Mistwalker
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2007
- Messages
- 19,035
The autumn and winter are great in that it is the season where fires are nice to sit by. These are the times in which fires become more valuable as well. And as usual with nature, this is the time when tinder, kindling, and fuel are also the easiest to find and gather. With all of the greenery out of the way we can see for greater distances here in the southeastern temperate deciduous rain forests. There is always lots of downed timber, and the fallen leaves themselves are often a very valuable fire starting asset.
There are many organic materials that make great tinder available this time of year. There are grasses, and lot of seed pods like thistle and what Ive heard is called horse weed, and sometimes the heads of Queen Annes lace work well.
However, one part of living in a rain forest is dealing with the rain. When you can so often sit on a bluff and watch the rains come in.
And the view goes from this
To this in a very short period of time.
When this happens and the rains last for days this is the usual view of the woods.
In these conditions a lot of my favorite fire starting tinders are relatively ineffectual for starting fire. Horseweed will normally catch a spark very quickly and burn plenty hot enough to ignite dry leaves which will in turn ignite smaller twigs as you first stages of tinder and kindling. However under these conditions, even though the seed heads have been swaying in the breeze for hours since the last actual rain, they are not dry enough to perform very well, much less ignite the wet leaves. In this case it took several sparks landing in the same area to dry that part out enough to ignite, but it didnt burn well or long.
It is on days like this that we are very fortunate in that nature provides us with a means of starting fires that works well in the rain as long as you have the hot burning sparks of a ferro rod, a lighter, or some matches. It does take a good deal of heat to achieve ignition. This stuff is called fatwood by most these days, but is also known as light wood, pitch wood, fat lighter, and a few other colloquial names around the world. Sometimes it is in such large pieces that it is really easy to spot.
The root section of this fallen dead pine tree is very easy to access and is so rich that even just a few curls puts off a lot of heat for a full minute, and so much light that close-up pics darken the photo.
.
There are many organic materials that make great tinder available this time of year. There are grasses, and lot of seed pods like thistle and what Ive heard is called horse weed, and sometimes the heads of Queen Annes lace work well.
However, one part of living in a rain forest is dealing with the rain. When you can so often sit on a bluff and watch the rains come in.
And the view goes from this
To this in a very short period of time.
When this happens and the rains last for days this is the usual view of the woods.
In these conditions a lot of my favorite fire starting tinders are relatively ineffectual for starting fire. Horseweed will normally catch a spark very quickly and burn plenty hot enough to ignite dry leaves which will in turn ignite smaller twigs as you first stages of tinder and kindling. However under these conditions, even though the seed heads have been swaying in the breeze for hours since the last actual rain, they are not dry enough to perform very well, much less ignite the wet leaves. In this case it took several sparks landing in the same area to dry that part out enough to ignite, but it didnt burn well or long.
It is on days like this that we are very fortunate in that nature provides us with a means of starting fires that works well in the rain as long as you have the hot burning sparks of a ferro rod, a lighter, or some matches. It does take a good deal of heat to achieve ignition. This stuff is called fatwood by most these days, but is also known as light wood, pitch wood, fat lighter, and a few other colloquial names around the world. Sometimes it is in such large pieces that it is really easy to spot.
The root section of this fallen dead pine tree is very easy to access and is so rich that even just a few curls puts off a lot of heat for a full minute, and so much light that close-up pics darken the photo.
.
Last edited:
