ferro rods and natural tinders

[hunter63]

rwc, very good list, lots of ideas.
Like the hornets nest, liitle buggers gotta be good for something.

I can see me now in the woods turkey hunting, picking and sparking any thing I can find, with the turkeys watching, wondering, what the....?

I'll have to tell them, "Go away, can't you see I'm busy?"

[finallyME]

Great thread. This is my all time weakness. I have yet to start a fire with natural tinder and a fero rod. It is kinda frustrating. I always carry lint, and have had to fall back on it all too often. I guess what I really need to do is study up on herbology and start learning more trees and fungi.

[your_comforting_company]

finallyME, you dont have to know what they are to see if they'll catch a spark. If it works and you can recognize it again, that's the important thing.

I got a picture of those turkeys gobbling at each other, saying "If he'd just go over there and get some of that stuff..." lol

[hunter63]

LOL,
Yeah, I get led astray a lot.
Something about sitting still, and having the woods come back alive and you start noticing things all over the place.

So you just open your mind, and let the sights, sounds, movement sorta take over, all the while the scan is working with the "What is that?"

Funny how that works, but you start picking out things that you missed before, that were already loaded into your head.

So now that I have my "look for list" loaded, it's a matter of getting out.
Just need to find one stupid Tom the thinks I sound sexy.....................

[Rick]

Finallyme - Look for a shroom growing on the side of a tree that looks like a horseshoe. See this bad boy?

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FALSE tinder fungus, a.k.a. horseshoe fungus. It's easy to identify if you remember the horse.

Here's another pic.

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EDIT: I incorrectly labeled this as True Tinder Fungus. It is False Tinder Fungus.

[your_comforting_company]

Rick, the kind I use is reddish brown and upside down from that. Maybe I have False tinder fungus? It's also flatter and bigger around. I'll spot some more on a tree soon and snap a pic. I've seen it on lots of different trees. Not just birch.

[Rick]

No, no. You're right. Mea Culpa. I typed wrong. Sorry. That is false tinder fungus or Horseshoe. True tinder fungus looks like a big brown blob. A big tree scab. I'll go back and change my post. Sorry....(trudging off with eraser in hand.)

[your_comforting_company]

You could have fooled me buddy. I didn't know one from the other
not next time tho. I'll remember the horse foot!

[Rick]

I think those are one of the easiest to spot. They look exactly like a horse's hoof. You can even see the growth rings just like a real hoof.

[Rick]

And by the way, RWC, I would have never consider a hornet's nest although I should have. They are super easy to spot in the winter when leaves are off the tree and no problem with getting stung.

[rwc1969]

I haven't seen a live hornet's nest down here for a few years now. I can pretty much shake the tree and the whole thing comes falling down, if it isn't already down. There are many live ones up north though. I found that out the hard way.

Not first hand, but, you can process the horse's hoof into a felt like stuff called Amadou. It makes a great tinder, so I hear, and folks actually make hats and such out of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadou

[Rick]

I ran into a bunch of hornets on a trail last year. There must have been 25 or 30 collecting sap out of a damaged place at the base of a tree. They were too busy to worry about me so I just sat down and watched them for a spell. Here's a pic of four of them on the tree. The rest were buzzing all around waiting their turn.

I would think in winter with snow on, when it's hard to find some forms of tinder, a hornet's nest would be just the thing.

[your_comforting_company]

I ran across a piece of a pinecone yesterday that was shredded, almost like a squirrel had stripped it. had some very papery shreds near the sappy core. threw a few sparks on it and it caught flame instantly. Not like a coal that I blew on, I mean full flame. I could not reproduce this with whole cones and didn't find another one in the same condition that would work, but it's an option worth exploring.. maybe we could shred some fresh cones similarly? I'll try shredding one soon, unless someone else beats me to it.

[Rick]

I wonder if scraping some tinder off the pine cone would work? I suppose the cone has some level of terpenes in it as well so it makes sense that it would burn like that. Good find.

[Rick]

I suppose the ideal would be to create a small bundle of fire starting material with a good spark catcher in the middle. Two or three of those in your fire starting kit would provide you with a ready made, dry fire starter in bad weather.

[preachtheWORD]

Let's not forget one source of tinder that we generally have with us at all times - pocket lint. You can also use fleece or polyfill from your jacket. It's not exactly "primitive," but it will work in a pinch. Dryer lint makes really excellent tinder, especially for a flint striker.

[preachtheWORD]

I suppose the ideal would be to create a small bundle of fire starting material with a good spark catcher in the middle. Two or three of those in your fire starting kit would provide you with a ready made, dry fire starter in bad weather.

That is a really good idea!

[Alaskan Survivalist]

I always think of tinder as anything you can light with a match. I never used a spark to light fires but have caught my sweater on fire a couple times grinding metal. I have used birds nests for fire with bow drills before. Starting a fire with an ember is probably not the same I guess.

[Rick]

At the next jamboree I suggest taking either Hunter or AS along. We can use one of them as a fire starter.

DOC - I suggest sending both these guys a fire extinguisher.

[hunter63]

At the next jamboree I suggest taking either Hunter or AS along. We can use one of them as a fire starter.

DOC - I suggest sending both these guys a fire extinguisher.

Hey, the hair on my arm is purtty much growed back, and haven't been fooling with my alcohol stoves, much.
(Gotta go see if the little bottles of "Heat" made it thru the winter with out evaporating, I used eye drop .5 oz bottles for the pack).

Anyway, in my previous life, working 2nd shift, had a lot of time to fool around, my first flint and steel fire, was on a metal work bench in the shop, got it out before the sprinklers went off, but was close, LOL.

I liking the items listed, boys, keep it up!