Natural Tinders

By Sean Fagan

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TAKE THE TINDER WALK!

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A key part of becoming a true outdoors person is to get a camp fire going no matter what the weather.

And the more natural tinders an individual knows – the more fire-lighting options that are available.

I urge you to take a TINDER WALK – to collect as many tinders as possible in a given area within a certain time-frame – and try to ignite them with the 3 most popular bushcraft methods of igniting fires…

1. Flame from matches/lighter. 2. Sparks from a good fire-steel. 3. Ember from a wood-friction method of making fires (e.g. bow drill).

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Also, see how the different tinders perform when buffed down to a finer consistency.

For example, dead grass will often not take a spark - but when buffed down (vigorously rubbed between the hands) the resultant well-abraded, fine dead grass will readily ignite from a spark.

Getting to know natural tinders is time well spent - and will undoubtedly go a long way in improving an individual’s fire-lighting skills.

In short, becoming familiar with the wide range of natural tinders, and how to process them, is an essential component of a true outdoor person’s desire to become as self-sufficient as possible when living close to nature.

A more detailed version of this post can be found here...The Tinder Walk (Full Article).

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Related articles on this website:

• Learn 6 Life-Affirming Lessons from the Bow Drill
• Carrying Dry Kindling
• Storing Fuel & Kindling Outdoors