Best kindling?
- Thread starter ryemck
- Start date
Hi Wacker, I've found them on downed Ash and Elder trees (I'm in the UK Derbyshire). They are sometimes on the sides and especially the undersides of the fallen trunks. If you still struggle and ever want me to send you a few to experiment with, I'll happily post you 2 or 3 if you PM me your address mate.
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Thanks Ferret that's very kind of you mate. I'm going to take you up on that offer actually if you don't mind, I'll PM you. I'm out every weekend and I do a good bit of searching because fungi fascinates me but never come across it...
No problem mate, they seem quite common around here! Send me your details and sort something.
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Join in the next North Wood meet in the Midlands... we all found them dotted about the woods... Andy said he just looked for an ash tree and beneath it, there it was.
Yeah I'm going to try and get to a few meets dewi, sounds like a lot of fun! I need to expose myself to a few different woodland sites because I'm visiting the same places all the time at the minute...
The biggest help in finding kindling - small stuff to light a fire after you have a flame - is tiny bits of dry wood no bigger than a matchstick.
For us we have Paper Bark Birch the old bark peals off and is always dry even during long wet periods. Black spruce is another one with lots of loose bark which burns easily. But people in the UK may not have or be allowed to do.
But if we don't have birch or spruce we first light fire with small matchstick sized kindling twigs. As some of the others have said it must be dry so only get from standing trees and don't pick from ground. Dead twigs/kindling has no leaves and no buds and is nearly black. If it easily snaps off, it is dry. If it doesn't it is alive or not dry. A few minutes in the wettest forest will get that burning. Then do the same but look for slightly bigger bits - pencil sized. A handful of tiny stuff with a little bit bigger stuff will always burn even in the rain.
We rarely use dead grass as there isn't much where we hunt but it burns too quickly maybe. Dry seed stalks are good and only collect from the top where they have been in the sun and open to the drying air.
No matter what the weather is, wind, rain, or snow you can always find something dry in a forest if you look, feel & listen.
For us we have Paper Bark Birch the old bark peals off and is always dry even during long wet periods. Black spruce is another one with lots of loose bark which burns easily. But people in the UK may not have or be allowed to do.
But if we don't have birch or spruce we first light fire with small matchstick sized kindling twigs. As some of the others have said it must be dry so only get from standing trees and don't pick from ground. Dead twigs/kindling has no leaves and no buds and is nearly black. If it easily snaps off, it is dry. If it doesn't it is alive or not dry. A few minutes in the wettest forest will get that burning. Then do the same but look for slightly bigger bits - pencil sized. A handful of tiny stuff with a little bit bigger stuff will always burn even in the rain.
We rarely use dead grass as there isn't much where we hunt but it burns too quickly maybe. Dry seed stalks are good and only collect from the top where they have been in the sun and open to the drying air.
No matter what the weather is, wind, rain, or snow you can always find something dry in a forest if you look, feel & listen.
If following Joe's excellent advice here in the UK and looking for thin dry branches that take a light very easily it's well worth looking around for larch trees.
Easy to spot from a distance due to needle colour and the fact that they are a deciduous softwood (needle bearing) tree. Due to their habit of catching aflame quickly (and burning out equally so) they are often planted as fire breaks in coniferous woodland. The small dead branches that remain on the lower trunk snap off easlily with a sharp tap and leave no damage to the trunk. Usually litchen covered they catch fire readily and burn hot due to resin content.
Working in forestry it was my usual go to tree for having my lunchtime brew fire. The needles also make a good tea and are nice to chew when young.
Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.
Easy to spot from a distance due to needle colour and the fact that they are a deciduous softwood (needle bearing) tree. Due to their habit of catching aflame quickly (and burning out equally so) they are often planted as fire breaks in coniferous woodland. The small dead branches that remain on the lower trunk snap off easlily with a sharp tap and leave no damage to the trunk. Usually litchen covered they catch fire readily and burn hot due to resin content.
Working in forestry it was my usual go to tree for having my lunchtime brew fire. The needles also make a good tea and are nice to chew when young.
Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.
I'm an easy fire guy, so here's how it goes for me: I keep a ton of birch scraps in the bottom of my rucksack. it takes up no room that way, and is easy to scrape and strike into something that will light a featherstick. I also bought a few pounds of Fatwood on eBay dirt cheap and always keep a few sticks around. I have also packed little lengths of Jute that tear up into nice tinder. They drop into all sorts of spaces in my ruck. Between the bark, fatwood, jute and a ferro rod, I'm never too far from a fire, and don't have all the ridiculousness of little tins and bags stuffed with junk. To be fair, I've also been know to light a wet morning fire with a vasalined cotton ball when I'm crabby, wet and want a fire right now. Those things will lite up fatwood and everything else up real quick. Don't leave home without it. There you go.
rancid badger
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
cotton wool, ideally soaked/impregnated with vaseline for a man made option;
[video=youtube;xnMrQuV3UJ0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnMrQuV3UJ0[/video]
or else:
[video=youtube;_BQ0-fAruzo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BQ0-fAruzo[/video]
Have a look through my other videos for more firecraft stuff if you like.
[video=youtube;xnMrQuV3UJ0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnMrQuV3UJ0[/video]
or else:
[video=youtube;_BQ0-fAruzo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BQ0-fAruzo[/video]
Have a look through my other videos for more firecraft stuff if you like.
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i prefer waxed cotton pads...i use one every day to light the stove. one will burn long enough to boil a cup of water in a storm kettle .
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one of my firm favourites for kindling (not tinder) is the thin (thinner than a biro) hawthorn twigs that can be found dry even in wet weather on older hawthorne .
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