Tinder bundles! What do you use?

[Tommyd345]

So I was hoping for some ideas for tinder bundles for using bow drill/hand drill. My favourite is scraped bamboo (if I have some handy) and some dried grass with some thistle heads in the top just for Oomf!

So what do you guys use? What plants/trees can you use?

 

[mick91]

Cat tail works quite nicely. The fluff from inside rosebay willowherb when properly dried but a brilliantly. I don't use natural that often but like to use them now and again to keep the skills sharp

 

[British Red]

Try wild clematis bark and seed heads. Brilliant stuff.

 

[Alan 13~7]

I don't know about tinder for a bow drill, I use a ferrocerium rod fire steel? & For Tinder I like to use:~
Kapok & Maya dust. Kapok is a fluffy yellowish fibre which surrounds the seed pods of the Ceiba pentandra tree, the (national emblem of Guatemala)

Kapok_seeds

Kapok is the most used common name for the tree.

Adult trees produce several hundred 15cm (6in) seed pods.
The fluffy, yellowish fibre (Kapok) is a mix of lignin and cellulose. The fibre is light, resistant to water & very flammable. It will light very easily from the flurry of sparks produced when you strike your fire steel.

Maya sticks (Fatwood) for kindling
Because of the flammability of terpene in fatwood it is prized as kindling for use in starting fires. It is derived from the heartwood of pine trees. This resin-impregnated heartwood becomes hard and rot-resistant. The stump (and tap root) left in the ground after a tree has fallen or has been cut is an excellent source of fatwood. it lights quickly even when wet, is very wind resistant, and burns hot enough to light larger pieces of wood.

by shaving small curls from a small piece of fatwood you can create tinder A.K.A . Maya dust which can be used to light other larger tinder/kindling, such as fatwood,

This should wet your appetite :~ A brilliant site for bushcraft related pyrotechnics & bushcraft essentials http://www.sharkdesigns.co.uk/home_pages/1_fire_online_store.html

http://www.beaverbushcraft.co.uk/ourshop/prod_3485329-Mark-Hordons-The-Fire-Buddy.html

 

[Tommyd345]

I'm more angling at the bundle side of things! I know cedar bark works well because it's very fibrous, but what bits make up the bundle?

 

[Alan 13~7]

I'm more angling at the bundle side of things! I know cedar bark works well because it's very fibrous, but what bits make up the bundle?

apparently just ceder bark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RPM4cClpWk

OK Tommy on that note again I'm only guessing here but could a bundle of cedar bark with a Kapok & Maya dust heart work with a bow drill, I'm no expert but I think this could be a very flammable bundle due to the mix of lignin and cellulose in the kapok there would also be oxygen trapped in the fibers of the kapok, just a thought

How about you give it a try? kapok its not dear to buy because its so light
10 grams is loads

Shark Tinderbox Natural Kapok Tinder - 10 grams IN STOCK £1.95 (inc VAT)

You could fling in some jute twine fibers for good measure.

 

[Toddy]

The last batch of bundles I made, I used a thin layers of birchbark, and in the centre of that I piled up the scrapings from the bark, some crumbles of chaga, dried reedmace seed fluff/thistle down, dried mugwort, and the shreddings from making amadou (fomes fomentarius, hoofnail fungus) I wrap the birch bark around the rest like a wee parcel and tie it up with string made from the leaves of the cattails.
Untie it and there's both the coal catcher, the spark catching stuff, the extenders and the means to lift the whole lot up to blow it into flame

It makes a neat tidy parcel to stuff away in a pouch, a pocket or a pack.

All of it's easily found in the UK and shouldn't cost you a ha'penny. If you don't have chaga, use cramp balls, if you don't have fomes use one of the other bracket fungi.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Goatboy]

I like the sound of your little premade firestarter bouquet garni Toddy.
I usually keep my stuff seperate in my pouch but your little balls of fire have given me some ideas, cheers.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[Polecatsteve]

I tend to use whatever is to hand tbh. Anything fluffy! ....well. Within reason! Lots of nervous looking sheep and bunnies. I usually take a few bits of papery birch bark which is in abundance around south west Scotland, scrape my blade over
It to "powder" it a bit for want of a better word. Then nest that in grasses, pine needles, more birch bark...

I'm assuming we mean natural tinder? .....is belly button fluff natural?

 

[Tommyd345]

Haha! The heart, as long as it's soft fluffy and dry will work, the different combinations will help because of different resins and cellulose levels ect.

Trying to find out what other trees have fibrous bark! No cedars growing around here

And YES belly button fluff counts!

 

[forrestdweller]

currently i use the inner bark of sugi and hinoki (fine stuff on the inside, more coarse on the outside), in OZ usualy grass as the birdsnest and dried wallaby/kangaroo poo as the tinder

 

[MegaWoodsWalker]

So I was hoping for some ideas for tinder bundles for using bow drill/hand drill. My favourite is scraped bamboo (if I have some handy) and some dried grass with some thistle heads in the top just for Oomf!

So what do you guys use? What plants/trees can you use?

Fluffed up cedar or Tulip Poplar bark.

 

[David LaFerney]

Dry grass, long pine needles - cedar bark if it's a wet day when you are gathering it. Coir is marvelous if one is not being picky about using local material. Nearly anything that's dry and fluffy will work if you have a good ember. The shavings from shaping the hearth and spindle will often work for part of it.

 

[John Fenna]

Dry grass works for me.
If I am getting posh then dried grass mixed with shreds of Birch Bark, thistle/Reedmace/Rosebay fluff and wrapped/topped with very fine Birch twigs and bigger bits of Birch bark.

 

[Andy BB]

Jute twine - fluff it up and it makes excellent tinder and ball.

Jute twine seems massively under-rated to me. Sure, paracord is stronger, but also much more expensive. And lets face it, for bushcrafting purposes, jute twine is often more than adequate.

 

[ged]

A while back I scrapped an old bed and the hessian that covered the underside of the base makes great tinder.

 

[nephilim]

Tumble dryer lint, that has been waxed.

It stays dry, rub it vigorously and some wax comes off and it takes a spark very easily. The wax makes it burn and smoulder slowly enough for you to get some kindling on such as small sticks and twigs etc.

Sent from my C6833 using Tapatalk

 

[Stevie777]

I use Cotton balls from the Cotton plant and a Petroleum gel combo, Petroleum gel being a derivative of long since dead plants....does that count..?

 

[Tommyd345]

I use Cotton balls from the Cotton plant and a Petroleum gel combo, Petroleum gel being a derivative of long since dead plants....does that count..?

Of course it counts!!

 

[Stevie777]

Of course it counts!!

Well in that case i swear by it...