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Thread: ferro rods and natural tinders

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    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
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    Default ferro rods and natural tinders

    I'm not a gadget guy, but I recently purchased a ferro rod from SafeZone LLC. I figured it'd make a nice back-up in case I can't find the perfect sticks in the woods (even though I already know good stuff grows there). Not diverging toooooo much from the primitive, I've tried char cloth but in order to make that you already need fire... (Is that called a paradox?) That set me out on a quest to find good natural spark extenders.
    the best natural tinder I've found so far is punky pecan wood. I'd imagine any punk would work just as well, but this is just something I found in the yard and said, Lets see if it'll catch a spark.
    It did.
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    Wrap some nice shredded tree bark around that, and grass around that lump and even my 12 year old can make fire with a ferro rod!

    I've tried thistle and cattail fluffs, and they work good, but punk wood propagates the spark much better.
    If anyone else has tried natural tinders in conjunction with this, please post up your findings.
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    Coming through klkak's Avatar
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    I like to use birch paper.
    1. If it's in your kit and you don't know how to use it....It's useless.
    2. If you can't reach your kit when you need it....Its useless.

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    A Seasonal thing here is Cotton wood pollen that can blanket the ground here. I like to save a few unburnt coals from my last fire. They catch pretty easy. I think its kinda like charred cloth.

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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    YCC - Two things we did not talk about are True and False Tinder Fungus. Both are pretty dang good at catching a spark, even if they have been wet. I posted some time ago about a fungus stove. You can actually use the True Tinder fungus as a great primitive stove that will boil water. But the two fungus's work pretty good at catching a spark.

    http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...t=fungus+stove
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    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
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    Cool. I'll try to catch a spark on some fungus in a little while. I try to keep a little on hand. I also have plenty of char coals in "dirty ashes" so I'll have to give that a try too!
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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    YCC, I think you have hit on a good subject, natural tinder's.
    I look at tinder as something take can catch a spark, and start smoldering long enough to get a flame.
    I am assuming that these are things you have used and were successful with.

    Lets start a list:
    YCC-punky pecan wood or punky wood in general
    Cattail fluff
    thistle fluff

    klkak-birch paper (Do you have to powder this first, or just use the very fine wisps of the bark?)

    AS-cotton wood fluff

    GI Joe-Mullen leavs, milkweed inside seed pod seed fluff

    YCC, eucalyptus tree cone crushed

    Rick-True and False Tinder Fungus ( been looking for this stuff for a while , haven't found any of either yet, but I do hunt in areas that have birch)

    Several people- char cloth or possibly even powdered charcoal? ( need to try this)

    H63-dry grass, think it was marsh grass, very fine, and kinda balled up, rubbed and crushed.

    rwc1969-Hornet nest, Inner bark of a dead elm, cedar bark

    Batch-fibers in Sabal Palm/ Cabbage Palm

    Preachthe word-pocket lint.

    So what else do y'all have?
    Last edited by hunter63; 03-29-2010 at 11:51 PM. Reason: adding stuff
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    Junior Member GI JOE's Avatar
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    Mullen leavs milkweed inside seed pod seed fluff true tinder fungus
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    Last edited by GI JOE; 03-20-2010 at 05:11 PM.
    Currahee

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    Hey GI Joe, how about building a fire over at the Introduction section and tell us a bit about yourself?

    http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ead.php?t=7813
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    Hunter, you'll generally find the true tinder fungus on living birch and the false fungus on downed birch. I have no idea how they know the difference.
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    Junior Member GI JOE's Avatar
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    Talking

    True and faluse tinder from wildwood surival
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    Currahee

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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    Yep. That's what the thread above reference.
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    Junior Member GI JOE's Avatar
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    Fat Wood you find in dead pine trees whre the pich is near roots or trunk You were looking for natural tinders You can get at store
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    Last edited by GI JOE; 03-20-2010 at 07:01 PM.
    Currahee

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    I'll be watching for it, will be heading out for turkey hunting in April.

    Milk weed fluff, might be an idea, all of it I have found is pretty wet and available in the fall, unless there is still some hanging around in the spring on dried pods.

    Brings to mind,..... talking about punky wood.
    I have been cutting down elms (a lot of them) that died of disease.
    Some are past useful fire wood, and the is a lot of punk and dry rotted wood in side some of them.
    So I guess I'll try some of that.
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    Junior Member GI JOE's Avatar
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    Milk weed fluff when a spark hits gos fast its like magnssium not as hot gos fast the seeds will make a poping sound in flame. The inside of pod will hold a spark and stem fibers to Also try cattale fluff
    Last edited by GI JOE; 03-20-2010 at 06:56 PM.
    Currahee

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    I couldn't get a charcoal to catch. tinder fungus, true or false, caught readily. I actually blew it into a ball of grass and big flame for a little excitement today
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    Junior Member GI JOE's Avatar
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    Great job you have fun makeing fire there is a lot of tinder to try out there
    Currahee

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by your_comforting_company View Post
    I couldn't get a charcoal to catch. tinder fungus, true or false, caught readily. I actually blew it into a ball of grass and big flame for a little excitement today
    Well I guess i don't have to try that then.
    I would have thought the powdered charcoal would be like char cloth, but there would be more mass to ignite.
    Intresting.
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    My sparker puts out tiny sparks and very few at that. These are what I've tried and can remember having tried.

    Cattail fluff, took a spark, but flamed up and burned out quickly. I could not relight it after it did, with a spark or a lighter. I mighta just had some bum fluff. I could not start a fire with it and resorted to birch bark, a lighter and extremely punky pinewood.

    Hornet nest, took a spark and flamed/ burned on it's own until comletely consumed without aid. Best of all listed in my post. One small spark sets it ablaze. Would most likely make a great wick. Very common.

    Mullein leaves, took a spark and burned down until completely consumed, unaided. Very good! The center stem of leaf makes an excellent wick too. Extremely common and can be found dry almost year round.

    Dogbane fibers, took a spark and would burn unnattended for a bit, but needed to be blown on to stay lit. Might make an ok wick. Great cordage, even after standing all winter long. Fairly common.

    True tinder fungus/ chaga, took a spark ok, but once lit burned unattended just like incense. Would be good for carrying an ember over a long way. It burns quick though so you'd need a big chunk. It's only somewhat common a few hours drive north of here so it's not on my list of look fors. But, it makes a great tea if harvested from birch.

    False tinder fungus/ horses hoof, took a spark after I gouged out the underside and loosened it up a bit. Required a bit of blowing to get started. It continued to burn with little assistance, much slower than chaga, but it ignited easier from a spark. Another good one for carrying an ember to another location. I stuck it in my pocket, walked for a couple miles, pulled it out and it was still going. I would blow on it every so often and it didn't get hot in my pocket. Very common! I find it and similar fungus growing on Beech, birch, oak and several other species of trees. Many of the shelf fungus work good for tinder.

    Cedar bark fluffed up, Took a spark after many attempts and required a lot of assistance to maintain, but worked. I think I used this to start my first fire from a spark. Very wet conditions. It was not easy, but it was one of the only dry materials around. I don't consider this a good firestarter, but it can be found dry in wet conditions and is abundant so I don't rule it out.

    Any dried grasslike material fluffed up, took a spark fairly easy and kept burning with assistance, except when wet conditions. I can't find dry grass when it's wet. Up until last year this is about all I ever used. Pretty much any field weed crumbled and fluffed up will make tinder. I have yet to find one that won't unless it's wet which is a problem here. They usually have some kind of seedhead which will take a spark if the plant itself won't.

    Inner bark of a dead elm, worked better than cedar bark. Even in very wet conditions it was dry and made fire from spark. Extremely common and a great habitat for yellow morels. The bark makes a great white smoke signal too placed over a fire and wetted slightly.

    Homeade charcoal, I could not get it to take a spark, maybe if it was powdered or crumbled into tiny pieces. Works good for drawing on stuff though.

    100% Cotton charcloth, took a spark about the same as mullein or wasp nest. The wasp nest burned much better though.

    Not 100% cotton charcloth, took a spark just as well as 100%, but did not burn as well, required more assistance and wouldn't burn completely. I'm not a fan of charcloth, etc. because it has to be premade, but IAwoodsman has a vid of charrred natural materials he experimented with on youtube. Good stuff!

    I couldn't get a spark on fatwood, pine sap or Black cherry sap. I didn't crumble it up very fine though and didn't try too hard. It will light with the smallest flame though. And combined makes good torches/ candles as erunkis.... has shown. Pretty common materials.

    Crumbled up punky cottonwood would probably work good, but I haven't tried it yet. It's real light and airy and I find it dry even in wet conditions.

    There are other unknown plants I've used the fibers, leaves, stems and/ or pithy inner stem material to start fires from spark. When I go out I just start grabbing any material I see and break it open, crumble it up, looking for fine, airy dry matter and see if it'll catch a spark. I usually find something within a few feet and rarely know what it is. I just know it burns and happens to be there. When it's wet is when I have trouble and knowing/ finding materials that stay dry after a snow melt or rain is important to remember.

    That's all I got!

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    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
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    excellent post rwc. sorry, I can't give you any more rep ATM. Good info and lots of things for me to try today. It's raining so I might play with some wettish stuff to see what happens.
    Hunter, I didn't powder the charcoal, so you might still try that.
    cotton works too, not as well as fluff IMO but it did catch a spark that I could have blown into some grass.
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    By far my favorite natural tinder is the fibers in Sabal Palm/ Cabbage Palm. You can find dry tinder on the tree in a rain. It lights very readily and sabal palms are every where down here.

    Also if you find air plants, there is a fine silk like fiber inside that lit pretty easy when I tried it. I did not light a fire with that. I just pulled some out of the plant and lit it with and put it out. I should have been a little bit more observant about exactly how it burned.

    I have heard of birch bark being a good tinder. But, down here we have two birch cousins, Gumbo Limbo and Torchwood. I have found torchwood in a beach park in Dania Beach. I did not try that because it looks to be the same as gumbo limbo and that is all over down here. I have yet to get gumbo limbo to take a spark. Though I may not have fluffed it enough.

    I have yet to camp in a spot down here where you couldn't find a sabal palm near by.

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