(Part 5) Tinder Ignition

There are many types of tinder and we’ll discuss a few of them. In general terms, tinder must be very easy to ignite with a minimal amount of heat. In order for this to be true, we should try to optimise certain characteristics. Tinder should be:
1. Bone dry. There is often not enough heat generated in fire lighting to first dry out tinder and then to ignite it.
2. Very fine. We discussed earlier that it takes twice as much energy to ignite an object twice as heavy. Having tinder in large lumps makes it hard to light. Even flat sheets are more difficult as the bulk of the tinder is not mixed with air. Thin fibres of tinder with air pockets interspersed with the fibres work best.
3. Highly exothermic. In other words, once ignited it should generate large amounts of heat. However the nature of making tinder fine, means there isn’t a huge amount of it, so ones fire should be built up lighting small twigs first.

Tinder can come in many forms. It can be
1. Naturally occurring
2. Fine or adapted fuels
3. Procured from readily available household materials
4. Purchased

Top Tip:
Its very important to match your tinder to your heat source. Trying to light a feather stick with a piece of glowing charcloth is very difficult. Igniting a nest of dry grass with it is easy though – and then igniting the feather stick with the dry grass is also easy. Generally tinders that “glow” because they are carbon based (cramp ball, friction coals, charcloth) are best added to another tinder that will flame (dry grass, clematis bark etc.) before attempting to ignite kindling (fine wood).

Naturally occurring tinder:

Birch bark. One of the most widely available and easily recognisable of tinders. Its great as it needs minimal preparation. Many fallen trees have paper thin bark already peeling away. There seems to be plenty of fallen birch logs around too. Pieces of bitch bark can be teased apart with the fingers too tissue paper thin strands or scraped into strands and powder with a knife. A good handful squeezed into a loose ball will generally catch a spark first time. Birch bark contains lots of tarry hydrocarbons (so much that tar can be extracted from it) so it burns very hotly with good flame. Shredded birch bark is very fine though – beware it blowing away!

A fallen birch log

A pocket full of birch bark!

Clematis bark: Clematis is a climbing plant with a soft bark that forms vertical lines. Its downy seed pods are instantly recognisable. The seed down will burn but generally absorbs water from the atmosphere and so needs to be dried before use. The clematis bark can be stripped away from the stem and buffed (rubbed between the palms of the hands) into fine fibres. If the plant is not dead, these need to be dried – but they dry easily in a pocket near the skin. They burn well and are great for developing flame from a piece of charcloth or cramp ball.

How to spot clematis

Raw and rubbed clematis

Dry grass or straw: Sounds great but actually very hard to find dry stuff in the wild. Again if dry(ish) stuff can be found and kept in a warm place for a while it gets much better. Coarser stems should also be buffed up to make finer fibres (especially straw). A handful of hay or straw from the middle of a bail is generally dry even if stored outdoors.

A burning straw "nest"

Fatwood: Fatwood is formed when natural resin (pitch) is concentrated in the centre of the stump of certain pine trees. This means that wood emits a large amount of volatile hydrocarbon vapour, ignites easily and burns very hot. Thin fibres carved from a fatwood stick can even be ignited from a spark from a Feroccium rod. Fat sticks are sold under a variety of names including “Maya” sticks.

Burning fatwood - note the "pitch" coming out

Cramp ball: Cramp ball is a black vaguely round fungus usually found on dead or dieing ash trees. It looks and behaves like a light charcoal honeycomb. On the outside it is smooth and almost shiny and looks almost like a black animal dropping. On the underside it has concentric silvery rings. When ignited it glows like charcoal and burns for a very long time, although a thinner fibre based tinder or twigs are useful to coax flame.