1000th post contest, 2 prizes

[defaultuser]

Great idea :thumbup:

My natural tinder of choice (because it is so available here) is birch bark:

It works fine if you pick the very fine stuff and you break it in very tiny pieces. Fatwood is the best under wet conditions, though:

It wasn't dripping wet conditions, but it rained/snowed just the day before that picture was taken...everything was damp, so I relied on the trusty fatwood Result:

Thank you for doing this!

 

[Sharp Eye]

I have come to realize that not everyone will have a chance to get out in the rain or right after a rain.

In order to have the contest open to anyone who wants to participate, I'm going to open the skills contest to any wet conditions, including artificially created ones.

The important thing is to show how to start a fire in wet conditions with naturally found tinder.

 

[Sharp Eye]

I don't get it. I can't even give stuff away around here.

I guess that I should have put "giveaway" in the title of the OP.
All you need to do to be eligible for the free stuff is to post a pict of natural tinder. (It doesn't even have to be your pict)

To all those who have posted so far both for the give away and for the contest, great job!:thumbup:

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I plan on entering for the "fire from damp environment" one tomorrow! Don't worry, I've kept the thread open on my browser the past few days!

For a natural tinder, though, I must say that my faves are (dry) pine needles, and birch bark. The pic is of my tinder bundle from my first successful bow drill fire about a month ago!

 

[C Bryant]

I don't get it. I can't even give stuff away around here.

Hahaha..... I'm waiting for rain so I get some skill pics. Clouds just moved in and it should start raining tonight!

 

[Pritch]

Here are a few for the "natural tinder" picture giveaway. They're from a thread I started almost two years ago. Natural FLASH Tinder - Dandilions!?

It'll be raining here again in any day now so I'll try to get out and start a fire in wet conditions. Of course, persuading my camera lady will be the hard part!

-- FLIX

 

[SouthernCross]

G'day Ira

The skill that I have been working on lately is starting a fire with natural tinder. The real challenge that I have had is starting a fire with found natural tinder in wet conditions.


Here are the contests:

To be in the random pick contest, post a picture of your favorite natural tinder. This has to be something that one could find in the field or make in the field from found materials.


To be in the skills contest, show photos of how to start a fire in wet conditions with naturally found tinder using a spark (ferro rod or flint and steel) or friction method. Ferro rods are fine. No matches or lighters (unless you just use the sparker). For the purpose of this post, wet conditions are in or within 4 hours of a steady rain that lasts at least 3 hours.

Whilst in the past I have contributed some suggestions on where to find dry tinder in wet conditions, unfortunately I'll have to pass on this one, as it's been dry here lately (but hey, it's Australia after all )

Congrats on your 1K posts :thumbup:



Kind regards
Mick

 

[Sharp Eye]

Thanks Flix.
I have not tried dandelion yet. I'll have to give it a whirl.
Did you also try milkweed or thistle?

Thanks Mick,
Hope that you guys get the right amount of rain soon.

FourtyTwoBlades,
I have not had much luck with pine needles. Is there a trick to choosing the right ones?

C Bryant,
I look forward to your skills post.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

With pine needles you need to pack them together tightly and make sure they're dry! Damp pine needles will smolder and won't "flash" properly. However, no matter how tightly you pack them you can't overdo it. There will always be plenty of room for air circulation. Having a few wood shavings or other extender tinder helps too.

The hardest part with pine needles is getting them to continue burning after the initial ignition. Once you're able to get actual flame, though, you're on easy street.

 

[KuRUpTD]

Natural Tinder

Tinder Fungus:

More Tinder Fungus:

Birds nest: no real work involved

 

[eastr77]

alrite heres mine for makeing natural tinder boxs. it had been raining for 2 weeks you can see color diffs in the wood wet and dry spots. the wood on top is wet to but the inside of the box is dry and i stuffed it with cedar bark. there is a yellow flame coming out the top of it. it drys the wood to ignition temp then burns it ,and once the inside get so hot it lites the inside giveing you good coals.the hole box fall in on its sell and you have a way to dry tinder to build yur fire.

here my fatwood firesteelset up i made for some of my nephews and my son

alrite hope that will get me in the skillz part of the contest

 

[Fonly]

What about months of snow and sping here? lots of nasty wet stuff.

 

[milani74]

Thanks for the chance to win something and congrats on your milestone! I am kinda new here (just shy of 6 months of lurking) but have learned so much from all of you. Thank you!
It has rained a lot here in the last couple of days but not today. But.. I have the added pressure of the in-law that was skeptical that I could start a fire without a match/lighter.
Here is what I choose as tinder. I gathered it from the underside of a large downed, dead tree and the ground was still very wet.

I added some fatwood shavings from some dead pine stumps.

Pine needles work very well in fact.

 

[milani74]

I posted this in the RAT forums and guess it fits here too!
It rained here today with a lot of winds and tornado warnings.. So logically I wanted to start a fire!

Here was what I used for natural tinder. I have no idea what type vine it is, but the fibers caught fire with ease and was not wet dispite the heavy rain we had.

 

[dipbait]

I only have one natural tender pic taken this winter. But it was all dry. Dry Cattails start easily. They burn so quickly that other tender must be added swiftly.

When finished light the victory cigar.

 

[dipbait]

Im in this contest .

It rained most of the night and day. Everything is damp. My twelve year old took the photos. First I gathered the driest tender I could find. It was all damp and would be hard to start. Found some old Horseweeds and split them to get to the dry stuff.

Then scraped the insides out with my green JK>

Used the JK to throw some sparks

Success. Had fire in no time.The inside of the horseweeds worked better than I thought. Its the first time Ive tried them.

 

[dipbait]

Milan74, That hairy vine you used resembles poison ivy.

 

[Sharp Eye]

Great posts milani74 and dipbait.:thumbup:
Keep them coming folks.

 

[JC in SC]

Milan74, That hairy vine you used resembles poison ivy.

That is the first thing that came to my mind as well. Perhaps he isn't allergic.

 

[milani74]

Really? I didnt think poison ivy got that big. At any rate, I think you are correct in the fact I am unaffected by it. My son got it bad the 2 weeks ago when we walked through the woods. I dont think I have ever had a rash from it.
It made excellent tinder whatever it was!