OH! Cedar Made My Life Easier

[theonew]

When the rain finally slowed to an intermittent drizzle in the early afternoon, I was able to get out for a Sunday hike. The double secret agenda of this hike was to collect some natural tinder along the way and start a fire with the firesteel. The weather was really dramatic throughout the five hours I was out. It would go from light drizzle to partly sunny to cold and windy with small hail, all within the span of 20 or 30 minutes. It was a potent reminder of how quickly things can change out in the woods.

Well everything was pretty soaked as it had been raining pretty hard for the last 10 or 12 hours and after an hour I really hadn't found anything that looked easy to ignite with a firesteel. We were bushwacking most of the way and trailing a pack of deer. But then I saw a lone Cedar tree, which I remember reading (probably here) makes good tinder. When I got closer it became apparent that the deer have been using this tree as a rub, so the bark on one side was already shredded. Wow, as it was, it looked like perfect tinder. I took a few pieces and put them in my pocket.

About an hour before twilight, I decided to pretend we were spending the night out and needed to start a fire. I took out the cedar bark, which seemed dryer then when I collected it, and just shredded it more with my fingers and made a little ball out of it. After only two or three strikes with the firesteel we had ignition. I let it flame out since we still had a ways to go and not a lot of daylight left, but that would have easily started a toasty warm fire. :thumbup:

I love the smell of cedar but now I like it even more.

 

[Fencerboy]

When I first learned to use a bow-drill, I was told the preferred tinder was cedar-bark, shredded and shaped like a bird's nest. You'd form a tiny coal with the drill, and wrap it in the "nest", and blow through it. Worked like a charm.

I love cedar though... Great wood. I keep a few twigs in with my fly-tying materials, to keep out moths and such.