Free tinder!

[MartiniDave]

Morning all!

I've just been "helping" in the garden, (it's not proper bushcraft but I do get to cut stuff :wink: ) I was asked to tie the clematis back to the gutter as it had got loose. While doing that I noticed the outer bark was nicely dry and coming loose. A quick couple of minutes provided me with a carrier bag full of nice, dry clematis bark ready to be buffed up for tinder! If you've got clematis now's the time to check it.

Happy hunting,

Dave

[tomtom]

does that mean that the honey succle will be shedding its bark too? ):

[Buckshot]

And what about Old Mans Beard?

Cheers

Mark

[Adi007]

And what about Old Mans Beard?

Cheers

Mark

It works but needs to be really dry.

[Kath]

Jakunen showed me clematis for the first time at the BCUK meetup at Merthyr Mawr. It's amazing stuff! The bark is fantastic tinder and comes off so easily. The bushes (or are they trees? :? there had huge trunks and if I remember correctly Martin said they were like 30 years old or something! He said, again if my memory serves me, that it's better to get the bark off the bottom of horizontal branches as the top side can be mossy and damp.

I must remember to go out and hunt for some near to where I live!

[Rob]

Honeysuckle bark will always shed (with a bit of help)

I have been looking for some decent clematis stem for a hearth block for the hand drill (ever sincre the Gathering).

No luck yet - maybe i will have to do some late night garden creeping. :shock:

[TheViking]

Hi...

We have one in the backyard. Just gonna go check it out! :wink:

[bigjackbrass]

My favourite year-round tinder, unnatural though it may be, is lint from clothes dryers. Ask friends and family to put the scrapings from the lint screen in a bag for you and you can pretty much guarantee an endless supply.

[match]

Going back to clematis, some varieties have flowers that develop fluffy seed heads once the petals have gone. I have found these to be a very good extender, and they are particularly useful as they remain on the plant well into November/December, when other fluffy sources have disappeared.

[hootchi]

I think ive found a large clematis but i cannot buff the bark up enough. do you think its not clematis as should it be fairly easy to buff up? i try for ages but it just breaks, not turns into fibres.

[jakunen]

[QUOTE=Kath]Jakunen showed me clematis for the first time at the BCUK meetup at Merthyr Mawr. It's amazing stuff! The bark is fantastic tinder and comes off so easily. The bushes (or are they trees? :? there had huge trunks and if I remember correctly Martin said they were like 30 years old or something! He said, again if my memory serves me, that it's better to get the bark off the bottom of horizontal branches as the top side can be mossy and damp.QUOTE]

Cor I didn't think you'd remember all that Kath! I must have done a good job! ANd you're 100% right. Give yourself a gold star!

I've never found it that necesarry to 'buff' the bark as it is naturally very fibrous, but scrapping it over the back of a knife does lift the fibres more.

You can use the seed heads as tinder, but they have to be really dry and personally I don't think they are taht good as they tend to burn too quickly for my liking whereas the bark tends to smoulder and so is better for tinder.

Being a climber it's neither a tree nor a bush, but more a vine.

The big one we were stripping was probably nearer to 50 from the girth.