Feather stick alternatives ?

upnorth

upnorth

Joined
Nov 25, 2006
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What alternatives are there to feather sticks in cold weather ? Last week one day was quite cold, so I just took my fatwood and some twigs then mashed them on a frozen stump with the back of my hatchet. This gave me more surface area and small fibers to catch a flame while fire starting. I was wondering what other quick and simple methods are out there to prep tinder in the cold ?
 
Vaseline lip balm in the pocket sized squeeze tube. Smear into the wood or on cotton balls, much less sloppy than a film can of petrolium jelly and cotton balls.
 
I've had to keep my Wife and her folks alive on several "camping" trips (more like living out of your car yet in a tent). They are very unprepared and I make do with sticks and stones.

Long story short, I've gone through trashcans and found napkins, tissue paper, even old (but dry) newspaper. Its amazing how much trash there is out there.
But paper smoulders, so I took my wife's lip balm and cut about a 1/4" off the end of it and smeared it all over the paper/cottonball/mass of cotton from used q-tips from the ladies doing makeup. Then you either roll the paper up into a wick/mini log of some sort, or you can mush the cotton into a greasy ball that will burn more slowly.
Feed your kindling to it, and you gots yourself a fire!

A fire and a belly full of warm grub makes dealing with folks who shouldn't be camping easier.
 
Did the PJ Cotton balls years ago. Back when Normark actually used to post. My bag now is to try and use natural local materials if possible.
 
prep your tinder ahead of time, whatever type it is. I use my wife`s old prescription bottles to stuff full of cotton balls and jelly, fatwood shavings, birch bark. and i take a few empties to collect tinder as i go...goats/old man beard, witch hair etc. For an immediate pencil lead size tinder in place of feather sticks,in a temperate woods environment try looking for clusters of dead or dying conifer needles that are turning or have turned yellow and red. even on a tree that is down and wet you may find branches off the ground and less exposed. dead fern clusters in a more tropical environment,dead yucca clusters in the desert,As always, try these and experiment in good conditions to get proficient prior to needing to use it.
For all smaller branches and even pencil lead size prep that is wet, you may need to scrape off some wet bark with a knife to eliminate the wettest stuff and give your tinder time to work up a decent bit of heat.
If your wood is actually frozen you may be able to shatter into smaller bits with a tree wrench or by hitting a tree with a decent branch, but i`ve only had this work when wood was truly frozen.
 
Dead standing pine needles are great and can often be numerous once you find one bunch.

Also, and I do this almost everytime I start fires with Birch on hand, is to check around at the base or in crooks of the tree for the clumps of matchstick thick twigs that grow out of the burls. We call these faggots. They can soon add up.

Also, a friend is often talking about the use of pine cones. I suppose the older dried up, and open ones would work best, what with all the surface area....but maybe slightly fresher ones have some pine resin in them??
 
White Pine cones, when ripe, have a spot of resin on the end of each scale.

Scots Pine in our area produces masses of dried resin - sometimes as large as a tennis ball.
 
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Evergreen sap is nice natural.

Trioxane tabs or small rubber cement tube are water resistant and light easily from lighter, match or firesteel.

Bill
 
SERE 9601 said:
prep your tinder ahead of time, whatever type it is. I use my wife`s old prescription bottles to stuff full of cotton balls and jelly, fatwood shavings, birch bark. and i take a few empties to collect tinder as i go...goats/old man beard, witch hair etc. For an immediate pencil lead size tinder in place of feather sticks,in a temperate woods environment try looking for clusters of dead or dying conifer needles that are turning or have turned yellow and red. even on a tree that is down and wet you may find branches off the ground and less exposed. dead fern clusters in a more tropical environment,dead yucca clusters in the desert,As always, try these and experiment in good conditions to get proficient prior to needing to use it.
For all smaller branches and even pencil lead size prep that is wet, you may need to scrape off some wet bark with a knife to eliminate the wettest stuff and give your tinder time to work up a decent bit of heat.
If your wood is actually frozen you may be able to shatter into smaller bits with a tree wrench or by hitting a tree with a decent branch, but i`ve only had this work when wood was truly frozen.
Click to expand...

You know.....why not eh ? We are willing to carry fatwood, or a lighter, or fire steel etc. I fight with myself on what to carry and what not to. I lean to simple basics if and when I
 
SERE 9601 said:
prep your tinder ahead of time, whatever type it is. I use my wife`s old prescription bottles to stuff full of cotton balls and jelly, fatwood shavings, birch bark. and i take a few empties to collect tinder as i go...goats/old man beard, witch hair etc. For an immediate pencil lead size tinder in place of feather sticks,in a temperate woods environment try looking for clusters of dead or dying conifer needles that are turning or have turned yellow and red. even on a tree that is down and wet you may find branches off the ground and less exposed. dead fern clusters in a more tropical environment,dead yucca clusters in the desert,As always, try these and experiment in good conditions to get proficient prior to needing to use it.
For all smaller branches and even pencil lead size prep that is wet, you may need to scrape off some wet bark with a knife to eliminate the wettest stuff and give your tinder time to work up a decent bit of heat.
If your wood is actually frozen you may be able to shatter into smaller bits with a tree wrench or by hitting a tree with a decent branch, but i`ve only had this work when wood was truly frozen.
Click to expand...

You know.....why not eh ? We are willing to carry fatwood, or a lighter, or fire steel etc. I fight with myself on what to carry and what not to. I lean to simple basics if and when I can. I was eyeballing a slough full of cat tails on the way to work the other day. I think that I want to practice with the locally available materials in whatever my environment is. BUT................................ I am darn sure going to carry proven back ups, particularly if I'm humping around in the cold. I have more experimenting to do and posts like this help me along, and, or, open up my thinking.
 
scruffuk said:
Dead standing pine needles are great and can often be numerous once you find one bunch.

Also, and I do this almost everytime I start fires with Birch on hand, is to check around at the base or in crooks of the tree for the clumps of matchstick thick twigs that grow out of the burls. We call these faggots. They can soon add up.

Also, a friend is often talking about the use of pine cones. I suppose the older dried up, and open ones would work best, what with all the surface area....but maybe slightly fresher ones have some pine resin in them??
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I no longer live in the Boreal forest. I do try to adopt some of that environments resource lesson though. In some ways it is tougher for me down here. But this makes for a good challenge.
 
Thomas Linton said:
White Pine cones, when ripe, have a spot of resin on the end of each scale.

Scots Pine in our area produces masses of dried resin - sometimes as large as a tennis ball.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have been collecting resin. I love it and it is a God send in a region without fatwwod.:thumbup:
 
Remember the rule of 3 for fire prep. Natural tinder should be collected to the point of being able to light 3 fires...a softball size at minimum before even attempting to light.You can add resin either dried or wet or other accelerant to natural tinders such as a large ball of lichen and even damp it will dry itself and work up a nice flame if you collect enough.Man made tinder and firecubes ETC that are compact yet powerfull keep lulling us into forgetting to collect large amounts of natural tinder to accomplish the same task.If you are in an area with an abundance of good natural tinder but soaking wet or marginal quality kindling material, use a crap load of tinder as a kindling stage.In cold and wet conditions i try and use hardwood twigs for a kindling/pencil lead/featherstick stage as they burn hotter and help build a sustainable base quicker,and the wet bark seems to slide right off allowing the denser dryer wood to ignite faster.Practice building fires with only 2 stages. natural tinder (other than fatwood) and thumb size fuel...this will force you to collect the proper amount of tinder and scrape your fuel to get rid of the wet bark etc and reinforce proper prep of all fuel stages prior to ignition.You can also challenge yourself to learn,collect and build fires with 10 natural tinders in your area.over time you will find yourself noticing them almost subconsciously as you go with the knowledge that you are not dependant on man made tinders.(you already mentioned cat tail fluff, go collect up a basketball size wad and light it up) My last suggestion is to collect as you go...slowly fill your pockets as you move and when you stop for the night or for lunch your pockets are stuffed full.A bit if lichen,some birch bark, globs of tree sap,some cat tail fluff, and some dead fern...it all adds up.The cold and wet are no joke when it comes to fire with any tinder much less natural...prep has to be right, and in quantity.You can also use the experience to try different ignition methods. Shoot for 10 different ways. Lighter, ferro rod, Steel wool and battery, flint and steel/charcloth, Knife and charcloth,Friction ETC.
(it`s great to be a pyro)
 
Guess it's fairy specific to Australia, but Paper Bark Tree bark is quite good:
http://www.google.com.au/search?q=P...iL6qYiAeIrIC4Bw&ved=0CEQQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=921
Aside from making good tinder, I believe Aborigines used it for cooking in earth ovens and as roofing on shelters.
You can get a lot form a single tree, as it doesn't hurt the tree, they shed the bark.
As a bonus, the trees also sometimes have a bulge which stores water that's good to drink without treatment.
 
always bring prepped tinder in case of emergency but rarely use it, I;ve had the same cotton balls for several year, I also try to avoid using the edge of my knife if possible when preppng tinder as an excercise to extend the life of my edge, But that;s just for play practice. the topography and floor of the area really dictate what is usable.
my faves: shredded bark (birch, cedar etc. )
milk weed heads, cat tail heads, phragmites heads and similar
Punk wood, sawdust and ever green sap, dried grass bundles etc.

allot of the things i mentioned are flash tinders, they will take a flame but it will quickyl need to be transitioned to a material with more longevity, a tinder bundle of grass, bark or the like is best for this.
 
Lots have been covered already.
Another one I like in winter is dead stinging nettle. Once dead the stem remains upright and dries wonderfully. If you find a site where they grow it's easy to collect a large bundle.

Dried/dead bamboo works also pretty good, you can easily whack them in small pieces with a stone.
 
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