Tinder bundles

[Toddy]

We've had a few threads recently on tinder, and I mentioned in one that I make tinder bundles from the assortment of 'stuff' that I find, forage or have lying around.
I've worked the past two weekends demonstrating both natural dyes and firelighting, with a bronze and iron age basis.

I cleared up the snash of stuff on Monday and took some photos while I was tidying things up. I made some tinder bundles from the debris pile of fomes, chaga, reedmace heads, thistledown, birch bark, etc., and natural cordage lengths.

Here are some photos

 

[Man of Tanith]

Nice those Mary.

I forsee a copycat attack

 

[Honest Outrage]

They look great! thanks for sharing.

What a cool idea, just making simple little bundles in birch bark.

 

[Goatboy]

Ohh those are sweet Mary. Tinder Bombs! Really nice idea and usefull too. Remind me of the little medicine packets that some native tribes made up. Can almost smell the mix as it starts to catch. They've got a tactile look to them too, just want to pick them up and look at them. Would you mind me pinching the idea too?

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[Toddy]

D'you know I swithered over posting this. It seems such a simple idea, but, it works; and it works well too.
The birch bark gives me a dry bit to catch a coal from the bow drill, the other bits wrap around the tinder 'nest' and let me blow it up to flame, and it's just using up bits and pieces of 'stuff'. Just what's available.
You're right about the smell too Colin I open them up and I mind when I made them, what I had, where I'd gotten it, picked it and it's a little memory scent bomb in it's way.
The latest ones have mugwort in them, and the mini reed mace but one I opened a fortnight ago had sweet gale in it from down at Loch Lomond, and heather stems from the Kilpatricks, and another had apple bark and moss I'd gathered from up near Loch Ness too.
The cordages were from lime bast, rushes, iris leaves and willow bast. Just little left over lengths, or bits I'd twisted to demonstrate how to do it.

These bundles weren't very tidy, the bark was old and thick and very stiff, but fine thin bark makes beautifully packaged bundles.
Be good to see other folks too

M

 

[Chiseller]

looks tidy as ever Mary ....Its a good job swmbo knows my intentions lol as i do tip my hat at you often 😉

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[Ferret75]

That's brilliant! I've always had a 'tin for this and a tin for that', but this really solves the problem... Even the jute parcel string can be used! Thanks Toddy.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[MarkinLondon]

I'm not sure why, but I really like those.

 

[John Fenna]

If you stuff your tinder into old Loo Paper roll centers then they are super easy to blow into flame... Drop spark into one end of tube, Pick up tube, Blow through tube, place burning tube into prepared fire piles...Done!
The tube ensures a good thermal column and heat retention, is easy to handle burns away to nowt.

 

[Toddy]

Like a manmade curl of birchbark then

M

 

[21st century pict]

Be good to see other folks too

M

Hi Toddy
Not a very good picture I'm afraid, everything here is packed away for a move at the moment (Top Left). I used to collect Birch bark and Spruce roots for making model canoes, the leftover birch roles as you said would just gets stuffed with tinder scraps and used for either storing tinder or just chucked on the fire whole as extra kindling, nice and quick to dry in sun and looks kinda primitive to. Birch bark containers were also used to transport lit True Tinder Fungi, but I never tried it, I always thought sooner or later the whole thing would just burst into flames.
PS, I like your big beaker pot.

Here's a better pic. I'm going to use this one as a primitive pot for a Otzi belt fire kit, flint, pyrite and chaga.
.
I left a long tab on this one so I can open and close it just by sliding the tab under the collar in the middle and use it like a wee storage pot.

 

[Toddy]

Oh I like that
Very tidy, and practical Even at my best with birch bark I don't think I'm that neat.
Thank you for sharing the idea and the photos

cheers,
M

 

[benn25]

That is an excellent idea. Im going out for my 1st overnighter next week and getting the fire sorted is a big concern. Ive collected loads of stuff over the last month or so, some good, some just rubbish, like the load of birch bark I collected and decided to put in the oven to dry out (big mistake). I now have rock hard birch bark I cant do anything with, so was looking for an idea to do something with them. Now Ive found it. Fantastic!

 

[2trapper]

Great work. very handly and easy to make. An idea for these long evenings with some indoor activity to do. Thanks for sharing

 

[Toddy]

A reply to Wayland on another thread brought these to mind.
Since we're all stuck at home anyway, it's a good time to redd out the stuff in the sheds.
I think I might be making some more of these

A fair number of folks are breaking out the carving stuff, mind the bits and pieces often work well as tinder.

I think I'm going to see if some of the dried out hazel might work to make those little brushes we made a while back. I suspect that it really needs fresh, but I could try soaking a length for a few days and see if it softens up enough.

What are the rest of you making ?

M

 

[Orhdposs]

Nice looking fire starters, what about adding a bit of charcoal as well.

 

[Toddy]

Nice looking fire starters, what about adding a bit of charcoal as well.

I think to be honest it's a use what you have type make.
The photos show the debris that I had and I just tidied it up into neat parcels that were much more useful than that snash of a mess of bits and pieces.
I suppose too that it depends on how you might use them.
Those bundles I used when I demonstrated firelighting using the firebow or flint and steel, and how to turn an ember successfully into a fire. So they had lots of different tinders as well as spark catching material. The birch bark holds the ember but it'll also curl just a bit and allow me to hold the tinder bundle with it's glowing ember to blow it all into flame.

If you just want tinder to start the campfire, then the charcoal isn't a bad idea.

M