Local natural tinder

STAINLESS90

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I know this has been discussed before but I haven't seen a dedicated thread for it. What natural tinders do you use in your area. It would be nice if you put the state your in, where you typically find it, and how you process it for use. I have been building my fire skills and would like to get more ideas. I currently just use char cloth, jute, fatwood, and birch bark.
 
Know anyone who gets pills ? Ask them to save the cotton that many pills have .
Birch can be found here though not all that common.
Pine and hemlock are very common.
 
In California Palm trees produce a super dry grass like material that is great for tinder. Other than that, pine pitch is always good.
 
I've heard of Palm fiber as well, I'll have to hit up some of the landscaping guys for trimmings. I'm also headed up to Mt. Charleston here soon so I think I'll gather some pine pitch as well.
 
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Cottonwood fluff is fun to play with. Not if you have a wood shingle roof though haha.
 
Pine resin gathered off pine trees, or just look for a pine tree stump and cut off some Fat Lighter(Fatwood).
 
Birch bark is best here in MN. The farther north one goes, the more available. The finest dead spruce branches one can find with birch bark is a "no fail".
 
Birch bark. Fill a ziplock back full off it when I cross paths with it. Keep it in fire kit. Weighs nothing.

The pic below was taken in central Virginia along the Appomattox River early last spring.
Birch.JPG
 
Lightered knot (fatwood), river birch bark, dry pine needles, cattail fluff, dried kudzu fines (powder it first), the list goes on here in Georgia.
 
Lightered knot (fatwood), river birch bark, dry pine needles, cattail fluff, dried kudzu fines (powder it first), the list goes on here in Georgia.
The fat wood and some of the birch bark I have is actually from you[emoji2] thanks again for those. Never tried kudzu powder, I wonder if corn stalks and tassels would work the same dried and powdered?
 
Cat Tail seed pod fluff.
Eastern Cottonwood fluff.
Even into early Summer, we have last year's Red Oak leaves = cellophane.
Goldenrod seed fluff.
Pine needles.
Very little cedar here. Dry now so lots of dead grass.
Pine resin lumps (esp on Scots Pine)
 
This is part of the fun of being in the wilderness....just experiment and try things. Several have gotten you started on your journey so now go out and try, try, and try. You will learn much more from your failures than you will your successes.

Keep in mind basically, anything that once was alive or part of a living organism and now is dead 'n dry is going to burn. I.e. dung from whatever, grasses, leaves, bark, wood shavings (beside fat wood), fluff from plants, decomposed wood fiber and the list goes on and on. Keep in mind the smaller and shorter duration of the heat base vis 'a vis the initial flame/spark then the finer and thinner the tender. This is why a spark from a ferro rod isn't effective on fat wood until it is reduced into fine dust (the smallest sawdust size). Grass is great as an initial tinder as long as you break down the fibers and rough it up so a tiny hair from the inner fiber can catch a spark (assuming you're using a spark based fire starter). Learn how to build tinder bundles, then interlace the bundle with various materials and observe what catches quickly but doesn't last, and what is more difficult to catch a spark but sustains the flame into a fire.
 
I'll just add to the already good suggestions. In Colorado its cottonwood floss. It's everywhere. Just pick it off the ground. I rub it between my palms to get out the crud. Bunch it up into a nest. I've stacked twigs intertwined and laid the floss right across it.
 
+1 for the cottonwood fluff... My last home would collect it in nooks and crannies, enough to make a freaking mattress out of. Can't start enough fires in a year to go through it all.
 
West Texas...sap(think amber) from mesquites. A wise man named Jimmy T told me about using cedar bark you roll between your palms. Cedar also will sometimes have a flammable sap(again think amber).
 
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