B
bushcraft Snow
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Was just wanting to know what would the best kind of tinder to collect and the worst basically whats gd and not gd
Cheers a million
Cheers a million
Supprisingly, theres a lot about at this time of year,
Stuff that has died at the end of last summer but has not yet rotted down.
Grass and sedge can be harvested by "combing" through the tufts to get the dead stuff out, bracken is good too if you can find a dry patch (but watch the smoke as it lights up - theres plenty of it and makes you cough). Look out for any fallen trees after the high winds, birch and cedar bark are good tinders, older fallen trees may have decayed to a state known as punkwood, very lightweight and when dry will smoulder like charcoal. Also look for damaged pine trees that are oozing resin - though only take the dry stuff, you can crumble this into your tinder bundle to help things along. There should be Cramp Ball fungus and Razor Strop Fungus (others as well but I haven't seen them myself) as well as Horses Hoof, Artist Conk etc which are known ember extenders. Other things that I collect include old wasp and bee nests - made of chewed wood (basically paper) and if theres any comb left in it, then you might find a little wax. Theres still the downy seeds on clematis/honeysuckle and Rosebay Williowherb, but they're getting past their best.
Not really sure what you mean by "Not good tinders" unless you mean things like pebbles and clods of earth!
Have a try of a few that are mentioned and let us know how you get on with them.
ATB
Ogri the trog
Stuff that has died at the end of last summer but has not yet rotted down.
Grass and sedge can be harvested by "combing" through the tufts to get the dead stuff out, bracken is good too if you can find a dry patch (but watch the smoke as it lights up - theres plenty of it and makes you cough). Look out for any fallen trees after the high winds, birch and cedar bark are good tinders, older fallen trees may have decayed to a state known as punkwood, very lightweight and when dry will smoulder like charcoal. Also look for damaged pine trees that are oozing resin - though only take the dry stuff, you can crumble this into your tinder bundle to help things along. There should be Cramp Ball fungus and Razor Strop Fungus (others as well but I haven't seen them myself) as well as Horses Hoof, Artist Conk etc which are known ember extenders. Other things that I collect include old wasp and bee nests - made of chewed wood (basically paper) and if theres any comb left in it, then you might find a little wax. Theres still the downy seeds on clematis/honeysuckle and Rosebay Williowherb, but they're getting past their best.
Not really sure what you mean by "Not good tinders" unless you mean things like pebbles and clods of earth!
Have a try of a few that are mentioned and let us know how you get on with them.
ATB
Ogri the trog
Try scraping your trousers with your knife to get some quick tinder fluff, if you start bleeding you have pressed to hard! You can improve not brilliant tinder by keeping it in your pocket for a while so if you see something good stick it in your pocket and by the time you need a fire it might be dry enough to catch a spark!
I wonder if someone can answer this?
I use birch bark quite often in my KK, but have noticed only recently that stored and dried birch bark does not take a spark and light as easily as the fresh stuff. I'm assuming that the combustable oils in the bark have evaporated off when the the bark is drying? Has anyone else found this too?
I use birch bark quite often in my KK, but have noticed only recently that stored and dried birch bark does not take a spark and light as easily as the fresh stuff. I'm assuming that the combustable oils in the bark have evaporated off when the the bark is drying? Has anyone else found this too?
I found that to it still worked but not as well. It also roled up so was difficult to spark
I was thinking about this the other day w00dsmoke and remembered that the fine papery stuff that is already very dry and just falls off the tree, catches a spark OK. So maybe it has more to do with the fineness of the tinder fibres. I know for example that fluffy tinder catches much more easily than un-fluffed.
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