Old Mans Beard....He can keep it !!!!

pitdog

pitdog

Joined
Apr 13, 2007
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The park nearest me had opened back up again last week so that's where I headed today.

Nice mossy trails:

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Spring has definitely sprung:

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This is the reason I love this park, 10 mins hike from the parking lot to reach this view:

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I was going to make a simple spring snare today, I used to make them when I lived in the UK....simple stuff eh !

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Holy cows ! That was in the days before I had two dogs, everytime I completed one part and turned my attention to the second part the dogs took it in turns to destroy the first !!!! Eventually after making about 8 trigger sticks etc I gave up !!!!!

I then spotted some old mans beard:

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Never had much luck burning this stuff but let's give it another go:

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A slight flame and it goes out ! Maybe if it's bone dry it would be ok but on the west coast we don't do bone dry !
Maybe if I mix some dried tree resin in with it !

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Now we're talking eh ! Just shows how valuable a little knowledge can be !;)
 
When I saw "old man`s beard" I thought you were talking about me! Nice photos, as always.
 
Beautiful pics as usuall Pit!


Allthough I have no experience with Old Man's Beard; I know we have natural tinder that is easy to take a spark, but the flame doesn't last long. It is always good to gather alot, and mix with under tinder. For instance, shave your fat wood and mix it with the old man's beard..
 
Great stuff Props for improvising and overcoming the problem as well... I';ve used plds mans beard when I was u[p in maine a few years back... It seems to collect moiture like a sponge... AN old woodsmanup there told me he gathers it in the morning and keeps it tucked in his waistband all day, so that his body heat dries it out by the time he ready to settle down and light hi night time fire... I didn;t try it.. But Being a crusty woodsman I;m sure he had a few tricks up his sleeve.
 
Most natural tinders around me are just flash tinders. They will take a spark extremely well, but they also burn up extremely fast. If I see some, I am going to be sure to test it out :thumbup:
 
old mans beard moss, is GREAT for butt wipe, or for cushioning under your feet in your boots, or for makeshift bandages (has antibacterial properties and is absorbant), or stuffing a stuff sack with to make a pillow
 
Yeah old mans beard is PITA to use as tinder. The only time it works is when it's bone dry but when it's that dry, there's usually better tinder to be had.
 
RescueRiley said:
Great stuff Props for improvising and overcoming the problem as well... I';ve used plds mans beard when I was u[p in maine a few years back... It seems to collect moiture like a sponge... AN old woodsmanup there told me he gathers it in the morning and keeps it tucked in his waistband all day, so that his body heat dries it out by the time he ready to settle down and light hi night time fire... I didn;t try it.. But Being a crusty woodsman I;m sure he had a few tricks up his sleeve.
Click to expand...

Yup--if there's ANY moisture around then Old Man's beard will suck it right up. You can more frequently find reindeer moss that's nicely dry. :)
 
I don't know what you guys are talking about - I have had nothing but good experiences using old man's beard! I live in rainy British Columbia, too! In fact, in an hour or so I will be leaving on a 3 day hike, and suspect I will be using quite a bit of the stuff to start my fires :D

The trick is to pile it in amongst your kindling in ridiculous proportions, of course :p throw a spark on that and something good is sure to happen!
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Yup--if there's ANY moisture around then Old Man's beard will suck it right up. You can more frequently find reindeer moss that's nicely dry. :)
Click to expand...

So true... in Mors Kochanski's book he comments that as a tinder, when you need it the most (cold, wet) it is at its worst. Even high humidity can make it too moist to take a spark.
 
Here in Central Brazil the lichen is all sopping wet every morning from due. By mid afternoon it is all hard and crunchy from the sun. It is hard to light with a firesteel but our version burns with a good flame. Mac
 
Old man's beard is conserved here I think, it's supposedly so rare. Not too far away from my parents house there's plentiful big community of it. It's pretty unique looking, makes the pine forrest look like troll land. :D
 
there are several tree lichens (w/ lots of different local names)- some light green to grey all the way to black

in the intermountain west (significantly drier than the west coast- usually :)) I've had good luck w/ it as a tinder- if happens to be a little damp there is usually alpine fir nearby and a pop of a blister w/ the lichen rubbed in usually does the trick

here's an interesting read on how natives used tree lichens

http://web.uvic.ca/~stucraw/part2AM.html#Bryoria_spp.
 
mtwarden said:
there are several tree lichens (w/ lots of different local names)- some light green to grey all the way to black

in the intermountain west (significantly drier than the west coast- usually :)) I've had good luck w/ it as a tinder- if happens to be a little damp there is usually alpine fir nearby and a pop of a blister w/ the lichen rubbed in usually does the trick

here's an interesting read on how natives used tree lichens

http://web.uvic.ca/~stucraw/part2AM.html#Bryoria_spp.
Click to expand...

Excellent! Thanks for the link.

Doc
 
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