Mullein pith

[Ivan]

I'd like to share a simple bushcraft trick which I just discovered myself. Everyone knows of Mullein for hand drills. Another use for Mullein is its pith which can be used the same as charred cloth. Lite a piece of pith and snuff it out. The charred spot you've made easily catches sparks from flint and steel. You can also use it in fire pistons.

 

[Neanderthal]

Not tried Mullien but Elder pith works well too. Just 'cook' it in the same way as charcloth.

The charred pith seems to draw the spark into itself and gives a nice ember to work with.
Keep it in a box or tin to prevent it ending up as charred dust.

Stu

 

[rich59]

Ah! This sounds feasible. Jeff Wagner and a few others have promoted flint and steel spark into mullein pith - without charring. Despite many tries I could not get it to work. Charring sounds a better bet. I'll give it a go.

 

[john scrivy]

I have never tried charing elder pith but have played with it using ferro rod sparker and its quite good but over a bit quick bit like thistle or dandilion seed heads a quick flash and gone

 

[Galemys]

I'd like to share a simple bushcraft trick which I just discovered myself. Everyone knows of Mullein for hand drills. Another use for Mullein is its pith which can be used the same as charred cloth. Lite a piece of pith and snuff it out. The charred spot you've made easily catches sparks from flint and steel. You can also use it in fire pistons.

The fluffy outside layer of the stalk can be used in fire pistons (I haven't succeeded in lighting the pith with them) and mullein can also be used as a fish "poison".

Cheers,

Tom

 

[Ivan]

Thanks Stu. Yes, Elderberry pith can work the same way. But for some reason Elder pith does not always work. I have not figured it yet. Maybe it needs to be partilally decayed? In the pieces I have that work the outer skin easily peels away from the pith. More useful is yucca (Yucca whipplei; native to California) flower stalk pith. Yucca pith is just like Mullein pith; great for char pith. The yucca is very abundant in my area where Mullein is non-native and rare.

Not tried Mullien but Elder pith works well too. Just 'cook' it in the same way as charcloth.

The charred pith seems to draw the spark into itself and gives a nice ember to work with.
Keep it in a box or tin to prevent it ending up as charred dust.

Stu