- Joined
- Mar 19, 2007
- Messages
- 664
I have noticed lately that there is a lot of posts of people saying they use petroleum jelly soaked cotton balls to light a fire. I think a major part of surival is being able to rely less on prepared gear and more on mother nature to provide useful things, so I figured I would post some info about natural tinder.
Some general thoughts about tinder:
First of all, begin collecting tinder from the minute you get in the woods. You don't want to have to start collecting when you really need it. You never know when it will start getting dark, start raining, or you will get hypothermic. Gather anything you think might work as it is better than nothing. Usually anything that is dry and thin will work.
To make your job easiest, you need a combination of various types of tinder. You need some things that will catch a spark real easily, but these often burn out real quick, so you need something that will burn longer. Often these do not catch a spark well, thus you need both types of tinder.
Tinder may appear dry, but often it isn't fully dry. So as opposed to carrying it in a ziplock bag, put it in your pockets (or in your hat
) as your body heat will help dry it out. You could also rub it in your hands to dry it. I never realized that some of this stuff still had water in it until I left my zip lock bag of tinder in the sun and drops of water began forming on the bag.
Once you have all your tinder gathered, you can combine it (you can combine it as you collect it if you like). You want to fluff it up as much as possible so as to provide lots of oxygen.
This next section consists of some pictures I took of tinder while on a summer overnight to the Catskills in New York.
White Birch Bark - One of the most common and best types of tinder. The oil in the bark allows it to catch a spark really easily. You want to collect the thin parts that are hanging off the tree. The thinner the better. The parts that are hanging off the tree should be as thing as paper, if not thinner. By only taking the parts hanging off the tree, it protects the tree.
Ferns - To collect ferns you just want the leaves part so put your hand around the stem at the base (near the ground) and slide your hand up the stem. It will pull off all the leaves. Ideally, you want dead ferns, which are brown. The green ones will still work as they take a flame (but not a spark).
Wild Grass - This stuff grows on rocks and near mossy patches. Look for the dead grass that appears brown. This might take a spark, but it is sort of thick, so it may work better to keep the flame
Dead Leaves - These do not take a spark well, but burn and keep a flame. Just shread them up before adding them to your tinder pile.
Other sources of tinder that are not pictures which I use a lot:
Cattails - My favorite tinder. If you break apart the brown part at the top, it becomes like fluff. This stuff doesn't burn all that long but take a spark like nothing in nature I have ever seen. As long as you fluff it up enough, it will erupt in a cloud of fire with just one strike of your firesteel. Words do not do it justice, its almost like lighting gasoline, I almost burned my face the first time I did this from the cloud of fire.
Inner bark of some trees - Some dead trees have a fiberous inner bark (sorry I don't know the species). You can often break off big chunks of bark off of dead trees and then peel the fiborous parts off. This stuff takes a spark real well.
The final thing you can do is make fuzz sticks. I think everyone on this forum knows how to make these. If not, do a simple search and you can find some threads.
Hope this was useful and enjoy!
Feel free to post some pictures of natural tinder that is native to your area as I see many people have said that their part of the country doesn't have the things I have listed.
Some general thoughts about tinder:
First of all, begin collecting tinder from the minute you get in the woods. You don't want to have to start collecting when you really need it. You never know when it will start getting dark, start raining, or you will get hypothermic. Gather anything you think might work as it is better than nothing. Usually anything that is dry and thin will work.
To make your job easiest, you need a combination of various types of tinder. You need some things that will catch a spark real easily, but these often burn out real quick, so you need something that will burn longer. Often these do not catch a spark well, thus you need both types of tinder.
Tinder may appear dry, but often it isn't fully dry. So as opposed to carrying it in a ziplock bag, put it in your pockets (or in your hat
) as your body heat will help dry it out. You could also rub it in your hands to dry it. I never realized that some of this stuff still had water in it until I left my zip lock bag of tinder in the sun and drops of water began forming on the bag.Once you have all your tinder gathered, you can combine it (you can combine it as you collect it if you like). You want to fluff it up as much as possible so as to provide lots of oxygen.
This next section consists of some pictures I took of tinder while on a summer overnight to the Catskills in New York.
White Birch Bark - One of the most common and best types of tinder. The oil in the bark allows it to catch a spark really easily. You want to collect the thin parts that are hanging off the tree. The thinner the better. The parts that are hanging off the tree should be as thing as paper, if not thinner. By only taking the parts hanging off the tree, it protects the tree.
Ferns - To collect ferns you just want the leaves part so put your hand around the stem at the base (near the ground) and slide your hand up the stem. It will pull off all the leaves. Ideally, you want dead ferns, which are brown. The green ones will still work as they take a flame (but not a spark).
Wild Grass - This stuff grows on rocks and near mossy patches. Look for the dead grass that appears brown. This might take a spark, but it is sort of thick, so it may work better to keep the flame
Dead Leaves - These do not take a spark well, but burn and keep a flame. Just shread them up before adding them to your tinder pile.
Other sources of tinder that are not pictures which I use a lot:
Cattails - My favorite tinder. If you break apart the brown part at the top, it becomes like fluff. This stuff doesn't burn all that long but take a spark like nothing in nature I have ever seen. As long as you fluff it up enough, it will erupt in a cloud of fire with just one strike of your firesteel. Words do not do it justice, its almost like lighting gasoline, I almost burned my face the first time I did this from the cloud of fire.
Inner bark of some trees - Some dead trees have a fiberous inner bark (sorry I don't know the species). You can often break off big chunks of bark off of dead trees and then peel the fiborous parts off. This stuff takes a spark real well.
The final thing you can do is make fuzz sticks. I think everyone on this forum knows how to make these. If not, do a simple search and you can find some threads.
Hope this was useful and enjoy!
Feel free to post some pictures of natural tinder that is native to your area as I see many people have said that their part of the country doesn't have the things I have listed.
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