Friday, September 16, 2011

Tinder


Tinder is essential to get a fire started in the wilderness. The idea here is to gather DRY materials that will light very easily. A few sparks will get good tinder to catch fire. Here are some suggestions for material to use as tinder:

  • Birch bark, dried grasses, fine wood shavings, cotton fluff, bird down and waxed paper.
  • Pine needles, pulverized fir cones and the inner bark from cedar trees
  • Dried fungi, scorched or charred linen/cotton.
  • Dry nests of mice or birds.
The easiest way to light timber is obviously going to be a device or tool designed to create fire such as a lighter or matches. In a pinch though you can use other methods such as using a lens (to focus sunlight), flint and steel, a fire bow, a hand drill, or a fire plough. In future articles I'll go over how to use these fire starting methods in more detail.

39 comments:

  1. Good information. I always fail trying to light a fire. D:

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  2. What a cool idea for a blog. Im loving it!

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  3. Interesting! Thanks for the information.

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  4. I need practice at making fires, this should help thanks :D

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  5. Nice! something to try out in my back yard!

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  6. Everyone loves playing with fire, nice post, not only am I going to watch bear grylls, I'm going to follow your blog.

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  7. I've started fires with Birch bark a lot. Especially when I was in Alaska. That stuff is everywhere up there

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  8. I've got to get myself a flint and have some fun with it.

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  9. Thanks for sharing man. Your blog is definitely a nice accompaniment to Bear Grylls as someone else said in the comments here.

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  10. nice post and great blog + following

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  11. Very useful tip. Thank you for sharing.

    I look forward to getting lost in the Forrest ;)

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  12. I heard dried grass with animal poop in it burns forever.

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  13. Yeah, the guy above me is right about the dried moss :).

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  14. thanks for sharing! could come in handy someday

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  15. yay though this time i knew your what you wrote =3 still to repeat the basics are always useful thx ^^

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  16. Dry and withered, eh? Part of me wonders if Joan Rivers would be a wise addition to my camping trip.

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  17. Tried this not that long ago.. it's bloody hard xD

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  18. Reminds me of days from camping. Birch bark is your best friend.

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  19. I saw a guy on tv lighting a fire with a bag full of piss. True story

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  20. Basic and very useful tip. Looking forward to the next post, as always. :)

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  21. i love making fires from scratch!

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  22. Being able to make fires is an important life skill, and probably the only useful thing gained from spending years in Boy Scouts.

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  23. definitely looking forward to your future posts on fire man. followed!

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  24. i returned again after a long time so make sure to check out my blog again.

    Here´s the link:

    http://blorriepoes.blogspot.com !!

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  25. Important to remember. Without fire we are no better than the animals, apart from maybe the fire ant.

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  26. "In future articles I'll go over how to use these fire starting methods in more detail."

    Sounds interesting, can't wait.

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  27. Good tips for when I get stranded lol.

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  28. Dude i love this stuff. Right after i go try starting a fire in my back yard, Im putting you on follow.

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  29. Basic survival skills such as this will be valuable for the impending zombie apocalypse!

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