Little experiment with Milkweed Seed fluff

S

skab8541

Joined
Dec 6, 2006
Messages
478
Since its too late in the season to eat them any more, I have turned to doing other things with them.

This time around I picked some pods, that first of all it has rained off and on all week here and then I soaked them in a bowl of room temp water. To see whether or not they would take a spark after the soaking.

As I already found out even if you pick them off when still green, let sit a few hours the fluff will light right up.

My reasoning behind this "test" was to see if as long as I didnt breach the outside of the pod if the seed fluff would stay dry. I let the pods soak for a coupel of hours then got down to business.

I know this would be a lot easier to follow on video, but I don't have a video camera. And the wifey wouldnt take pictures for me while I did it, so you will just have to fill in the missing parts yourself.


Soaking
DSCN2822.jpg


Peeling back to get at the seeds
DSCN2823.jpg


Fluffed up and ready to light, sorry hard to take a picture while you use the firesteel to light!
DSCN2824.jpg


You have to really fluff them up so the air can get to them, but they took right off!
IMG
 
Cool, I need to see if I can find some and try this out, that information could be really handy.
 
I forgot to add, you had better have some small shavings ready as this stuff goes up like gasoline.
 
It works great as a flash tinder. It flames up quick, but burns out just as fast. It works really well when you use it with other tinder like cedar bark. Cat tail fluff works the same way.

It's always good to practice with different types of natural tinder.

Good post skab8541 !
 
tonym said:
It works great as a flash tinder. It flames up quick, but burns out just as fast. It works really well when you use it with other tinder like cedar bark. Cat tail fluff works the same way.

It's always good to practice with different types of natural tinder.

Good post skab8541 !
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I can see that just looking at it. I understand the flash part very well, it's the water resistance of the green pod that interests me...living in a rain forest, that could come in handy.
 
Gotta keep my eye out for this stuff. What kind of area does it usually grow in? Near roads, wet ground, dry ground, shade, etc.?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top