Tinder in the Pac NW when its wet?

[Skimo]

I have had luck with fatwood, cedar bark, wood dust(overhead cover is a must) and goat's beard(light green moss like stuff hanging on the trees). I think the big trick to dealing with our wet weather is planning. Don't start thinking of your fire when you need a fire. Be thinking of your fire as you go about your day and pic up some tinder on the trail and stow it away so it can dry out by the time you need it.

This is the advice to follow.

 

[pitdog]

I have had luck with fatwood, cedar bark, wood dust(overhead cover is a must) and goat's beard(light green moss like stuff hanging on the trees). I think the big trick to dealing with our wet weather is planning. Don't start thinking of your fire when you need a fire. Be thinking of your fire as you go about your day and pic up some tinder on the trail and stow it away so it can dry out by the time you need it.

Goat's beard goes up ok when real dry in summer but I've never found it of any use this time of year !:thumbdn:

 

[Bill Siegle]

That's why you need to collect it early. I have taken it wet, and put it inside a jacket or pocket and had it start a fire later that day. A couple days drying around camp and it works even better. I dought anyone is gonna find a better "right now" tinder for wet weather than man made material or good ole fatwood.

 

[J. Doyle]

Fatwood is no doubt a better (maybe best) natural tinder. But it's important to be practiced in other methods. Dead sticks are much more readily available. In a half mile square area, there might be one or two sources of fatwood but searching them out may take a while. There will be many, many times more dead sticks and almost gauranteed within ten feet of where you're standing. THey don't have to be pine. Any dead stick on a tree can be whittled down into good dry wood that will easily light with a firesteel when made into small shavings.

Carrying tinder is a good idea too but the original post asked about natural stuff and it's a good idea to know other methods if you're caught unprepared. If I need a fire fast, I'm going to make shavings from dead sticks, not look around for fatwood. If someone doubts or has trouble getting dead sticks to ignite with a firesteel, even when in a downpour, then they just need more practice. Because a good fire can be had this way everytime.

 

[Boats]

A trick I have seen is to bring an oven with you. I have a friend who uses a larger Altoids tin as a tinder oven. He puts damp goat's beard or shredded cedar bark into the tin, which has a perforated lid, and he dries out his future tinder by putting the oven on a rock placed in the coals of his first fire, which is usually started with dryer lint greased with vasoline. It's a system serves him well.

Me? I just cheat and use hexamine tablets usually.

 

[bodydamage]

A trick I have seen is to bring an oven with you. I have a friend who uses a larger Altoids tin as a tinder oven. He puts damp goat's beard or shredded cedar bark into the tin, which has a perforated lid, and he dries out his future tinder by putting the oven on a rock placed in the coals of his first fire, which is usually started with dryer lint greased with vasoline. It's a system serves him well.

Me? I just cheat and use hexamine tablets usually.

Never heard of that one before.. Ill have to give it a shot..

 

[J. Doyle]

That's a good way to go. I do that with an altoids tin and shredded cottonwood bark.

You just char it the way you would charcloth. Then it will take the smallest spark from a flint and steel and begin a nice ember.

It is my understanding that this is often what trappers and mountain men did instead of charcloth. Charcloth was used some but cloth may have been expensive and a valuable resource both for trade and their own repairs. Cottonwood bark was free.

I gather a bunch when I find it. Then you can take it home and char it and carry an altoids tin full of it pre-charred.

 

[Toucan Oasis]

Birds nests are usually in a drier spot and make good tinder.

 

[bodydamage]

We went for a walkabout along the beach today and we successfully got a fire going with some tinder that was dry along the beach.. I had to use a Bic, but it went up..

 

[tyrantblade]

Goat's beard goes up ok when real dry in summer but I've never found it of any use this time of year !:thumbdn:

It's great for toilet paper if you need some.It takes days to dry out enough
to take a spark. Fatwood is probably going to be your main tinder but...
like the man said think ahead and gather early.just keep whittling until you
get to dry wood,the thinner the better start small remember the ladder fuel process
the small ones heat enough to dry out the next size.that's how I remember it .good luck and have fun


Tyrantblade

 

[pitdog]

It's great for toilet paper if you need some.It takes days to dry out enough
to take a spark. Fatwood is probably going to be your main tinder but...
like the man said think ahead and gather early.just keep whittling until you
get to dry wood,the thinner the better start small remember the ladder fuel process
the small ones heat enough to dry out the next size.that's how I remember it .good luck and have fun


Tyrantblade

Thimbleberry leaves make the best toilet paper, man they are as soft as silk !!!!

I'm gonna ahead out on my days off and see just what I can find to get a fire going during this wet time of year, I'll report back !!!!

 

[The Government]

Agreed -to the two above statements. In my experience there is no better tinder this time of year than what you bring with you. Best bet is to find the few dead trees that are not soaked and get to the driest stuff you can find. Once you do get a flame going, make sure to have a sap-ball ready to go to maintain the flame. Sap is always easy to find. Personally I would probably never find myself in a PNW forest with only a firesteel. At least have a pack of matches, if not a waterproof case of them.

My experience is mostly from NW Oregon near the coast. It stays wet in the forest even when it is not raining. It is so dense that very little sun light gets through (and we are talking about 100% overcast sunlight almost every day of the year). Also, everything is covered in thick green moss that holds water like a sponge.

If anyone has found better tinder I would be very pleased to know and give it a try.