Old Man's beard as a tinder

[Karpatsky Forest]

Morning All,
I am looking for suggestions for natural tinder that doesn't need to be processed before use. I generally use Old Man's Beard (Clematis) seed heads which, if dry, can be plucked of the vine and used as tinder straight away. I am looking for anything similar that can be picked up on the go and used as a fire starter. Thanks guys. Andy.

 

[Dogoak]

Old Man’s Beard over here is a lichen and yes, good for tinder. It’s also a natural plant medicine.

 

[slowworm]

I've always known old man's beard as the clematis seed heads.

As for tinder ready to go I find mature King Alfred's cakes, Daldinia concentrica, take a spark very easily on a freshly cut surface.

 

[MikeeMiracle]

As for tinder ready to go I find mature King Alfred's cakes, Daldinia concentrica, take a spark very easily on a freshly cut surface.

I fear this will become rare in future as it mostly grows on dead ash and our ash trees are disappearing due to Ash Die Back.

 

[saxonaxe]

I've found that the head of Great Reed Mace if pulled apart when very dry, will take a spark, but it's a 'Flash' Tinder and glows/ burns quickly unlike King Alfred's Cakes.

 

[Karpatsky Forest]

I've always known old man's beard as the clematis seed heads.

As for tinder ready to go I find mature King Alfred's cakes, Daldinia concentrica, take a spark very easily on a freshly cut surface.

Here in central Europe, King Alfred's cakes are not that common. You do see them but aren't really plentiful enough to be a reliable source of tinder to hand. One thing we do have a lot of here is Horse Shoe fungus (fomes fomentariu), not always easy to take a spark but once you have an ember it will burn long and slow for ages while you sort you tinder bundle out.

 

[Broch]

That's a general problem with seed head tinders in my experience.

Of course, scraped birch bark will light from a spark; powdered horseshoe fungus without processing as well - in fact I find it only marginally better when processed to amadou; scuffed dry honeysuckle bark ...

 

[Broch]

I've always known old man's beard as the clematis seed heads.

Yep, same here; but there is a lichen called old man's beard as well.

 

[Karpatsky Forest]

That's a general problem with seed head tinders in my experience.

Of course, scraped birch bark will light from a spark; powdered horseshoe fungus without processing as well - in fact I find it only marginally better when processed to amadou; scuffed dry honeysuckle bark ...

Honeysuckle bark, really? I haven't heard of that. I'll give it a try.

 

[FerlasDave]

That's a general problem with seed head tinders in my experience.

Of course, scraped birch bark will light from a spark; powdered horseshoe fungus without processing as well - in fact I find it only marginally better when processed to amadou; scuffed dry honeysuckle bark ...

Worth noting that honeysuckle bark is the primary nesting material for dormice. So make sure you leave enough for the little creatures too folks!

 

[Toddy]

Morning All,
I am looking for suggestions for natural tinder that doesn't need to be processed before use. I generally use Old Man's Beard (Clematis) seed heads which, if dry, can be plucked of the vine and used as tinder straight away. I am looking for anything similar that can be picked up on the go and used as a fire starter. Thanks guys. Andy.

Mugwort leaves and flourish. Gather it in bunches and hang it to dry for later if you need it, but since the plant is tall and waves around in any breeze, there's usually enough dry leaves to make into a rolled ball to catch a spark.
It's one of the traditional hearth herbs.

Scraped birch bark is another one that really just needs roughed up a little to catch a spark, and once that's in the bark takes readily enough.

Strange things that folks don't expect work really well. Any of the linarias for instance, crumpled up flax stems, or the dried off clumps of old lobelias. They form light airy balls with lots of edges, and fibres, that catch and flare up readily enough.
Stuff a roll of birch bark, or make a tinder bundle, easy enough to keep tidy in a pocket.

M

 

[Broch]

Honeysuckle bark, really? I haven't heard of that. I'll give it a try.

It's this paper-like thin bark that simply peels away that we're talking about. It is naturally shed from the plant as it dries in the wind. Not the best photo, sorry

 

[Toddy]

The rope that was found wrapped around the big upturned tree in 'Treehenge' was made of honeysuckle.

M

 

[Stew]

The rope that was found wrapped around the big upturned tree in 'Treehenge' was made of honeysuckle.

M

Blimey - was it? I’ve never seen enough fibrous material that I would have thought it to be able to make into rope. Do you have to take more off that the easily shedding part?

 

[Toddy]

I think they just used it fresh tbh.
I have just this last year found a honeysuckle plant that is so totally different in growth to my usual one that I actually questioned whether it was honeysuckle or not. It's vine honeysuckle. Native but grows huge great lengths and stays green through Winter. Not the woodbine honeysuckle that loses it's leaves.

 

[Toddy]

@Karpatsky Forest
If you can find it, then the chaga justs needs broken off to make the best spark catcher

M

 

[Broch]

I think they just used it fresh tbh.
I have just this last year found a honeysuckle plant that is so totally different in growth to my usual one that I actually questioned whether it was honeysuckle or not. It's vine honeysuckle. Native but grows huge great lengths and stays green through Winter. Not the woodbine honeysuckle that loses it's leaves.

That's a new one on me; do you have the Latin name please? I am only aware of one native species and the only (semi) evergreen one I have come across is Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) and I thought that was restricted to the south of the UK.

Sorry, not questioning you, I like to add new native species to my database

 

[Robson Valley]

Tinders of choice here probably have paper birch leading the way. It can be subdivided easily into paper thin sheets. The suberin wax of the bark layers is a good quality in the rain, fires up anyway. The deal is to pick little strands from a dozen trees so your handiwork doesn't show, it will never be repaired.

My personal favorite is to break off a handful of skinny dead twigs at the core of spruce trees. Next, bash them into a fiber pile with one rock against another. The twigs have more flammable resin ducts than in the bark flakes of the main stem and large branches.

Lichens are a disappointment. Comprised of mostly chitin and carbohydrates, they are slow to light. I see that most of ours are always damp.

 

[Toddy]

That's a new one on me; do you have the Latin name please? I am only aware of one native species and the only (semi) evergreen one I have come across is Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) and I thought that was restricted to the south of the UK.

Sorry, not questioning you, I like to add new native species to my database

Not a clue. It was described as 'vine honeysuckle' and the online thing (son found it on his phone ) said it was native and European.
A lot of those sites though, they confuse native with established, don't they ?
But then, if we restricted native to just the first pioneer species that came across there wouldn't be much.

Sorry Broch, not being of much help. The blooming stuff is still growing lush and green just now though, and having cut some out of the hedge in summer, it does make rope.

The seasonal one, Lonicera periclymenum, only makes good rope if it's growing somewhere partially shaded where it can clamber up shrubby trees. Otherwise if bursts into lots of stubby branches and blooms on those.

 

[Broch]

Ah, I suspect it is L.japonica then; I confess I stick to the pre-channel flooding definition of native because it's the only real peg in the ground. In our woodland, and in much ancient woodland I have visited, L.periclymenum grows from the ground to near the tree canopy and would have been profuse in lithic times so, probably, a good rope species.

But, as usual, we are at a tangent to the OP - sorry