Wetfire tinder

[falling rain]

I was out with Buckshot last night and he gave me some wetfire tinder, so we tried it out. Verdict - The best man made tinder I've come across, and it would be my first choice for lighting a fire in foul weather. Thanks Buckshot for introducing it to me. :You_Rock_ It scrapes to shavings very easily and burns a long time Excellent stuff and definately good to have with you in the wetter and colder months when you just want to get your fire going with no faffing about.
I learnt a new plant today while I was out walking my dogs. Meadowsweet.
I saw this plant and I don't know why but something told me Meadowsweet. I picked a piece and checked in my book when I got home and sure enough it was what i thought it was. This has happened a few times now with different plants, which I'm always keen to learn new ones. It happened the other day too with water mint. I saw the plant and straight away thought mint. I smelt the crushed leaf and it smelt of mint and checking in my book It was indeed Water Mint. Has this happened to anyone else where some how you know what the name of a plant is even though you've not seen it before ? Also a few weeks ago the same thing happened with Eyebright. Maybe it's from looking through books and subconciously your brain takes in information without you realising it. A strange thing the human brain

Cheers now

 

[JakeR]

Hi Falling rain,

Great thread, but i think you've possibly put it in the wrong sub-forum! Possibly Kit chatter?

Anyways, i know what you mean about certain things "ringing bells" as it where. But for me its different, i never seem to remember anything when it comes to trees/plants. I read a book on trees and i can identify...oak, beech, birch (silver and the papery one!), scotts pine, the common pine (its very common, you know the one), monkey puzzle although that wasnt in the book but outside a pub in brecon.

I may know a few more!

Jake

 

[TheViking]

Hi...

I have never tried Wetfire tinder, but charcloth is my first preference. It burns in a long time and is fun and easy to make. Takes up very little space and weighs nothing. There's nothing as the feeling of new, crispy charcloth... mmm...

Does the wetfire cubes burn with a flame??

 

[jakunen]

My problem is I used to know loads of them but I'm having to relearn a lot of them...

Just proves the old adage - Use it or lose it!

 

[Paganwolf]

charcloth is great but naff when wet, wet fire cubes are great lights in all conditions and non toxic, and yes burns with a flame, a good technique to remember plants and such is to mentally rehearse a plant over in your head look say a tree up in your book then go and find it, look at and pick a leaf (or pick a fallen one up) look at the bark and the location, is it near water, in a ditch chalky/sandy soil ect then walk off going over your data in your head and look for another one of the same species and do the same the next time you go out it would have (hopefully) imprinted into your grey stuff and you will instantly recognisee it, try it it works ....... :shock:

 

[falling rain]

The thread started off as wetfire tinder which i suppose comes under kit. then I digressed to my plant experience of today so I suppose I should have done them separately.
I make and use charcloth regularly too viking but what if it gets wet ?
Maybe I wasn't clear but I meant to emphasise that the wetfire would be my first choice in nasty weather above charcloth. But probably charcloth if it was dry weather. If your're cold, wet, and it's raining and windy and want a brew quickly without any fuss or hassle about lighting your fire, I'd say the wetfire tinder would be pretty hard to beat

Cheers

 

[falling rain]

Sorry viking - Yes it does burn with a very good flame that lasts quite a while.
Buckshot came up with the idea that you could sprinkle some shavings in amongst your feather sticks, and I have to agree in bad weather that would be a very effective way to get your fire going

 

[Gary]

One brick of wet fire is enough to warm up the water for a brew too!!!

 

[jakunen]

I've found that crumbling or shaving some into natural tinder, like birch bark or clematis bark, really helps it to catch.

I've not tried it with feather sticks but it should work very well that way too.

A very versatile tinder and about the only synthetic I carry nowadays.

 

[Womble]

not even the cotton wool?

 

[jakunen]

Ah, but cotton woll is natural! And I don't carry as much of that now...

 

[Realgar]

Birch bark and any good resinous wood are pretty much waterproof. You can get fatwood as 'aromatic barbeque matches' - basicaly sticks that are supposed to smell nice as they light the charcoal.

 

[falling rain]

I've tried most of these, and as I said in my opinion the wetfire is the best there is that I've come across so far. It would be hard to beat this stuff

 

[Exploriment]

Another enthusiastic recommendation for WetFire.
I'd had it for a while, but I don't know why I hadn't tried it.
So one evening I sat down and trried out a whole slew of different tinders - charcloth, vaseline soaked cotton balls, dryer lint, birch bark, steel wool, magnesium.
And I found that I liked WetFire best of all.
Not to say that any of the other ones were bad, but I just found WetFire to light just a touch easier, and it burned with a better flame.
Just my dos centavos.

 

[JakeR]

I just dont like the idea of buying tinder when i can find/make my own. Unless someone here tells me they last for ages (ie you dont need much) or they are cheap! :roll:

Cheers,

Jake

 

[Martyn]

I have to agree with jake on this one. I've never tried wetfire, but strangely ordered some just yesterday. I decided to take a look at it to see what all the fuss was about - but it aint cheap. When you look at the cost differential between wetfire and vaseline soaked cotton balls, it'd better show some huge and significant benefit. It'll need to be much better than slightly better to win me round. I cant see it either as vaseline cotton is so damned good.

I bought some maya dust the other day - i dunno if this stuff has any fans here, but I just dont see the point of it. Just seems like really expensive wood shavings to me. I think I was expecting some pyrotechnic wonder, instead I just got - well, wood shavings. :roll:

 

[Adi007]

The best thing about WetFire is that it will ignite and continue to burn when wet. I've had some out in the rain and it seems very reluctant to go out. I can see situations where a cube or two could com ein really handy.

Maya dust is a con - nothing more than hard to light wood dust :roll:

 

[ChrisKavanaugh]

Maya wood or dust is a fancy marketing name for fatwood as it's called in our southern states. It's nothing more than a portion of tree (usually pine) injured by lightning or fire. The resin pours into the wound just as blood would clot. fatwood is sold over here in 5 lb and larger bundles with sticks @ 8" long and @ 1/2-3/4" thick. I imagine with some looking about you may find a tree stump or old tree with a good supply. It's marvelous as a second stage tinder after the initial lighting of charcloth etc. It's always a good idea to mess with every possible tinder, natural or artificial. A pouring rain is no time to learn the peculiarities each one has.

 

[Adi007]

It's always a good idea to mess with every possible tinder, natural or artificial. A pouring rain is no time to learn the peculiarities each one has.

I so totally agree with that statement. Practice and experiment. Practice and experiment! :biggthump

 

[Gary]

Martyn IMO wet-fire wins hands down over vas/cotton wool because its so light and usable. Vas/cotton wool is excellent and price wise a much better option but in practice Wet-fire has advantages.

As I have pointed out on other threads one brick of wet-fire will heat a brew, well warm it but it would be welcome none the less if it was brass monkeys outside. One brick if used wisely and on a correctly prep'd fire will light several fires all you need do is shave off another dust to ignite your tinder and kindling. One whole brick lighted from a match will ignite even poor kindling. One brink broken into a pile (for using a steel) will ignite even wet tinder or kindling as I proved on the Islay trip where I lighted the fire with one brick of wet-fire on finger thick wet kindling and then wrist thick drift wood. A cheer blaze ensued!!

Even if you only carry the wetfire as a back up source for emergencies it is worth it as takes up little room and weighs nothing.

Of course a tube of vaseline or chapstick and a tampoon in your first aid kit will be another back up to!