natural flint tinder

[Bluefrog]

After a walk through a forest and finding several pieces of flint and generating sparks by using a large pebble to strike it with i was wondering what natural tinder i could use to create a coal or flame.

Thanks
Ste

[mountainm]

Birch bark may be your best bet, fluffed up with a knife.

[Bluefrog]

thanks mate, i'll give it a go. It's just getting the spark to land on it, they don't seem to travel very far before they stop glowing and then i try to get up close and end up knocking the tinder everywhere.

[Tilia]

After a walk through a forest and finding several pieces of flint and generating sparks by using a large pebble to strike it with i was wondering what natural tinder i could use to create a coal or flame.

Thanks
Ste

chare cloth
crampballs
horseshoe fungus
natural cotton ball, from a bush

never had succes with birch bark

[mountainm]

chare cloth
crampballs
horseshoe fungus
natural cotton ball, from a bush
never had succes with birch bark

Don't all these (apart from the cotton ball) need some kind of treatment.
Crampballs invariably need drying out, Charcloth needs making, horseshoe fungus needs a lot of prep? May aswell just take a bic lighter....

[John Fenna]

Down from willowherb, dandelions etc are good for taking a spark and I have often used crampballs fresh off the tree.
Charcloth - or even charred plant fibres can be made in the fire previous to the one you want to light.
Natural tinder, flint and sparks are vastly superior to Bics in that they are free (or near as dammit if you are using cotton charcloth) and carbon neutral.
A Bic is a nastly little piece of plastic and fossil fuel with no soul that needs no skill to use what is this a bushcraft website or the Bic marketing site?
Flint and steel is my favoured fire-lighting method ... recycled steel for the striker, forged by myself, using flint foraged for by myself or friends and - for ease - cotton charcloth from old Tescos Tea-towels as well as dried Birch Polypore to help take the coal to flame along with birch bark, cramp balls and dry grass - all foraged!
Cheap , carbon neutral and using bushcraft skills.

Bics - cost money, run out of gas, have huge carbon footprints and need no skill ...but are better for lighting ciggies

[mountainm]

Down from willowherb, dandelions etc are good for taking a spark and I have often used crampballs fresh off the tree.
Charcloth - or even charred plant fibres can be made in the fire previous to the one you want to light.
Natural tinder, flint and sparks are vastly superior to Bics in that they are free (or near as dammit if you are using cotton charcloth) and carbon neutral.
A Bic is a nastly little piece of plastic and fossil fuel with no soul that needs no skill to use what is this a bushcraft website or the Bic marketing site?
Flint and steel is my favoured fire-lighting method ... recycled steel for the striker, forged by myself, using flint foraged for by myself or friends and - for ease - cotton charcloth from old Tescos Tea-towels as well as dried Birch Polypore to help take the coal to flame along with birch bark, cramp balls and dry grass - all foraged!
Cheap , carbon neutral and using bushcraft skills.

Bics - cost money, run out of gas, have huge carbon footprints and need no skill ...but are better for lighting ciggies

My point was actually in favour of not taking the bic - my point was if something needs a lot of offsite prep or can't be used then and there then it isn't really doing what the OP asked for.

[John Fenna]

My point was actually in favour of not taking the bic - my point was if something needs a lot of offsite prep or can't be used then and there then it isn't really doing what the OP asked for.

Sorry - I did not read it that way - the curse of thread posts strikes again...
However - I have found plant down crampballs and charred plantfibers from lastnights fire all good for spark taking...

[mountainm]

Sorry - I did not read it that way - the curse of thread posts strikes again...
However - I have found plant down crampballs and charred plantfibers from lastnights fire all good for spark taking...

It's an interesting proposition tho' coming into spring it's not as tricky, but in the middle of a damp british winter there's not many options for "instant tinder" - all will require some kind of prep or drying. Would be nice to see some sort of "tinder" calendar with what you can use at what time of year and what prep needs to be done on each type.

[Galemys]

After a walk through a forest and finding several pieces of flint and generating sparks by using a large pebble to strike it with i was wondering what natural tinder i could use to create a coal or flame.

Flint will only create usable sparks for firestarting when it´s used in combination with hardened carbonsteel (a traditional firesteel or old file) or a lump of marcasite/pyrite. A random large pebble could create sparks with flint but these are too weak to start a fire.

Cheers,

Tom

[Stanleythecat]

Down from willowherb, dandelions etc are good for taking a spark and I have often used crampballs fresh off the tree.
Charcloth - or even charred plant fibres can be made in the fire previous to the one you want to light.
Natural tinder, flint and sparks are vastly superior to Bics in that they are free (or near as dammit if you are using cotton charcloth) and carbon neutral.
A Bic is a nastly little piece of plastic and fossil fuel with no soul that needs no skill to use what is this a bushcraft website or the Bic marketing site?
Flint and steel is my favoured fire-lighting method ... recycled steel for the striker, forged by myself, using flint foraged for by myself or friends and - for ease - cotton charcloth from old Tescos Tea-towels as well as dried Birch Polypore to help take the coal to flame along with birch bark, cramp balls and dry grass - all foraged!
Cheap , carbon neutral and using bushcraft skills.

Bics - cost money, run out of gas, have huge carbon footprints and need no skill ...but are better for lighting ciggies

John

Can I ask what is the secret to forging a good stiker? I had a go with a piece of spring, quenched it hot but it's not great, maybe I quenched it a little too hot?

Leo

[John Fenna]

John

Can I ask what is the secret to forging a good stiker? I had a go with a piece of spring, quenched it hot but it's not great, maybe I quenched it a little too hot?

Leo

Erm - I am no expert ...my forged ones spark brilliantly despite the fact that they are just made from old files.
I just bung them glowing red into a bucket of water..... and that is what I use for my personal fire lighting needs
With the Dragons Breath kits the steel is not forged, just cold worked to size

[Everything Mac]

Erm - I am no expert ...my forged ones spark brilliantly despite the fact that they are just made from old files.
I just bung them glowing red into a bucket of water..... and that is what I use for my personal fire lighting needs
With the Dragons Breath kits the steel is not forged, just cold worked to size

yup, old files make the best strikers from what I've seen.

As for tinder I think this is a case of prior preparation prevents poor performance. - putting the effort in to preparing some tinder, be it char cloth or amadou etc, will pay off in the end.

Andy

[Stringmaker]

I have some very dry nettle cordage from the first batch I ever made last summer.

When unravelled and teased into a small nest it works nicely with a piece of charcloth. I also noticed last night that my cat is obligingly making me a fresh batch of coarse tinder from her shredded scratching post .

[southey]

chuck a bit of sizle rope in your pocket and ruff it up for some tinder, amadou and charcloth may take prep but the op didn't ask so TINDER NOW!!! just make you self a little pack of these things and plop a shard of flint in, if you need it in a hurry then get QDanT's phone number on speed dial! I have some of his sulphur matches which are great for lighting gas stoves or getting a quick flame for a fire from your tinder.

[Cobweb]

Anything dry and fluffy, if it's charred it's a bonus
In my experience, if you find your tinder flying all over the shop when you strike down onto it, try grabbing a bit, rolling it up so it holds together a bit more then place that on the top of your flint, hold it down with your thumb and strike down with the steel. the sparks are millimetres away from the tinder and once you have a spark catch, you can then transfer the coal to the rest of the tinder and go from there.