dry bracken for tinder
- Thread starter Brocktor
- Start date
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A note of caution, I believe smoke from bracken is a carcinogen, needs to be checked with those that know.
Brocktor said:
The leaves of the bracken are much easier to light, the stem just tends to smoulder.
Cant think why you should be having trouble lighting it with a match
I can't think why you are having problems either.
Gather a bunch together, hold the stem end and put a flame to the leafy end.
If its nice and dead and good and dry it should go up with no problem.
Gather a bunch together, hold the stem end and put a flame to the leafy end.
If its nice and dead and good and dry it should go up with no problem.
I find it good stuff to get a flame from a charcloth ember.
Get a good bunch of the brown leaves/fronds, obviously dry, and bunch them all together. If you just light a frond it burns too quick. Or strip the leaves/fronds from the stems and have a big pile, be careful though the stems can cut you if you drag your hand along them, use gloves!
Get a good bunch of the brown leaves/fronds, obviously dry, and bunch them all together. If you just light a frond it burns too quick. Or strip the leaves/fronds from the stems and have a big pile, be careful though the stems can cut you if you drag your hand along them, use gloves!
I find dead, dry bracken to be about the commonest stuff I use for getting flame from a coal whether I'm using the bow-drill or the flint and steel. I use it because it rarely lets me down and it's easy to gather at almost any time of the year.
I normally gather a good sized bunch of the leafy bits (leaving the stalks alone and just picking the leafy bits off them as I gather) so I have a bunch about the size of 2 fists. Then I'll pick a half a dozen or so dead fronds whole, breaking them off just below the leafy bits so I don't gather too much stalk, and use these larger pieces to hold the finer material in a bunch.
A coal set into the middle of the finer stuff will soon blow to flame, and you can support the finer stuff and keep it all together by using the more stalky sections gathered last.
Hope this helps.
I normally gather a good sized bunch of the leafy bits (leaving the stalks alone and just picking the leafy bits off them as I gather) so I have a bunch about the size of 2 fists. Then I'll pick a half a dozen or so dead fronds whole, breaking them off just below the leafy bits so I don't gather too much stalk, and use these larger pieces to hold the finer material in a bunch.
A coal set into the middle of the finer stuff will soon blow to flame, and you can support the finer stuff and keep it all together by using the more stalky sections gathered last.
Hope this helps.
