Bushcraft Beginnings - Fire.

[THOaken]

Hello, Bushcraft UK.

My problem is an obscure one. I don't live near any woodland, so just to see if I could find the right components for a fire setup I had to take a bus ride into another town. Even then the place to which I travelled wasn't really a woodland area, but a place with some trees beside an industrial factory. Depressing, right?

This is going to sound very strange, but I spent hours trying to find dead twigs and branches. I managed to find pencil width fuel, but I just could not seem to find any match width kindling, which is obviously the most important thing. I looked everywhere. Should I just go to a forest and ask permission to light a fire next time?

Whilst there I remembered that birch bark peelings can be used as a good tinder. I approached a birch tree and when I peeled a part of its naturally peeling bark off it looked like this... It's supposed to be white, isn't it?

So, as a complete beginner at Bushcraft, I've come away with more questions than answers. And, sadly, I won't be making my first fire today. Living in a town with no woodland is very depressing...

 

[Teepee]

Its usually brown on the inside and white out. The inner bark is browner. It doesn't matter anyway, it all burns well.

 

[shaggystu]

Dry kindling can be a bit tricky to find at this time of year, most of the dead twigs that were still attached to the trees or hung up in branches will have been brought down by the winter weather, hedges are a good place to look.

That's the inner side of the birch bark in your picture, the outer's the white side

 

[wicca]

THOaken, let that piece of bark dry right out, then turn it over and scrape the inside with a knife blade or ferro rod scraper until you have a sort of 'fluff' of fine scrapings lying on the bark. Then try lighting it with a ferro rod or even a match until you get used to seeing how it catches. That's your tinder but you'll still need small stuff to get the fire going. After a bit of practice it'll be easy.

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

you sure its not Cherry bark?

 

[THOaken]

Thanks for the quick replies, everyone.

Regarding the kindling, I guess that makes perfect sense. My failure in finding any was due to the fact that I wasn't really in a wilderness area, combined with the explanation that Shaggystu gave me.

But for the birch bark, it's rather interesting that the outside is also brown. I know I took birch bark because it was on a white tree, but I don't remember it being brown on the outside. I put it in a compartment in my rucksack... Does it lose colour when it has no oxygen?

Either that or I didn't pick up the right bark peeling. But you can see the typical birch score markings on it...

 

[Marmite]

Downey Birch (betula pubescens) often has a red-brown outer bark and can also be silvery like the silver birch. I know this doesn't help at all when starting out, and young silver birch bark can also be reddish in colour. The difference is in the overall shape of the tree and leaf shape (not that that helps at this time of year), generally silver birch droops at the tips where as the Downey tips are more upright. The good news is it makes no big difference as they both make excellent tinder, just treat them the same. I've been told they can also cross themselves and the hybrids can have the character of both further muddying the waters.

 

[rancid badger]

Here's a couple of videos that might help you a little;
first an idea on what to look for in the way of ideal birch bark:
[video=youtube;11cgR8xtEzI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11cgR8xtEzI&list=UURdd L3mkjOvJ3tAtVHpW-XQ&index=4[/video]

Then a couple on sorting out the tinder and lighting it with a firesteel & scraper;
[video=youtube;sgwYlGHZPlY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgwYlGHZPlY&list=UURdd L3mkjOvJ3tAtVHpW-XQ[/video]

This bark is from a particularly large, dead tree and for the UK, its quite thick;
[video=youtube;bc2wQ9ryts0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc2wQ9ryts0&list=UURdd L3mkjOvJ3tAtVHpW-XQ[/video]

If you use a knife for scraping up the tinder, be very careful, and take your time.

best wishes

Steve

 

[THOaken]

Hello, Bushcraft UK. I gave fire lighting a first proper try today, but was not successful. I'm glad I went out there, though. I felt very close to creating fire. Here are some images.

+

My platform and some kindling.

(Took this photo in my garden. I took the branches, twigs and everything else back home, since I don't live near proper woodland, to try and practice later. Does anyone else do this? I feel a bit silly bringing all of this home since it's not proper wilderness.)

As I said previously in this thread, I had a bit of trouble finding very fine kindling. Since I was in a large forest this time it was a little easier, though. I don't know if this is the right size and, indeed, some of those twigs are thicker than a match. I spent about an hour trying to collect a decent bundle. Thoughts?

The main downfall of the whole outing was the issue of tinder.

+

Using a Firesteel. I had it tilted down onto the tinder, struck it a lot, but it never worked. Bracken, some flimsy little birch peelings and then a thick piece of birch bark. I have to say I was a bit overwhelmed because all the while I was thinking how many ways there are to create fire. My main idea was to try to create an ember in the bracken and, via that small bark platform, lift it into a ball of dried grass. I didn't manage to create embers within the bracken.

I remembered all that I heard about birch and its properties, so I found a birch tree but the peelings were very thin. I didn't think thin shavings of birch would work, so I throw that away. Then, luckily, I looked around and found a burnt log of Birch which had the large sheet of bark you see in that image. I tried to scrape at it to create a thin dust/fluff, but that didn't work either. Maybe I was using the wrong method?

So I tried a fair few things, but I was not successful. I was under time constraints, too, so I had to stop there. Any tips? Was this a decent try?

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

i would stick with just the birch bark fluffed up as per rancid badgers video above. never fails. scrape away at the white stuff and it will spark without problems. I think you had too much going on in your bundle. Surface area is key with a ferro rod so keep it simple.

I am always lighting fires in the back garden. there is tons of birch bark under the lid of my BBQ. I collect it every time i walk the dog if i come across dead trees

 

[Ogri the trog]

THOaken,
Please don't view your experiences as "failing at fire making" these really are important lessons in finding the right overall technique. There are many individual processes involved in fire-making as you are quickly learning - striking the spark, having the spark land on tinder that has been prepared correctly - all these are critical steps in the overall art.

In the last photograph, you seem to be holding the striker so that it is cutting into the firesteel - try angling it the other way "/" so that it scrapes down the rod - this should produce sparks.

Also, bracken is a plant with a glossy surface - sparks tend to bounce off it even when it is crushed up as you have done. Try scraping the birch bark into tiny curls, almost dust consistency - they should ignite from a spark. However getting them to stay in one place while you strike the firesteel will be another task altogether!

It will take time, effort and lots of dedication, but it will be worth it in the end.

Good luck

Ogri the trog

 

[THOaken]

i would stick with just the birch bark fluffed up as per rancid badgers video above. never fails. scrape away at the white stuff and it will spark without problems. I think you had too much going on in your bundle. Surface area is key with a ferro rod so keep it simple.

I am always lighting fires in the back garden. there is tons of birch bark under the lid of my BBQ. I collect it every time i walk the dog if i come across dead trees

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm going to watch Rancid's videos and then, perhaps, I'll focus on birch shavings on the next outing. But, concerning bracken, did you say there was too much of it? Should I have ground it down and only used a little of it instead?

It's interesting to know that you collect natural material and store it in a dry place. I might start doing that then.

Thanks again.

 

[THOaken]

THOaken,
Please don't view your experiences as "failing at fire making" these really are important lessons in finding the right overall technique. There are many individual processes involved in fire-making as you are quickly learning - striking the spark, having the spark land on tinder that has been prepared correctly - all these are critical steps in the overall art.

In the last photograph, you seem to be holding the striker so that it is cutting into the firesteel - try angling it the other way "/" so that it scrapes down the rod - this should produce sparks.

Also, bracken is a plant with a glossy surface - sparks tend to bounce off it even when it is crushed up as you have done. Try scraping the birch bark into tiny curls, almost dust consistency - they should ignite from a spark. However getting them to stay in one place while you strike the firesteel will be another task altogether!

It will take time, effort and lots of dedication, but it will be worth it in the end.

Good luck

Ogri the trog

Thanks for the advice, Ogri. It was an interesting experience, indeed. It's good to have tried it instead of reading about it for once.

Concerning the firesteel, I do believe you might be right, but the way I held it actually produced sparks. I noticed there are two bite marks in the steel which would suggest I've been using it wrong. I lent the firesteel to someone else who might not have used it correctly, though. Who knows?

Should I just forget about bracken then? I'm not even sure what I used WAS bracken. Oh, how utterly embarrassing is it to be a novice.

It seems like the best method is birch scrapings. I shall try that next time.

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

I dont personally use bracken as a primary tinder. I prefer it as part of a nest to take an ember to flame. For me i look at the tinder i have available. If Birch is freely available then that will always be my first choice. It contains flammable oils so is inherently flammable and it will work wet with care. in winter and poor weather i will always carry dry tinder and alternate ignition. Sometimes you just need fire and having a few ways of getting it is helpfull.

fire is fun so like Ogri says, enjoy the ups and downs as they are all lessons.

 

[THOaken]

Perhaps I should brush up on the basics before I go out and try to create fire from natural material? Haha.

I've been using the wrong method. Indeed, I was holding the striker in this way \ instead of /. The latter way produces many more sparks. Thanks for alerting that to me, Ogri.

 

[Marmite]

Great advise above especially Ogri's tip on position of the firesteel scraper. I always think 90 degrees to the firesteel and then tip the top of the scraper a little more to allow the trailing bottom edge to really bite into the firesteel, should produce lots of sparks. May be worth trying with cotton wool or cotton wool that's been wiped in Vaseline as a tinder whilst practicing creating sparks - warning, you won't need much. The other thing that's shown we'll in Rancid Badgers videos is when scraping up the birch bark your trying to get down from the top layer to the salmon coloured layer underneath, it's only a few microns or so, so you won't need a lot of pressure, just gently scrape until you have a small ball of salmon coloured scrapings and your good to go. Hope this helps and

 

[THOaken]

Great advice, everyone, indeed, but I've come upon another curious problem.

Perhaps it's because I'm using, well, not the greatest sheet of bark, as it's quite thin and burnt. I couldn't find a dead fallen birch in the forest, so I opted for the burnt stump that was lying around a ringed campfire.

I used a knife and scraped toward myself and came up with these very thin scrapings. They're more like wood shavings than a fluff.

And, I'm sure you can guess, it didn't ignite. I used the firesteel IN the shavings, ON TOP of the shavings and in all manner of ways.

The question is whether or not I should persist in trying to get it to flame, which would use up my mini firesteel, or just give it a rest.

Edit: Well, I did persist in trying to light the thing, but it didn't work. By the end I think I struck the firesteel about fifty times in controlled rage. Haha.

 

[Ogri the trog]

Now here comes the fine detail stuff....

Birch burns well because of the oil that is in the bark......
A log that has been beside a fire might have been heated to such a point that the oil has dried or evaporated out of it - however, the scrapings in your photo are exactly right, you just need more of them (you can always cut down when you have mastered things.

Some folk scrape down with the striker, others hold the striker steady and pull the rod up from underneath - you just have to find the method that works for you. Once you get a good fat spark to land in the middle of those scrapings, you'll be away.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[THOaken]

Now here comes the fine detail stuff....

Birch burns well because of the oil that is in the bark......
A log that has been beside a fire might have been heated to such a point that the oil has dried or evaporated out of it - however, the scrapings in your photo are exactly right, you just need more of them (you can always cut down when you have mastered things.

Some folk scrape down with the striker, others hold the striker steady and pull the rod up from underneath - you just have to find the method that works for you. Once you get a good fat spark to land in the middle of those scrapings, you'll be away.

ATB

Ogri the trog

Well, I did use the striker in all sorts of ways before I gave up and put the bark in the bin. It's quite thin and I should've found a better piece, but maybe it didn't work because of the oils being evaporated? Anyway, that's good to know. I'm sure I'll have flame the next time I try.

Would I be correct in saying that once the scrapings are lit I'd need to transfer it into a "nest" such as a ball of dried grass? Is that the method most commonly used? That's another thing that confuses me - if the birch scrapings are called tinder, what is the dried grass called? A nest or is that also tinder?

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

take it back out of the bin and light with a match. then you will know if its the bark or you. if the oils are there it will burn with black smoke