Your Choice of tinders

[Mouse040]

I love nothing more than playing with different bushy things and this weekend I'm collecting different tinders for a demo I'm doing next week I have my obvious favorates and was wondering what everyone else likes and why

[David_JAFO]

hello,
Likewise it depends what is available time of year etc.. of the natural tinder variety. Horse's hoof fungus or tinder fungus. the fungus it is used as tinder & also used when smouldering as a portable firelighter :wink:
Regards
David

[saxonaxe]

75% of the time..Fluffed up Birch bark, sometimes treated Cotton wool.

[Dave ward]

I like waxed jute twine as it burns hot and long enough for even damp (not wet) kindling to catch a light, also cottonballs saturated in candle wax, easy to mold before the wax hardens. They burn for 10mins maybe more and very hot and high flames and 1 cottonball done this way can boil water by its self without any kindling etc. Natural tinders, pine tree fat wood, pine sap on fine scrapings of birch bark makes an awesome tinder combo!

[OakAshandThorn]

As far as natural tinders, I am very fond of thistledown, scraped birch bark (I find Betula alleghaniensis to be the best), juniper bark, and pitchwood. Thistledown is Nature's version of cotton wool (but it burns much quicker) and can be found in quantity in meadows during autumn and early winter. Birch bark is an old favourite particularly because it will catch a spark even when wet - same with pitchwood (which some people call "fatwood"). Juniper is readily available in my area, so one cannot exclude it ;).

[Ashley Cawley]

Checkout fluffed up cattail reed if you haven't tried it before, it goes up in a flash but can be good for demos and you can experiment with mixing in other extenders.

[FishyFolk]

Birch bark just about every time. Preferably lit by a spark from a steel cought in chaga and blown into an ember :-)

[jacko1066]

Other than birch bark I have not really got a clue when it comes to natural tinders.

I tend to make the wax biscuits at home which are cotton make up pads soaked in a little candle wax.

I also use BBQ natural fire lighters quite a lot. A big block can be bought for a quid and will make up to 24 fires, if you scrape them with your knife it will take a spark from a ferrocium rod.

[David_JAFO]

hello,
Cattail reed I used recently in a demo as it was in abundance on the pond near to our outdoor class, Zip fire lighters *caution they do pong of accelerant, Birch bark or Pine bark shredded latter I keep a Zip Lock bag of this bone dry on the shelf annually for TGO, & as said previous post 'Horse's hoof fungus' :wink:
Regards
David

[beermaker]

Red diesel! ;)

Joking aside, for natural tinders i'm a big fan of birch bark, fatwood, king alfreds cakes/cramp balls, and pine resin. I also found that my neighbours elephant grass seed heads are very good too, a little like cattail or kapok.

For pre-prepared tinders, my favourite is always char cloth, closely followed by vaseline and cotton wool balls, jute twine and waxed cotton wool pads

[-Tim-]

I am re-kindling this thread.....*groan* I know, I'm sorry for the pun...

When out and about I carry cotton wool with petroleum jelly well and truly "kneaded in"
It is cheap, can be used after a dunking (useful when in or indeed out of a canoe) lights off a spark :campfire:, simples

Cheers
Tim

[Paul De Fitter]

I use my self made sure fire pad's, it's a combo waxed/vasaline cotton pad.
To make, take your cotton pad & smear a small amount of vasaline on one side, staying about 1/8" 2-3mm from the edge.
Pick up the pad with tweezers on the vasiline side, quickly dip in hot wax & put aside to dry.
To use them I break off about a 1/4 of the pad, fluff up the edge a bit, & light it with a spark from the ferro rod, a 1/4 pad will burn for about 4 minute's.
They are water proof, even after tearing off a bit (yes I've tried this) 2 pads, enough for 8 fiers, takes up very little room in your kit & weighs little
I collect Birch bark & what ever I can find on my way to camp & allways try to light a fire with these, dont allways succeed though. :ashamed:

[jus_young]

I am re-kindling this thread.....*groan* I know, I'm sorry for the pun...

When out and about I carry cotton wool with petroleum jelly well and truly "kneaded in"
It is cheap, can be used after a dunking (useful when in or indeed out of a canoe) lights off a spark :campfire:, simples

Cheers
Tim

Had my Scouts making some of these last night, stuffed them into sections of drinking straw and sealed the ends up for little firefighters when needed.

[Dan XF]

I'm with Tim on this one, cottonwool balls smeared with vaseline is great. Use a bit of vaporub instead for a more interesting smell. I keep mine in an old curiously strong mints tin and they catch off a spark every time. I've used them nearly every day in Kurdistan much to the amazement of the locals. They have never seen ferro rods before and I always end up giving mine away with my opinel knife. Have a look on the Ravenlore website that Ashley recommends, he carries some pine cones dipped in wax with a piece of cotton as a wick. They burn for 10 minutes, but I haven't tried them myself. Another good tip he shows is to carry a pencil sharpener to make fine tinder. Why no one else has come up with this before is beyond me. It's one of those simple yet genius things. Like carrying coffee beans in a pepper grinder so you can have fresh ground coffee in the field.

[-Tim-]

I'm with Tim on this one, cottonwool balls smeared with vaseline is great. Use a bit of vaporub instead for a more interesting smell. I keep mine in an old curiously strong mints tin and they catch off a spark every time. I've used them nearly every day in Kurdistan much to the amazement of the locals. They have never seen ferro rods before and I always end up giving mine away with my opinel knife. Have a look on the Ravenlore website that Ashley recommends, he carries some pine cones dipped in wax with a piece of cotton as a wick. They burn for 10 minutes, but I haven't tried them myself. Another good tip he shows is to carry a pencil sharpener to make fine tinder. Why no one else has come up with this before is beyond me. It's one of those simple yet genius things. Like carrying coffee beans in a pepper grinder so you can have fresh ground coffee in the field.

Liking some of those ideas, especially the "pepper/coffee grinder"

Cheers
Tim

[Sylvanbilly]

I do love these things, not totally natural but very very handy to have in anyone's kit. http://www.naturalbushcraft.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=7403

I love playing with king Arthurs cakes, I harvest them off dead fallen ash, when ever I see them on my walks then leave them in the garage to dry naturally, wild clematis when in season, birch bark is a favourite, but would love to try lighting with the old black flint and steel or what's that iron in rock called?

[blacksmith]

I heard the SAS use tampons. They are extremely dry cotton wool.

[woodsman]

Majority of the time I use nothing but birch bark, occasionally I use a tampon with some PJ im windy/wet conditions.

[FishyFolk]

I use either chaga if I have it, or char cloth. For kindling I use birch bark exclusively.

Either direct with a modern type fire steel. ususly have it lit within 3-4 strokes with the steel. Or blow it into life with an ember from char cloth or chaga crated with an old school steel and flint.

[f0rm4t]

Birch bark just about every time. Preferably lit by a spark from a steel cought in chaga and blown into an ember :-)

...At least you're consistent Rune! :happy-clapping:

[f0rm4t]

1st Cotton wool & Vaseline (petroleum jelly)
2nd Birch bark fluff
3rd Superfine feather-stick

[squirrelbutty]

the seed fluff from rosebay willoherb works quite well.

[midas]

I think there a "little Pyromaniac"in all of us!!!Have started assembling a "tinder box"with a collection of all the above.
Even a jar of the "soap n lighter fuel"!!!!

[jbrown14]

This is a great thread. :D

Just after this past christmas, we had our extended family over at my house and I showed my nephew how to catch a spark in some fluffed up jute twine from his new ferro rod which he received for christmas. I also showed him the glories of dryer lint. :)

I keep a small bag of dryer lint, very fine steel wool, and a few strips of birch bark in my tinder kit as backup if I can't find natural tinder.

I love fluffed up cedar bark with some birch bark, milkweed seed pods at the right time of year are amazing. More often than not, I just grab a fistful of curls off the nearest birch tree as I'm walking and stuff it in a pocket for later.

Good stuff.

Josh

[NorthernYeti]

i have a tub of charcloth in my kit, and a pot of cotton wool and magnesium shavings for those gotta get warm moments but my natural has to be birch bark!

[Realbark]

Jute twine n cotton wool balls spread out. i do have one of those stash pods with magnesium powder in it but ive never used it to my embarrassment :)

[-Tim-]

Pyromaniacs of the world

:campfire: IGNIGHT!:campfire:

[midas]

Nice one Tim>lol

[Midge_Fodder]

Whatever comes to hand first. I don't look at tinder as a specific thing but more a collection of characteristics.

[DuxDawg]

Whatever comes to hand first. I don't look at tinder as a specific thing but more a collection of characteristics.Nicely put. T^



Reading this thread just now I keep coming back to one thought. Y'all stampeded right past the most obvious (to me) consideration: tinder for what, with what.

I differentiate between primary and secondary tinders. Primary tinders are the first thing that ignites. Secondary tinders are finer than kindling and their purpose is to keep the flames going. Which any material is depends upon the use in mind.

Look at grass. With a ferro grass is a primary tinder. With F&S or a fresnel grass is a secondary. All forms of char are a primary with a ferro or fresnel. Only certain chars are a primary with F&S. With a ferro cattail fluff is a primary. But, it is such a flash tinder it is difficult to sustain the flames from it... unless you mix a secondary tinder in with it. Grass, leaves, pine needles, birch bark, etc are excellent secondary tinders for this. I normally mix 2/3 cattail fluff to 1/3 secondary and have plenty of extra secondary ready to hand.

Then there is processing. I have produced flame with a ferro from green wood, fresh from the tree and still dripping sap, by processing it finely enough and scraping the ferro enough times. Efficient? Hardly. Never going to be my go to tinder. But... in a "both legs are broke and I'm going into hypothermia" scenario will it work? Yup. I have watched many struggle and fail simply because they did not understand the value of processing. They became more frustrated by the minute and when they gave up, I then took their tinder and their ignition tool and produced flames in seconds merely by processing their tinder for a few more seconds. Maybe it is because I am frugal but it just makes more sense to me to process the tinder for a few more seconds than to scrape more dollars off the ferro or steel.

So you see, which material is good for what depends upon the task at hand.

Ciao y'all. :D

[Greenbear]

Jute string fluffed out and homemade charcloth or charcord for me :)

[OakAshandThorn]

Add Tuliptree (aka Whitewood, Tulip Poplar, Yellow Poplar) to my list. Inner bark is wicked for tinder bundles...very fibrous :)