Tinder
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
