Your choice of tinder and why
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Birchbark all the way for me. It doesn't matter whether it's bone dry, wet or frozen, if still takes a spark and burns.
Birch bark
Reedmace
Charcloth
Fireweed (Rosebay Willow Herb) fluff
Wood dust scraped off my kindling sticks
Reedmace
Charcloth
Fireweed (Rosebay Willow Herb) fluff
Wood dust scraped off my kindling sticks
Birchbark, fomes, chaga, more birchbark 
reedmace or thistleheads and mugwort
Really depends on what I'm doing with it. If I'm using the firebow then I stuff a clabby dhub with dried mugwort, birchbark and reedmace or thistledown; if I'm trying to draw a fire on then I'll use the firecrackle and birchbark with dried grass. If I want to catch a spark, I'll use fomes or chaga.
atb,
M
reedmace or thistleheads and mugwortReally depends on what I'm doing with it. If I'm using the firebow then I stuff a clabby dhub with dried mugwort, birchbark and reedmace or thistledown; if I'm trying to draw a fire on then I'll use the firecrackle and birchbark with dried grass. If I want to catch a spark, I'll use fomes or chaga.
atb,
M
Birch most of the time or feather sticks if the material and weather is right,
Rubber strips when its wet and nasty and it all goes wrong. There are lots of others but they are the main users.
Rubber strips when its wet and nasty and it all goes wrong. There are lots of others but they are the main users.
Cotton wool for the wood burner and cotton wool and petroleum jelly for outdoors or if i'm feeling the need to prove myself silver birth, old mans beard or grass.
Feathersticks for the win!
Birch bark for spark firelighting but there's not much of that around here.
Dry grass can easily be ignited with embers, less easily so with ferrocerium sparks in my experience.
One thing I hate is reedmace down. Especcially indoors. You get all covered up with fluff in your throat and nose and eyes.
Those things just explode. Call me paranoid but that mean plant deliberately tries to use me and my dog to spread it's seeds.
Birch bark for spark firelighting but there's not much of that around here.
Dry grass can easily be ignited with embers, less easily so with ferrocerium sparks in my experience.
One thing I hate is reedmace down. Especcially indoors. You get all covered up with fluff in your throat and nose and eyes.
Those things just explode. Call me paranoid but that mean plant deliberately tries to use me and my dog to spread it's seeds.
Birch bark
Jute twine
Charcloth
Charred rope
Old birds nest
Waxed Cotton balls
Anything else foraged that day.
touched by nature
Jute twine
Charcloth
Charred rope
Old birds nest
Waxed Cotton balls
Anything else foraged that day.
touched by nature
Birchbark, Hemp, Resin from blisters on Fir trees, and not forgetting the fluff salvaged from the tumble dryer.
Cotton wool because it's readily available and takes up no room at all.
Reed mace because of the sheer volume that can be acquired from one head.
Birch bark because it's dependable.
Char cloth because it's easy to prepare and smoulders slowly.
Reed mace because of the sheer volume that can be acquired from one head.
Birch bark because it's dependable.
Char cloth because it's easy to prepare and smoulders slowly.
Old wasp nests
Brazil nuts - others as well but Brazils make great Christmas candles.
Feather sticks will take a spark from a ferro-rod.
ATB
Ogri the trog
Brazil nuts - others as well but Brazils make great Christmas candles.
Feather sticks will take a spark from a ferro-rod.
ATB
Ogri the trog
dried wallaby poo- works GREAT with magnifying glass and friction-methods
punkwood
capok BUSH seedpods(contain something similar to cotton wool; works even with my pet hate(=ferro rods))
#1 and 3 are limited to god's own country, though....uppy_dog
punkwood
capok BUSH seedpods(contain something similar to cotton wool; works even with my pet hate(=ferro rods))
#1 and 3 are limited to god's own country, though....
uppy_dog
In no particular order, here are mine:
Pine Pitch (best accelerant around)
Feather sticks and shavings
Cotton balls with vaseline or Palmade (easy and almost everyone has these items)
Dryer Lint
Birch Bark
Pine Pitch (best accelerant around)
Feather sticks and shavings
Cotton balls with vaseline or Palmade (easy and almost everyone has these items)
Dryer Lint
Birch Bark
Another vote for Rosebay willow herb seed down, there is a lot around here, as a bonus you can eat the pith for a little energy boost.
My favourite tinder packages so far are:
Clematis down+twiggy bits, wrapped in a bit of birch bark - autumn through to early spring
Lime tree fluff collected and dried, wrapped in birch bark - summer
Both are better if fluffed up rather than compressed although the clematis works better a little more densely packed. Lime fluff seems positively flame-retardant unless very loosely fluffed up - but then is like gunpowder when done right. The birch bark/clematis twigs then take the flame to the next level nicely, letting me go straight to small sticks most of the time.
I haven't tried willowherbs as I only find small varieties in my local area, so collecting enough fluff is not very practical.
Another point is that the peel-y birch varieties are not native as far as I can tell - I find them in ornamental planting but never in the wild. The only native silver birch I've used is from dead trees, where the inner wood had rotted leaving the bark easy to peel off. I cleaned up the inside and dried it well before use. However I have found a range of peely types with qualities ranging from papery coming off in ragged strips, or large sheets, to some where a plate with the consistency similar to lollipop stick could be peeled off without removing the new bark underneath. I think some are North American and others are Himalayan. So although they are an available resource, it would be interesting to find native substitutes.
Clematis down+twiggy bits, wrapped in a bit of birch bark - autumn through to early spring
Lime tree fluff collected and dried, wrapped in birch bark - summer
Both are better if fluffed up rather than compressed although the clematis works better a little more densely packed. Lime fluff seems positively flame-retardant unless very loosely fluffed up - but then is like gunpowder when done right. The birch bark/clematis twigs then take the flame to the next level nicely, letting me go straight to small sticks most of the time.
I haven't tried willowherbs as I only find small varieties in my local area, so collecting enough fluff is not very practical.
Another point is that the peel-y birch varieties are not native as far as I can tell - I find them in ornamental planting but never in the wild. The only native silver birch I've used is from dead trees, where the inner wood had rotted leaving the bark easy to peel off. I cleaned up the inside and dried it well before use. However I have found a range of peely types with qualities ranging from papery coming off in ragged strips, or large sheets, to some where a plate with the consistency similar to lollipop stick could be peeled off without removing the new bark underneath. I think some are North American and others are Himalayan. So although they are an available resource, it would be interesting to find native substitutes.
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