Hunter I use the fine wisps of bark. They catch a spark and start burning, they don't smolder.Quote:
Originally Posted by hunter63
When I'm preparing to build a fire I'll gather a large handful of the birch bark. It catches fast and burns very hot.
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Hunter I use the fine wisps of bark. They catch a spark and start burning, they don't smolder.Quote:
Originally Posted by hunter63
When I'm preparing to build a fire I'll gather a large handful of the birch bark. It catches fast and burns very hot.
Got ya, I have bark in my tinder kit, I guess I never though about just sparking the bark wisps.........Hummmmm,Quote:
Originally Posted by klkak
Thanks.
No problem Hunter, thats what brothers are for.
AS, it's not the same at all. The sparks are gone pretty fast from a firesteel or ferro rod (I will use the term interchangably sometimes), so you need something to catch one and smolder into tinder.
MY definition of tinder is something used to catch fire. Bowdrill tinder and firesteel tinder aren't the same, although I use some of the same ingredients. You can light fatlighterd with a match, but without something to produce a flame first, you won't light fatlighterd with the bowdrill ember nor firesteel spark. Fatlighterd by my definition is "kindling" and not "tinder". Does that make sense?
tinder can catch a spark or ember and propagate it further into a "tindle" which is a bundle of something flammable, like dry grass or bark. once you have established a flame in your tindle (tinder-bundle), you use kindling (like fatlighterd) to establish fire by adding more twigs (also called kindling down here) of increasing size.
hopefully I haven't completely confused anyone, but that's my redneck dictionary for ya ;)
You can't even catch lighter knot shavings with a spark.
I gave a buddy a ferro rod as I do most people that camp with us. He was beside his self with the ability to make fire by spark. His Gerber Gator folder would not make sparks and so he got a strip of hack saw blade.
Did you mean to say can't? I've not had a problem with fat lighter shavings catching a spark.Quote:
Originally Posted by Batch
More to add to the list.
We have a eucalyptus tree in my grandma's yard. The squirrels have been climbing up it and have knocked off a few nice chunks. (I really gotta get some pics uploaded!). Crumble up, and fray one end and it catches flame real easy. Transfer the flame to a piece of fatlighterd, and put the piece of bark out. save it for another fire. I'm gonna stick a few pieces in my bag.
I think the "mystery pine cone thing" was a female cone in it's growing stage. I found a few more that the wind knocked out. They all worked really well.
I crushed and frayed a regular cone by stomping and rolling it. It worked very well also.
admittedly, everyone might not be able to find a eucalyptus tree, but odds are you can find some bark with similar properties.
Might be time for hunter to update that list. It's getting to be a pretty good one!
YCC dod make some additions to the list, might have missed some, been packing up for a trip to " The Place"
I check it tomorrow to see if I missed any.
Found some sycamore "puffballs" today and fluffed one up. tucked it in some dry grass and had fire in seconds. A few were still hanging on the trees so you can find that stuff in the woods this time of year, both on and off the trees.
Bonus points for Klkak. Check this out!
Wen fishing yesterday for white bass. We caught a good mess.
We pulled up on a sandbar, and I got out to cool off in the water, and I noticed behind me this tree:
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...401001607a.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...0401001607.jpg
so I pulled a little of the loose bark off and pulled out my EDC ferro rod.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...0401001608.jpg
I might mention I sharpened one side of the striker to be somewhat more knifelike. gave it a quick shave and voila. No powdering or anything. this was straight off the tree.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...0401001609.jpg
Excellent! Thanks Klkak!
I grabbed a couple handfulls of what was on the ground and some that was really loose on the tree and stuck in a waterproof bag in my tacklebox. If I ever get caught in the rain, I'll have some dry tinder to start a fire and dry off with while fishing!
The only tinder that you can find in my woods during the winter is old mans beard. In the summer i just use the dry dead grass.
http://www.ontariowildflower.com/ima...mans_beard.jpg
I try to supplement that with douglas fir resin when i need that extra room to get damp wood going.
If its raining out and i have nothing in my pack, i always have to use dry wood scrapings which can be a real pain in the ***. Nearly impossible when your shivering from the cold. Occasionally ill find redwood trees, if i cut into the inner bark i can get to the dry stuff. It works ok but tends to burn itself out at times.
I should have said I can't. I find with lighter knot you have to heat the resin to burn. Then once it goes it goes good and hot.Quote:
Originally Posted by crashdive123
I shaved as fine as I could down some shavings and tried to spark them with a fero rod. I got nodda.
Maybe you could post how you got it to work? It is all over in the places I camp so it would be nice to add it to something that will flame from a spark.
Actually, I should I haven't yet. But, just might with a little help from my friends! ;)
Well, i have gotten non fatwood wood shavings going with a ferro rod, mabeye your not shaving a big enough pile or concentrating your sparks enough. Or mabeye you have one of those POS light my fire firesteels, the harder to strike "misch metal" ones make much hotter sparks.Quote:
Originally Posted by Batch
This guy does a good demo on using heartwood shavings to start a fire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I_WSt4tJu0
I thought I shaved off enough. My POS fire steels are from firesteel.com. I think the 5/16" or 3/8" is the biggest one I have tried. They light all of my fires. But, if there is something that is that much better please let me know.
I'll have to try again.
I scrape a pile much like I do with a magnesium block, add a few shavings to the "powder" scrapings so there is something to burn for a bit.
I have a good bit of it on hand and will be experimenting this week as time permits. I will be happy as a PIS if I can get this to burn.
But, in all honesty, I can just use readily hand tinder and I usually don't have a problem getting the lighter knot lit that way.
Here some picks of lighter knot. I cut a sliver and it takes a couple of seconds to light with a lighter. Then it really doesn't like to go out.
Lighter knot on the ground. Drift wood style.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...s/P3270339.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...s/P3270341.jpg
Whats inside.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...s/P3270340.jpg
This whole tree is lighter knot.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...s/P3270345.jpg
Don't ask me why it didn't all burn up in the fire. But, we have standing dead trees all over.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...s/P3270346.jpg
I used a lighter to light this. But, I use fire steel with tinder to light all my fires.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...s/P3270369.jpg
The place we are at in these photos taken last weekend and where I went this weekend do not have a lot of hardwood. So our fires are pine and we usually put charcoal on the ground and cook on a metal grate or pans. I use match light and then add kingsford. I can not get match light lit with firesteel either. A tleast, not quickly enough to justify not just walking a few feet and grabbing tinder from a palm and putting that on the side of the charcoal and hitting the tinder with sparks.
So, if you can light match light with fire steel also then it must be my technique or the fire steel I am using.
you mention palm.
My BIL gave me a piece of palm bark to try as a hearthboard. I wonder if I could shave some of it off and catch a spark. I haven't walked up on one in the woods, but would still be interesting to know.
I found some tall unknown grass today that had wispy blades on the upper part.. reminded me of the birch bark wisps. took a few of those and tucked under the bulk of the grass and after just a few strikes, fire. It was cool because I ran off and left my Bic at home. surprising how much stuff will propagate a spark into flame when you actually go trying random stuff :D
Crash, don't you have a palm tree in your yard? You might try it too, I don't know right off where I tucked the piece I was given.. probably buried in one of my cabinets lol. If you take a notion, let us know how it goes.
@Batch - I've read that the most resinous woods are found when a tree suffers sudden damage (lightning or fire) which causes it to start producing massive amounts of sap to try and protect the tree.
@YCC - The palms in my yard have the spiked (really sharp) stalks. They would probably make a better field expedient weapon. I'll give em a try at some point.
Crash, I have heard the same thing.
YCC, Palm is very prominent down here. The place I hunt lists slash pine and sabal palms as the two most common trees. Do you known what type of palm tree the bark is from?
I have no idea what kind of palm or where he got the piece from. He probably doesn't know what kind either, but I'll ask him anyway next time I see him. I'm gonna get out there and try to find that piece in a little while and give it a go.. got some diggin' to do!
My co-worker has a date-palm (the kind with the little orange fruits) in his yard.. It looked like the same bark and I'll get him to bring a piece of that over to try too.
For some odd reason, I had stuck that thing in the bottom drawer of my toolbox..
I shaved and crumbled the palm bark and tried for a few minutes to get it to catch a spark and failed miserably.. It's very dry and crumbly and shaved down easily with my old hickory, almost to dust reminiscent of the fire-bow but I couldn't get it to catch. Maybe one of you guys can try some too and have more success.
The two palms to the right of my tent are sabal palms also called cabbage palms. This is the tree we get swamp cabbage from.
It is Florida and North Carolina's state tree.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...s/P4030012.jpg
Close up of the boot jacks which might make a fire board.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...s/P4030013.jpg
You can see the tinder in there:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...s/P4050025.jpg
This is one pull of tinder.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...s/P4050026.jpg
That looks like some good stuff to work with. The stuff I have here looks nothing like that. perhaps it's a different kind of palm?
Have you tried the ferro rod on that stuff with any success? It also looks like it'd be a really good tindle for friction fire.
This is my tinder of choice and I can find dry tinder and kindling (I have to split the boot jacks or burn the palm leaves). This tree is fire if you have a spark in any weather. Guaranteed!
I just think I didn't fluff my tinder enough. There are many palm species down here that have the palm fluff. This makes awesome and easy to make cordage as well.
I followed Cash's instructions and had no problem getting fire!Quote:
Originally Posted by crashdive123
Quote:
Originally Posted by Batch
I should have said I was talking about the lighter pine.
My 11 year old made his first fire last night with a ferro rod. He gathered a handfull of false dandelion seedheads. The pappus hairs ignite and burn hot enough to catch a handfull of dry grass on fire. add a few fatlighterd matches and a few twigs, then some dry limbs. In 5 minutes he had built a nice hot fire. It burned till it started raining last night.
A proud moment for YCC Jr.
Woo Hoo! Tell him congratulations from all of us.Quote:
Originally Posted by your_comforting_company
Just curious guys, how many here have started a fire with wood shavings and ferro rod, like what you do with fatwood shavings but with regular, unresined wood? The only people i have seen do it are iamwoodsman and bushcraftbartons. Its a really good skill to have. Very tricky and hard to do, but it could save your life when your out of stashed tinder and all of the tinder in the forest is wet.
Heres a good video example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I_WSt4tJu0
I've used shaved cedar bark if that counts as wood. You can fuzz it almost like cotton.
Well, boys I want to add another item to the tried and had only limited sucess.
Dried rabbit pellets.....looked like balls of sawdust, so though I would give it a try.
Crumbled them down into dust, but they were kinda damp.
Did catch a spark w/ferro rod, but couldn't get it to stay going for long......maybe dry them out more?
Oh, well, ooooooooh.
Hey, Mrs. Hunter!!!!! Hunter is playin' with poop again!!!!!!
LOL, these were past the smeary stage, now the deer poop, on the other hand, need to dry ALOT before smooshing them down.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rick
Besides some one had to try it, right think about the poor souls that tried Preparation- A thru E, before H?
Passerby: Hey Hunter63 - what are you doing?
Hunter63: I'm trying to light some deer poop.
Passerby: Well it looks like you've got is smoking a bit.
Hunter63: Yep. I've heard it's some good s**t.
I tried cow chips a while back with no luck too. hey if it looks flammable, I'll try it!
After, the lighter knot worked. I took and powdered hickory wattle and lit a powdered version of that with shavings.Quote:
Originally Posted by justin_baker
Seems most any wood will burn if it is made small enough.
Birch paper
Cattail / dandelion / thistle fluff
Cedar Bark
Char-cloth
Charcoal
Cottonwood fluff
Dogbane fibers / various fibrous plants
Dry Grass
Elm inner bark
Eucalyptus tree bark
Fatlighterd shavings
Hornet nest
Mullien leaves
Milkweed seedpods
Old Man's Beard moss
Pine cone crushed up
Pine female fronds
Punky (rotten) Pecan wood
Pocket lint
Rabbit pellets/ various grazing animals' poop
Sabal / Cabbage palm fibers
Sycamore fluff balls
True / False Tinder fungus
Various wood shavings / powders (non-resinous)
Willow seed fluff (beard)
Just wanted to make sure we have the list further into the thread. Should we label each one for ease of use? I didn't worry with credits. Sorry if anyone is offended.
Lets try to keep the list updated and at least on each page of posts (mine shows 20 posts per page) If that's do-able. If your post is #81 (it would be at the top of a new page) please copy the list and paste it.
This is a very good list we are compiling here and I'm commiting as much as possible to memory.
THANKS EVERYONE!!
Black willow trees are going to seed and have long fluffy beards.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...s/DSCN4368.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...s/DSCN4367.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...s/DSCN4376.jpg
It catches a spark as well as any dandelion or thistle fluff I've used.
I would guess that in a lot of places burning dung as a fuel source is a major deal, but I have to agree, "It don't take a spark well", need to be really dry.Quote:
Originally Posted by your_comforting_company
But thanks for bringing it up.......I guess I'm not the only one that "Plays with poop"........