tinder

what is the best type of tinder material available to all in the wilderness? lets leave out all the home remedies, and list just what you can find out there in the wilderness. and on top of that, what would you have to do to make tinder out of it.. meaning, if you've got a piece of bark, how you would you make it so it can become easily flammable with just a spark. i need suggestions and lessons, on what i can use with my firesteel. Wink

I use dry grass most of the time.
Just tear it up really well, to make very small fibers.
You can also use dry wood, Just scrape it with your knife at a ~90° angle, to make very fine shavings.
Or try scraping bark the same way.
Heres video of me using a piece of wood to start a fire Very Happy

eric

pretty cool.. now i wonder why i can't do that.. Confused

i'll have to try next time i get the chance.. thanks for the video, eric.

No prob. They kinda trick you into thinking you can light anything with them: "Produces a 3000°C (5,500°F) spark" Rolling Eyes

eric

yea man... i'm a sucker for advertisements, its the foolish ones that always do. so when you've been out hiking/camping/hunting, is this something you always try and use, or do you have a lighter/matches handy?

Yep, I always use a ferro rod, or for fun, I'll use some thing like a magnifying lens Very Happy

eric

haha... my old mailman taught me and a friend of mine when we were only 8, on how to use a magnifying glass. we ended up leaving a lot of charred sidewalks.

There are lots of sources you can use, you just have to look in good areas.

I find old birds nests quite common, they are super dry ushally, if you find one your golden.

Other than that dry grass, but taking an old piece of dead cedar and just scraping down works great too. The cedar is very fine and lights fast.

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"There dosen't look like there's much shelter over in those mountains, but that's the only choice I got right now, this is gonna be a long week" - Les Stroud Arctic

I use birch bark most often. If not then spanish moss (old man's beard). Birch has oils in it that burn well, makes a lot of dark smoke for a short time tho.

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Never explain. Your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe you anyway.

	Daffy wrote:
	I use birch bark most often. If not then spanish moss (old man's beard). Birch has oils in it that burn well, makes a lot of dark smoke for a short time tho.

True, however I never started a fire with birch (personally), i only use it to catch the flame to light my other tinder.

I wish that old mans beard was around here, sound slike great stuff

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"There dosen't look like there's much shelter over in those mountains, but that's the only choice I got right now, this is gonna be a long week" - Les Stroud Arctic

thanks max, daffy...

i just came back from trying your method, eric. i didn't get the saw dust material that you had made.. infact it was pretty dark outside, and my porch lamp isn't all that powerful so i wouldn't have been able to see it anyway. so i used my serrated saw on my wave, and made some thin shavings which i thought would've worked. well it didn't.. so i started grinding the shavings with the block of wood that i had into that saw dust type material you used in your vid. still nothing. i even tried to light it with my fire, and it would go out within a matter of seconds. at this point a mag stick rates better than the firesteel in my eyes. its a hell of a chore to come up with just the right material for this firesteel, and would be hell on someone in a survival situation trying to find the right material for it. just my 2cents. but i'll keep using it.

it is when it is dry troop, but that stuff soak's up water like you wouldn't believe. HOWEVER it is easily dry'd out. you just spread it out and lay it in the sun or rub it in your hands to dry it out. I only got birch to light with my ferorod once, but with my magbar it lights every time. This may be because I am terrible with the ferorod tho lol.

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Never explain. Your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe you anyway.

Bob, THANK GOD someone else has my opinion on the ferorod vs magbar! I completely agree with you 100%

as for the wood shavings, I coudln't get them to light for any length of time at all. I found that it acted just like saw dust which is really hard to light, at least to me. Cotton bursts into flames with the fero rod tho, and you can get about 100 of them for a doller at most dollar stores. Dryer lint works well too. If you are packing a ferorod, why not pack a few cotton balls too?

_________________
Never explain. Your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe you anyway.

yea.. i think theres a reason les, never used one in any of his episodes. he did however use the magbar.

to be fare, he did use a flint to spark char cloth that he made. I am sure that a fero rod would do the same, but you'd have to make the char cloth from a fire (les in planecrash with the first fire he lit with gasoline)

_________________
Never explain. Your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe you anyway.

yea thats true... but a fire right off the bat, with material from just the wilderness would've been a chore for him. i think....

especially in the winter. once you start applying heat to cold things you get moisture.

_________________
Never explain. Your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe you anyway.

ok here is a little trick. but it only works on jeans. just get your knife and sorta scrape at your jeans. have the blade flat against the tought jean and just kinda scrape. if you do this right you should get a nice bit of lint. just dont always do it in one spot and dont do it too often.

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quote of the week: "Missed it by that much,"- Get Smart.

You could also use cattails as natural tinder. I haven't tried these yet but I will if i find any soon.

_________________
Never explain. Your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe you anyway.

	wildthing wrote:
	ok here is a little trick. but it only works on jeans. just get your knife and sorta scrape at your jeans. have the blade flat against the tought jean and just kinda scrape. if you do this right you should get a nice bit of lint. just dont always do it in one spot and dont do it too often.

That just might work! Very Happy

Although it doesn't count as "wilderness tinder". Wink

I'll have to try it soon. Smile

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Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. - Prov. 27:17