Natural Tinder

[JameyStanley]

Any body got any good Ideas for natural tinder? And I don't mean Vaseline and cotton balls, or dryer lint or anything like that. I am talking about stuff you find in the woods. Such as cedar/ juniper bark, cat tail, thistle down stuff like that. What have you guys tried? What works? What doesn't work? Where do you find it? and how do you prepare it to take a spark?

[Barney]

There are some mushrooms that when dried or found dry can hold up sparks for hours, even when stored in your backpack, as can be seen in one of Bear Grylls episodes.

[ChadTower]

Anything dry and with a lot of air inside it is a good candidate. That's why you often look in the trees first. It's off the ground. The key is finding it dry, fluffing it up so there is enough to keep lit for a minute or two and enough air in it to keep that tiny coal and expand when you blow on it.

Maybe the most important part of it all isn't the tinder but your patience. You have to be willing to blow a tiny bit... let the coal expand... blow a tiny bit more... let it expand... eventually let it heat up the bundle until the material combusts. That's when you put the second layer of material on it or stick it in your teepee/log cabin/pile/whatever you prepared.

[GROUNDpounder]

Use cat tails, dead trees use your knife and skim them making rolls of fibers, mushrooms (the ones that grow on trees) many different plants give tinder.

[ChadTower]

Originally Posted by GROUNDpounder

Use cat tails, dead trees use your knife and skim them making rolls of fibers, mushrooms (the ones that grow on trees) many different plants give tinder.

You can skim dead trees with a rock, too, if saving the knife is a concern.

[outwest]

I have always heard that Cattail fluff is pretty decent to work with but I have never used it myself. Maybe the next trip out we can remember, each time we do its always after the fire is already going.

[ChadTower]

What stops you from continuing to experiment after the fire is going? That is when I learn the most.

[Michael]

Dry grass works pretty well. There's a big clump of the stuff near the spot where my brothers and I camp that has been starting fires the past couple of trips.

I've heard that fine slivers of fatwood are excellent for making fires. I haven't tried it, but I know of a fallen pine tree that I can get some from, and I plan to test it out.

[Dura Mater]

Here are some of the most common tinders around me (Midwest) weather permitting.
Left to Right: goldenrod, thistle, milkweed ovum, cattail, and a birds nest (happened to come by an old one)



Some of these are flash tinders meaning that you better have a secondary tinder ready right quick. They will all work charred except for goldenrod, I cannot get goldenrod to take a spark but it burns long and hot when in the raw, go figure. I also have some cedar for inner bark but many trees will provide useful inner bark.

Now I'll share my big secret with you all... you don't need to look for tinder regardless of the conditions. There is ALWAYS dry tinder right under your nose. Inner heartwood scrapings from any standing dead wood will provide everything you need for a fire including tinder, kindling, and fuel. Just split it down to get to the inside and scrape the blade of your knife at a 90 degree angle to make fine scrapings (not feathers, that's the next step).

The following picture is a test of some wood I was experimenting with, there should be a much larger pile to start a fire but that wasn't the intent here.

[rayne]

After you use the fluffy stuff to get the fire going, I have always found cedar chips work quite well to increase and hold the blaze while larger wood takes the flame. Cedar, green or dry works well. Dry works better of course.