Viable tinder for friction firelighting

[Stew]

Ok,

Thanks to Fenlander's help at the Moot, I can manage to get an ember with a bow drill consistantly by just walking into the woods with a knife or axe and piece of cord.

I want to start exploring different tinders that would be suitable to use with the ember.

Obviously the 'birds nest' is an ideal but what else could I use?

A mass of shredded Birch bark perhaps?

Any ideas?

 

[Ogri the trog]

Theres a few,
Buffed Cedar bark, various fungi (Cramp Ball, True and False Tinder Fungus), char cloth, dead bracken, grasses and.....um.......



Ogri the trog

 

[Stew]

Thanks Ogri but I'm not counting the char cloth. I should have said that the tinder needs to be available from the woods/outdoors.

 

[falling rain]

My favourite and easiest to collect a large amount very quickly is Clematis bark if there is any in the area you're in. (there's either loads of it if you come across some, or none at all, and it usually prefers chalk areas) Strip it from the bottom of the vine upwards in long lengths and gather the bundle and buff vigorously until you get fine fibres. This process also helps dry the stuff out if it's a little damp while your buffing. Great for Bow drill embers when buffed properly, and will light even when damp with good sparks from a fire steel.

 

[typha]

The best way to learn what can be used for tinders is to go and try things that look as though they would make good tinders.I have learned a few tinders that have no mention in books yet have proven to be excellent.
I normally do not just use one particular tinder for my tinder bundle which seems to me to be the best approach. There is varying material sizes and burning characteristics of the tinder materials that can be found so why not try to exploit it.
You may find shredded birch bark difficult to light from an ember on its own, but if you have a tinder bundle with e.g thistle down, dry buffed up grass and BIRCH BARK what you have is fine material to drop the ember on to ( thistle down) then slightly coarser material (dry grass) to establish the flame and long burning material ( birch bark) which will help the tinder bundle sustain itself while the fire proper is built on top.

 

[Stew]

My favourite and easiest to collect a large amount very quickly is Clematis bark if there is any in the area you're in.

Good call! Clematis bark is what I actually used on my first succesful ignition but unfortunately there's none around here.

The best way to learn what can be used for tinders is to go and try things that look as though they would make good tinders.

Yeah I know but it's interesting to hear other's thoughts.

I normally do not just use one particular tinder for my tinder bundle which seems to me to be the best approach. There is varying material sizes and burning characteristics of the tinder materials that can be found so why not try to exploit it.
You may find shredded birch bark difficult to light from an ember on its own, but if you have a tinder bundle with e.g thistle down, dry buffed up grass and BIRCH BARK what you have is fine material to drop the ember on to ( thistle down) then slightly coarser material (dry grass) to establish the flame and long burning material ( birch bark) which will help the tinder bundle sustain itself while the fire proper is built on top.

Excellent!

 

[falling rain]

As Ogri mentioned - (Cramp ball) is a good ember extender. If you only manage to get a small fragile ember from your bow drilling and are worried it may fall apart in your tinder bundle, place the fragile ember on a piece of crampball (on the concentric rings) and blow very carefully until the cramball glows. You can then transfer the crampball into your tinder bundle. This gives a more robust ember to 'give it large' on the blowing with.

 

[rich59]

Anything dry enough to crumble a bit can be used in tinder. If you have a mix of leaves, bark, grass, twig etc so much the better. This time of year you may have to look hard. A well made tinder can work even if damp from the air. Material can be dried against the body. Crumble some of it to collect a golf ball size of crumblings, insert this into the main pile of stuff lying on a surface and put a bark or wood roof on the top to keep it together and hold the heat in. Then insert your coal into the crumblings and slowly blow over several minutes into a large glowing volume that will then turn to flame.

I could never cope with the birds nest idea.

 

[Neanderthal]

I've used buffed up juniper bark and also buffed up honeysuckle bark.

A tip is to put a slice of dried birch polypore under the notch to catch the dust where the ember forms. As the ember builds it will extend into the fungi and give you a bigger and longer lasting ember. You could even divide it up in case the first attempt fails.

Stu

 

[JonnyP]

If its really wet out, and everything is soaking wet, split down some standing deadwood, you can shave down some very fine bits to use as tinder. You may need to do this under you, if it is raining.