tinder materials for fire by friction.....know any great ones???

Runsalone

Runsalone

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Oct 22, 2003
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Tonight I got a fire from the inner bark of yellow poplar (I think). It cured for about 8 months or so out in my hut in the woods, and as lately I have been into the bowdrill thing I went today and picked it up. It didnt work at first as I thought it would so I got a big piece and seperated it into dental floss size strands, thenb I waded it into a ball and buffed it till it was almost like a cotton ball. That worked! Almost singed my hand trying to show my wife.

That gives the tulip poplar an A+ for fire by friction as It will work for all components. I suspect however there are better tinder materials out there.

Ive heard of using cedar bark(I imagine much in the same way as I did above) and cattail down, anything fiberous and or fluffy.


Anybody got an old standby for tinder, that they just love to use because its reliable\available, for fire by friction? Id like to try cattail down wrapped in cedar bark strips laced with birchbark slivers. That aught to go up huh!!
 
I've had good luck with cedar bark alone (have to prep it quite a bit), as well as thistle down and hemp twine..
 
Alcohol swabs in the flat packs work well. They're the ones you put in first aid kits.
 
Good question.

Cedar bark is my stand by. Dried spanish moss works well. So does cypress bark. I believe most TREE barks that can make cordage could potentially make tinder.
 
Juniper Bark rolled and tied into a tight bundle works great for me. When you get the ember, just laid it into the open end of this tinder bundle and blow.
 
Another vote for juniper bark. You can't go wrong with this one, even if not totally 110% dry. Just cut off bark from a standing dead juniper, and mash it, crush it and twist it until you've got a decently fluffy/dusty ball. Then you pick some more bark to wrap around the finer stuff and hold it together. That's a great trick in order not to burn your fingers as you blow.

Honestly, I don't remember failing to get a flame out of an ember with juniper bark. Even a small ember will do it.

Cheers,

David
 
Thanks to all for all the great suggestions!!! Ill have to try that juniper bark... off to the tree identification book... :)
 
Juniper is a conifer, usually pretty small (depends on subspecies) with short and very pointy needles. The bark looks a bit like cedar bark, very fibrous, light brown with often patches of grey. It grows little blue "fruits" (which are used to make Gin ;)).

Here are two pics:
photo_juniperus_communis_2.jpg


photo_juniperus_communis_1.jpg


You can make infusions from the needles like most other conifers, but be careful some species of juniper are toxic.

It likes dry lands.

Cheers,

David
 
Moine said:
Juniper is a conifer, usually pretty small (depends on subspecies) with short and very pointy needles. The bark looks a bit like cedar bark, very fibrous, light brown with often patches of grey. It grows little blue "fruits" (which are used to make Gin ;)).

You can make infusions from the needles like most other conifers, but be careful some species of juniper are toxic.

It likes dry lands.

Cheers,

David
Click to expand...

Most juniper species have scale-like leaves instead of needles. Good examples would be the eastern red cedar (actually a kind of juniper) and the various junipers found in the Southwest.

Bill D.
 
Not sure what your georgraphy is Tsme, but Easter Red Cedar, (Juniperus virginiana) is the most common tree east of the Mississippi that falls into the family everyone is referring to. Hope that helps.
 
That's the one I was referring to. I used it as an example because it's so common in its area and a lot of people are familiar with it, even though it doesn't grow within a thousand miles of where I live. Out west we have a number of juniper species, and sometimes they're called cedars too.

Plant names can be pretty confusing- the closest relation to the eastern red cedar is the Rocky Mountain juniper, not the western red cedar which is actually closer to the northern white cedar! Scientific names cut though this confusion but require a certain level of commitment to learn. Anyway, all these American trees are all in the same family even though they can look pretty different from each other.

What I wonder is, do all the trees in the juniper family (all the junipers, "cedars", and cypresses) have bank that makes good tinder?

Bill D.
 
Tsme said:
Most juniper species have scale-like leaves instead of needles. Good examples would be the eastern red cedar (actually a kind of juniper) and the various junipers found in the Southwest.

Bill D.
Click to expand...
The juniper I was referring to is the one I'm the most familiar with... Juniperus Vulgaris... or "Common Juniper". Agreed, however, that this is a large family, and that it does include many different looking species. Most of them, however, have that fibrous bark that does work as tinder if prepared correctly (all cedars I know of being a part of this). Never tried Cypress bark but it might work as well.

'nother test for my "to test" list :D

Cheers,

David
 
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