How to make tinder?

J

JReilly

Joined
Apr 12, 2007
Messages
130
Out of curiosity, i tryed to make a tinder nest this weekend while camping, and i couldnt pull it off. How do you do this? is there a certain type of bark you strip or something? i need something non-fungus (i can never seem to find fungi) that will catch a spark, and it has to be easily made in the woods. Thanks in advance!

-Reilly
 
well,
where are you, depending where what plants that live in your area the tinder changes, get some cat tail heads for flash tinder, dried grass and bark that you rub over a tree limb to soften, pine needles, dried lower limbs from pine trees, pine sap, all may be helpfull ot you. look for old mans beard in trees, and grab as much birch bark as you can as it lights readily.

alex
 
Hey Guys..

JR...

almost any dried grass can be used as tinder.. You just have to have enough of it to make a nice bundle, while still allowing air to pass through it...

Cedar bark works very well,, as does grape vine bark, cat tail fluff/leaves...

I think maybe it's not what you are using,, but how you are using it...

How are you using it ??

First thing you need is a coal or ember from something...

Place it in the bundle,, fold it over and raise it above your head, and blow onto the ember.. If it's a fragile or weak ember,, you have to be careful how hard you blow..
If if it's a strong ember with alot of fuel,,such as a square of char cloth,, you can really blow hard on it..
Long steady puffs..

The bundle will smoke like mad,, when it's ready it will burst into flames..
You transfer that burning tinder bundle to you kindling...

Just gotta keep working on it,, but remember,, you ember must come in contact with your tinder, thats why a good amount is needed...

If it's not coming in contact with it,, then squeeze it together carefully while still allowing air to pass through it....

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
Hey Guys..

Sherlock...

The trick to pine needles is you need a good sized pile of them.....

Place you burning tinder ontop,, scoop from underneather, hold the tinder with your thumbs or thumb and fold it in on itself..

Then blow like a Mother....

You have to get them hot enough to combust..

Once they do,, it's like gasoline going up..
They are VERY flammable..

It for sure can be done...

Biggest trick is having tinder large enough that it won't burn out on you before the needles combust.... They can hold moisture from the ground,,so only select top layers should be used..

If you are using a coal from a fire bow, or Piston, you should probably use an Tinder extender, such as char cloth, or a chunck of punk wood or tinder fungus...


ttyle

Eric
O/ST


Char cloth on it's own will do the job....
 
I'll give that a try next time I'm out. But there are enough birch tree fallen over everywhere around here that I've never really gave the pine needles are real chance.

I have never done the tinder bundle trick with them before, but it work great with the tiny branches at the bottom of the pine tree.
 
Its been talked about here before but if you got a pencil sharpener you got all the tinder you can use right there. Go to a make up section where you can pick up a metal sharpener for cheap. Whill walking around just pick up a few sticks. You are all set. I even used damp sticks what i did was put them in a pocket close to my skin. By afternoon they would be dry and ready to go.
But then i live in SO CALI so lots of dry grass and sticks.

Sasha
 
OK I'm gonna let you in on a secret here....the reason most people fail to get a fire is that their tinder is too large !!!
I have tried most of the suggestions mentioned here and one that I struggle with is the Cat tail fluff, it does catch a spark but goes out straight away !
The one I'm going to recommend to you is Ceder Bark...this is how you collect the fine stuff....
Francisking010.jpg


And to prove it catches I set light to it with my striker/rod....
Francisking.jpg


It still took me quite a few attempts but as soon as you see a spark catch you have to blow it wait a second or two and blow again untill it takes hold !!!
 
If you come across an old birds nest , that can make good tinder as well !!!
 
First of all carry some tinder: dryer lint, Tinder Quick tabs, cotton balls with petroleum jelly, etc. Alcohol gel hand cleaner is a good backup too.

Found tinder is any dry stuff you can get into thin sections that will burn. Others mentioned bark scrapings and cattail heads. I look for small branches still attached to the tree (usually evergreen), so it's not wet from lying on the ground. I take the small stuff and make feather sticks and shavings. Some dry mosses will burn too, although I usually end up smoking myself in the process.

Don't expect the stuff to light up like a match or a birthday candle-- you get a little coal going and it's time to start puffing. Practice makes perfect-- try it before you are cold, wet, shivering, and it's dark and pouring buckets.

And that's why I carry matches and lighters and a firesteel and tinder and solid fuel tablets. I've never had extensive hypothermia, but I've treated someone who did (near drowning in snow runoff river) and he wasn't going to get out a bow and make a fire, that's for darn sure!

I still want a fire-starting flare that comes in a little can with a stiker or pull cord. If you don't mind the weight, a road flare will get anything burning.
 
Hey Guys....

Dale...


DaleW said:
Found tinder is any dry stuff you can get into thin sections that will burn.
Click to expand...

Actually I think it is widely regarded that "Tinder" is anything that will catch or take a spark, or that will combust such as dust from a Fire bow, or char cloth with a magnifying glass ect...

Agreed that in a case like yours,, something quick needs to be used to make a fire reliably..

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
Anything fine and dry. If you are doing this with a spark, you'll want to carry tinder with you just to be sure. Magnesium flakes or 0000 steel wool work great for ferrorod and flint sparks.
 
pitdog said:
I have tried most of the suggestions mentioned here and one that I struggle with is the Cat tail fluff, it does catch a spark but goes out straight away ! The one I'm going to recommend to you is Ceder Bark.
Click to expand...

Hey pitdog,

The secret to using the female flower head of the Cattail (Typha spp.) is to have some very fine, wispy pieces of Birch (Betula papyrifera) bark in the Cattail. It has to be fine and wispy otherwise it takes too long to get it going.

This also is a good idea, to a certain extent with Cedar (Thuja occidentalis) as it goes out fairly quickly (not near as fast as Cattail, though), at least it does with our Eastern White Cedar, but it can be blown back into flame.

If you come across an old birds nest , that can make good tinder as well !!!
Click to expand...

Very true, but don't breathe in the fumes. Apparently some nasty little bugs can be found in old bird's nests.

And as far as Pine (Pinus spp.) needles go, (Normark quote:) "Then blow like a Mother...." Absolutely true. :) Also: "almost any dried grass can be used as tinder". I found that while very dry, fine grass works very well, the coarser stuff can be a 'no-show', at least for me.

BTW, since we're mentioning Cattail, it can also be used as a slow match. A six inch flower head will smoulder for about 2 hours in still air. Also functions as an insect smudge. Or, if you can't get the fire going, open up some flower heads and jam the material down between layers of clothes. Makes an excellent insulation.


Doc
 
Back to the fire triangle... Heat, Oxygen, and Fuel. As we all get a fixation on ignition (heat) being a coal, spark or flame, we tend to ignore 1/3 of the equation, fuel (tinder bundle). Sorry for the redundancy as I posted this before if you are reading it... again.

When a spark or coal is our only heat source things become even more tricky with natural tinders. The most consistent method I was taught and found to be reliable whether it be grass or bark is it to take the material in large form and make a bird nest by making a circle and folding it on to itself. Should be about the size of your palm or larger. From there, I take my material and mash it into large, medium, and small (almost dust) particles putting in the large first.

Rarely do I have material in there that will catch a spark unless it is almost down like or I add magnesium. Most times I add a coal through the bow drill or char cloth. The trick is to have the material in a format where the small catches flame (or becomes a larger coal) and the medium, large, and eventually the nest part carry it. Many times I burned through my tinder bundle without gettomg a flame because I did not have the proper mix of material or enough. It really takes just as much practice making tinder bundles as it does becoming proficient at ignition.

Here is picture of a bundle I found online.

http://www.primitiveways.com/pt-bowfire.html

Another set of pictures...

http://wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/tinder/bundles/index.html

Good luck!
 
DOC-CANADA said:
Hey pitdog,

The secret to using the female flower head of the Cattail (Typha spp.) is to have some very fine, wispy pieces of Birch (Betula papyrifera) bark in the Cattail. It has to be fine and wispy otherwise it takes too long to get it going.

This also is a good idea, to a certain extent with Cedar (Thuja occidentalis) as it goes out fairly quickly (not near as fast as Cattail, though), at least it does with our Eastern White Cedar, but it can be blown back into flame.



Very true, but don't breathe in the fumes. Apparently some nasty little bugs can be found in old bird's nests.

And as far as Pine (Pinus spp.) needles go, (Normark quote:) "Then blow like a Mother...." Absolutely true. :) Also: "almost any dried grass can be used as tinder". I found that while very dry, fine grass works very well, the coarser stuff can be a 'no-show', at least for me.

BTW, since we're mentioning Cattail, it can also be used as a slow match. A six inch flower head will smoulder for about 2 hours in still air. Also functions as an insect smudge. Or, if you can't get the fire going, open up some flower heads and jam the material down between layers of clothes. Makes an excellent insulation.


Doc
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips Doc I will give them a try !!!:thumbup:
 
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