Tinder

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Tinder used in the first stage of fire building and is best described as anything that can be lit with a match or spark. The best natural tinder is dead, dry pine needles or grass or cattails. Those who are not particular about using only natural material find that wadded-up paper, toilet paper, or paper towels also make excellent tinder. (If they are not wadded, these materials burn more slowly and pose a greater risk of flying embers.) Cotton swabs and tampons are also superb. Unraveled ends of a rope made from natural plant fiber (such as hemp rope) also burn very well. Some stores sell powdered alkali-earth metals, such as beryllium or magnesium, that burn violently. If none of these available, leaves or very small twigs may be used. A quantity of tinder sufficient to fill one's cupped hands to the top is the bare minimum needed.

Other good types of tinder are:

  • Items for use as tinder (must be completely dry)
  • Birch Bark
  • Shredded inner bark from cedar, shestnut, red elm trees
  • Fine wood shavings
  • Dead grass, ferns, moss, fungi
  • Straw
  • Sawdust
  • Very fine pitch wood scrapings
  • Dead evergreen needles
  • Punk (the completely rotted portion of dead logs or trees)
  • Evergreen tree knots
  • Bird down (fine feathers)
  • Down seed heads (milkweed, dry cattails, bulrush, Cananda thistle, goldenrod, dandelion)
  • Fine dried vegtable fibers
  • Spongy threads of dead puffball
  • Dead palm leaves
  • Skinlike membrane lining of bamboo
  • Lint from pocket and seams
  • Charred cloth
  • Waxed paper
  • Outer bamboo shavings
  • Gunpowder
  • Cotton
  • Lint

Also, some items to be used as kindling (must be completely dry):

  • Small twigs
  • Small strips of wood
  • Split wood
  • Heavy cardboard
  • Pieces of wood removed from the inside of larger peieces
  • Wood that has been doused with highly flammable materials such as gasoline, oil, or wax.

Finally, some items to be used as fuel

  • Dry standing wood and dry dead branches
  • Dry inside (heart) of fallen tree trunks and large branches
  • Green wood that is finely split
  • Dry grasses twisted into bunches
  • Peat dry enough to burn (this may be found at the top of undercut banks)
  • Dried animal dung
  • Animals fats
  • Coal, oil shale, or oil sand lying on the surface

From: textfiles

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