from the guy in Finland as well. In the winter I use this knife every day right here at home. It has become perhaps my most favorite knife for fire making.

A smaller version is great for taking along in a pack but you can get a lot of knives to work for you if they will take a good edge and hold it sufficiently well. I prefer a strong, light fixed blade as I have had a large, tough Al Mar SERE folder fail on me at a costly time at 10,000' in an intense storm.

So, get a good knife and almost anything is tinder. You can shred bark real fine or most any kind of wood. Again dry, soft, resinous woods are superb for taking a spark to flame. Experiment, experiment, experiment.

 

[Dura Mater]

Here is an example of making scrapings for tinder from splitwood. It's the only example I had on file. If anyone is interested I can do a more thorough tutorial for this method of firemaking.

This picture is my friend working, I am better suited to be off camera due to my severe ugliness. :tinysmile_twink_t: Oh and the blurry thing in the top right is a piece of fatwood that came to attack us. Kind of an inside joke sorry but it's my only picture of this.

 

[Dura Mater]

I like evergreens with a lot of volatile resins, like cedar and juniper. An old stump with pitch in it is great. Birch bark if I can find it. Pine cones and dried needles.

I wish I had access to pine, or birch, or large cedar stands but here in the Hardwoods it can be difficult. Those are some great tinders mother nature has provided for us. I am envious of some of you who can find those readily.

 

[Little Kitty]

I am going to have to add to my list of possible kindlings now. So, the fungus like mushrooms that grow on trees is good for kindling? I never thought of that, I assumed the mushroom was moist.