Natural Tinders

[Barrabas]

Have been a Mag block guy for a while, but recently got a Firesteel.
Had a great time experimenting with different tinders.
It had been raining a little, so thought it was the perfect opportunity to really see what would work best when a little damp, so was sifting through some various aged logs that were semi sheltered under a deck - Oak/Pine mostly.

Got down into the dry stuff, and tried sparking off of dust (very light wind), didn't have much luck, except for when I found an aged pine knott that I scraped some wood curls off of - caught a flame really well with just a few strikes.
Was so impressed that I just went and put some shavings in my kit.

Hoping to see if I can get in the woods tomorrow and find some Fat wood.
Thought I was going to score some a couple of days ago, but the Pine had not been down long enough to get to any without some real effort - better luck tomorrow hopefully.

I'd like to know what others might suggest.
Of course I'd love to find some of the ragged birch, but don't think it is indigenous here.

Would love to hear of other natural tinders readily found in the Eastern US.

Also as a side note, though it is not "natural" tried using some duct tape as a 2nd stage under some mag shavings - that was awesome. Folded several more feet up to keep in my wallet as a back up. So if you have been curious of a way to get the most use out of the least amount of mag, and stil keep a flame for more that a few seconds - give that a try.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas,

sp

 

[beckerhead]

Pine knot, rich pine, pitchwood, and fatwood are all, generally speaking, the same thing, just different names. Some differentiate between a stump=fatwood, and a tapered limb remnant=knot, but it's all pine. It is best to keep a small block of pine knot instead of shavings, as the shavings will lose their "richness" much faster. A rich pine firesteel handle is a cool idea as well.
Regarding the birch bark. I am in Arkansas and while we don't have "official" northwoods type birch, we do have what we call "river birch" which is a super tinder, with bark as thin as cig. paper. Just look along streambeds and river banks for shaggy trees and just grab handfuls of it. Heck a couple of good sized trees and you could fill a pillow case in 30 minutes. Be advised, it is NOT as water proof as northern birch.

Beckerhead.

 

[RescueRiley]

I've had good luck with cattail down from the inside of a cattail head...also the inside of a mikweed bulb, and cedar works well too. usually I run te back of a knifeblade up and down a cedar trunk and all the good dry stuff just sorta sloughs off and it doesn't hurt the tree.