Tinder Tube

**Rick** · 12-14-2007, 09:51 PM

I was wondering if any of you had ever used a tinder tube? It looks pretty simple to make.

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**tfisher** · 12-14-2007, 10:05 PM

common around muzzle loading, it works pretty good if you protect the char end with the tube. And keep it very very dry

**Rick** · 12-14-2007, 10:15 PM

Never used one and I don't do muzzle load. Is it in the same league with char cloth or is char cloth better in your opinion?

Is it used in a match lock muzzle loader or in some other way?

**woodwose** · 12-14-2007, 10:29 PM

Originally Posted by Rick

I was wondering if any of you had ever used a tinder tube? It looks pretty simple to make.

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Doesn't that kind of rope melt under fire?

I've heard and seen a fire piston (there

)... like a plunger that goes into a tube with tinder at the bottom and the heat generated fires up the tinder. Oh wait,, that has got to be cotton rope with no nylon in it..

**Rick** · 12-14-2007, 10:31 PM

Well, I assumed it was cotton rope. clothes line rope is what we call it. I don't have one, I just found the picture. I think I'm gonna make one just to play with. I would imagine any kind of metal will work to smother the ember. I may have some copper tube come to think of it.

**Nativedude** · 12-15-2007, 06:08 PM

Originally Posted by woodwose

". . .I've heard and seen a fire plow... like a plunger that goes into a tube with tinder at the bottom and the heat generated fires up the tinder. . ."

That is a fire piston Woodwose.

**sh4d0wm4573ri7** · 12-16-2007, 07:41 AM

Tinder tube works well if kept dry is another option to char. I keep one in each of my flint n steel kits (rope must be 100% coton)

**Rick** · 12-16-2007, 08:26 AM

Thanks alphnumeric(

) Does it work as well as char cloth?

**woodwose** · 12-16-2007, 02:29 PM

Originally Posted by Rick

Well, I assumed it was cotton rope. clothes line rope is what we call it. I don't have one, I just found the picture. I think I'm gonna make one just to play with. I would imagine any kind of metal will work to smother the ember. I may have some copper tube come to think of it.

I assume that you pull the ember through and inside the metal tube. fire needs air, fuel and ignition. If you take away one element of the 'triangle' the fire goes out. If the ember is inside the tube, wouldn't that take the air away from the equation? I would be interested to know if the ember stays lit. Also, where would you carry this ember and how long could you carry it before (if) it burns through to the other side of the tube?

**Rick** · 12-16-2007, 04:34 PM

Here's my uneducated, groping along in the dark, cut at it. Once burned, the end of the cotton cord would act much like char cloth in that it would be able to catch and hold an ember to start your tinder. Then, just as you described, you could slide the ember inside the tube and snuff it out (the emphasis fire triangle) . When it's time to start the next fire just push the cord through so the burned end is exposed and wash, rinse, repeat as necessary. (okay, let it catch another ember, jeepers. I can't have any fun).

Much like diamond strike anywhere matches (oh, don't get me started on those again) cotton cord (rope) does not seem to be a well stocked item. Or, I should say, a stocked item, because no one seems to have it either. What is this world comin' to?

**nell67** · 12-16-2007, 05:39 PM

Glad you clarified that Rick,I thought for a second there I was reading the shampoo bottle again.LMAO!

**woodwose** · 12-16-2007, 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by Rick

Here's my uneducated, groping along in the dark, cut at it. Once burned, the end of the cotton cord would act much like char cloth in that it would be able to catch and hold an ember to start your tinder. Then, just as you described, you could slide the ember inside the tube and snuff it out (the emphasis fire triangle) . When it's time to start the next fire just push the cord through so the burned end is exposed and wash, rinse, repeat as necessary. (okay, let it catch another ember, jeepers. I can't have any fun).

Much like diamond strike anywhere matches (oh, don't get me started on those again) cotton cord (rope) does not seem to be a well stocked item. Or, I should say, a stocked item, because no one seems to have it either. What is this world comin' to?

Just keepin' ya on yur toes....

**Rick** · 12-16-2007, 06:41 PM

Hey! What do I look like, a ballerina?

**Beo** · 12-17-2007, 08:31 AM

Been quiet for a while but now gotta add this lil diddy. I hunt only with a flintlock muzzleloader and with guys that only hunt flintlock, we have never seen this except with the guys that use firelocks (in re-enacting) so its not that common. I use a flint striker and have never had a problem and cattail fluff to get my fires going, sometimes dried moss, or just plain lint from a pocket. Dried leaves and the such, but that rope thingy is not as common around muzzleloading as some think. But this might just be where I shoot, hunt and trek.

**sh4d0wm4573ri7** · 12-18-2007, 01:39 PM

I prefer char or chaga the tinder tube is my backup and is kinda fun to enlighten a greenhorn with when i use it an flint n steel to light his cig or pipe for him in the time it takes him to find the wherabouts of his bic

**Rick** · 12-18-2007, 01:45 PM

Was I pretty close on my explanation in post #10? I've never used one but that's how it looks like it works to me. I want to put one together just to play with it. More a novelty than anything else.

**Rick** · 12-31-2007, 04:58 PM

I finally tracked down some cotton cord and field trialled the tinder tube today. I used a six inch piece of 3/16" rope inside a 3/16" threaded brass lamp nipple (see pic below). I used the threaded nipple because I thought the threads might be handy if my fingers were really cold. It would give me something to hold on to rather than the smooth surface of the copper tube. Otherwise, it looks just like the pictures above. It worked every bit a well as char cloth. So I now have another backup in my fire kit.

By the way, for those of you that have been worried silly over my inability to find strike anywhere matches (I appreciate your concern), I did acquire some and coated them with paraffin wax. So I have some storm matches to go along with my tinder tube. Ain't life sweet?