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Rick
07-18-2008, 07:12 PM
Here's another tool for the toolbox. A really good material for tinder is a product known as Oakum. Oakum is made from fibers of the Jute plant and has historically been combined with pine tar and used as caulking or packing of ships' timbers and deck planking. It has also been used extensively in the plumbing industry to seal cast iron drain pipe.

But Oakum, minus the pine tar, can do an excellent job of catching and holding a spark. You can still find it on the internet and in plumbing supply stores. It's pretty inexpensive. A couple of feet of 1/2 inch Oakum is about $2.00.

For those of you that teach wilderness skills, this might be a good way to provide your students with a good tinder product that's pretty cheap.

skunkkiller
07-19-2008, 12:41 PM
does it catch a spark without charring it?

dilligaf2u2
07-20-2008, 06:43 AM
I carry Jute Twine dipped in wax. I brade it and have some hanging on my fire steel. The wax on the outside wears off but it still holds most of the wax on the inside fibers.

The wire from twist ties sections off the bradded twine so I can remove a wire. Fluff the end up to light. Put it out when the fire is lit and it acts like a candle for getting tinder going.

Don

Pict
07-20-2008, 07:27 AM
I use ordinary jute twine in this role. If you unspin it you can make a big ball of jute fluff pretty easy. Leave it alone and it works like string. Treate it with a little vaseline and it burns longer making a first rate tinder. I keep a BSA Hotspark and a section of braided Jute twine treated with a little vaseline in the handle of my my Mini-bushman. It will go from spark to flame without charring. Mac

Ridge Wolf
07-20-2008, 07:47 AM
Cotton balls do the same thing as jute twine (waxed or vaselined). I coat the cotton balls with vaseline and carry a pill box full of them. I haven't tried it yet but I would imagine that anything jute will work for that, I am thinking about just a hank of hemp rope treated the same.