Natural Tinders

Natural tinders are are great way to progress your fire lighting skills once you have got the hang of using some of the man made tinders that are available. Knowing which materials are available means you no longer have to carry tinders with you, reducing the weight of your kit. here are a small selection of some of the tinders available in most places across the UK.

Silver Birch  (Betula pendula)

The bark of the silver birch (Betula pendula) is a fantastic tinder for

use with either sparks or flame. The bark contains naturally flammable oils which combust very easily and burn

 fiercely, The papery bark can be peeled away or small shavings and dust can bemade by scraping thicker pieces

of bark with the edge of a knife.

Rosebay Willow Herb (Chamerion angustifolium)

Rosebay Willow Herb is a perennial herbaceous plant that can be found throughout the UK and most of the northern hemisphere. It is commonly found around wetland areas. The fluffy down like material can be harvested towards the end of the summer and catches using a small spark.

Gorze, furze or whin (Ulex europaeus)

Whilst not so good at taking a spark, gorse is incredibly good at lighting from a small flame. It does, however burn very quickly so is not suitable as a fuel. The gorse can also be used for food, medicine and carving
Cramp balls

Also know as king Alfred's cakes, cramp balls are a fungus commonly found on fallen Ash trees, although it is not unusual to find it growing on other broad leaf species. It will take a spark with ease and burn very slowly unless you blow it into life. It was traditionally used to carry fire from place to place.

What is bushcraft???

I often get asked the question, "what is bushcraft?" In short it is the practice of using our environment and our natural surroundings to provide us with the necessary resources to survive. It is the practice of using ancient methods and skills to provide us with everything we need on a daily basis. These methods and skills include finding and cooking food, fire lighting, shelter building, rope making, wood carving flint knapping and hunting to name just a few. The most skilled bushcrafters can venture out into the wilderness with just the clothes on their back (which they could make out of natural materials if they wanted to) and provide everything they need using just the knowledge in the heads. Most modern bushcrafters, will however, take the basic equipment with them for ease an comfort. This equipment usually includes a knife, axe, fire-steel and a metal cooking pot. Bushcraft does not need to be so complicated though, many will just venture out for a few hours into their local woodland and practice their favoured skills. It is now common for young children to be taught bushcraft at school and through organised groups such as scouts and guides, through means of "forest schools" and other such organisations. they taught the fundamental skills such as fire lighting, outdoor cooking, shelter building and identification of flora and fauna.

here's what wikipedia has to say;

Bushcraft A popular term for wilderness skills in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the term was popularised in the southern hemisphere by Les Hiddins (The Bush Tucker Man) in Australia as well as in the northern hemisphere by Mors Kochanski and recently gained considerable currency in the United Kingdom due to the popularity of Ray Mears and his bushcraft and survival television programmes. It is also becoming popular in urban areas; areas where the average person is separated from nature.

Bushcraft is about thriving in the natural environment, and the acquisition of the skills and knowledge to do so. Bushcraft skills include; firecraft, tracking, hunting, fishing, shelter building, the use of tools such as knives and axes, foraging, hand-carving wood, container construction from natural materials, rope and twine-making, and many others. These are the kinds of skills well known to our ancestors, many of which are still practiced today as an everyday skill amongst aboriginal and native peoples around the world.

Lesson 3: Making the most of your firesteel (natural tinder)

        Once you have the hang of man made tinders, you will be ready to take on natural tinders. The advantage to using natural tinders is that you no longer have the need to carry your tinders with you, allowing you to stay out longer and reducing the weight in your pack.

         The best place to start, when choosing your natural tinders, is silver birch bark. The easiest way to recognise this tree is my looking for its distinct white bark and peeling a small piece off. the bark will be very thin, like paper. The thickness of this bark is one of the reasons it is so successful as a tinder, the other reason is the high sap content. The sap of the silver birch is extremely rich in natural oils which are highly combustible.

The technique for lighting a fire with natural tinders is similar to the method used in lighting man made tinder, the key difference is in the preparation.

Step 1. Shaving

Place your knife at 90 degrees to a thick piece of bark and scrape it towards you. Keep doing this until you have a small pile of fine shavings.

Step 2. cones

Take a large, thin piece of bark and make it into a cone. Pin it in place with a small sharpened twig. The cone

shape will focus all the sparks from your firesteel into the bottom, where your tinders will be waiting.... Place the shavings and a few small, very thin pieces of bark into the cone.

Step three. Light  a fire.

Using the methods learnt in lesson two. light the the tinders inside the cone. Scrape off plenty of shavings from the steel onto the scrapings, position your striker and pull the steel.

Hey presto...FIRE

A few more customer steels

This selection has been made for a customer who runs forest school sessions. A variety of sizes and styles to suit all needs

From left to right;
1) medium antler tine - 6mm steel
2) antler & mahogany section - 8.5mm steel
3) antler & spalted birch cross section - 6mm steel
4) micro antler tine - 3.5mm steel

Lesson 2: Making the most of your firesteel (man-made tinders)

welcome to lesson #2. I'm going to show you the easy way to use your firesteel using as little effort as possible. At this point I will be using man-made tinder (cotton wool) as it can be considerably easier to ignite, compared to natural tinders, when learning to use your firesteel.

Step 1: Fluff up your tinder
This refers to the first lesson, about applying fuel, ignition and oxygen. By fluffing up your tinder you are allowing the oxygen to move more freely and thus, making it easier to ignite.

Fluffy cotton wool!!!

Step 2: Get a grip!

Holding your firesteel and striker correctly will make a world of difference. If you hold them too loosely you will not be able to get enough pressure to create a strong spark. Hold the striker in your dominant hand and the steel in the other. i.e if you are right handed, place the fire steel in your left hand and visa versa. If necessary, hold the steel as well as the handle to apply steady pressure

I'm right handed!

Step 3;: Pepper

This step is fairly simple. Just scrape some shavings off of your firesteel using the striker, making sure they land on your tinder. It will look like you have sprinkled shiny pepper all over it. Don't worry if you create a few sparks when you do this, with luck they'll land on the tinder and create a flame.

sprinkles!

Step 4: Strike

This final step is the one that counts. Place the striker over the tinder and lock your hand, arm and wrist to stop it from moving. Place the firesteel under the striker and point it towards the base of the tinder. Apply pressure and draw the firesteel towards you fairly quickly.
If you did this correctly, you should have burning piece of cotton wool and a grin from ear to ear.
If you don't, fear not go back a few steps and try again.

Using this technique and a little practice, you will become a master of the firesteel in no time at all.


To demonstrate the whole thing from start to finish, i've made a little video for you. Enjoy

My latest creation

This is a Buffalo horn and Deer antler firesteel with an 8mm steel and suede lanyard. 

Custom made for Resnikov of the BCUK forum. Check out my second post to find out how to get your own custom made firesteel.

Come and join us on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/bushcraft.munki

Custom hand-made Firesteels

Custom Hand-made Firesteels

Are you fed up of generic, mass produced firesteels? Have you ever wondered if you could have a Fire-steel made to your specific style and shape? Now you can and its really easy;

Simply create a design using the choice of materials below, email your design to me at bushcraftmunki@gmail.com, i'll review and price your design before contacting you with final prices (including postage cost). If you're happy with the price, i'll make the piece then send you a photo of the finished product. once you are completely satisfied with your design I will ship it to you as soon as possible

Mahogany + cedar , oak - 8mm steels

Material choices

white oak

mahogany 

black buffalo horn

bleached white buffalo horn

deer antler sections

deer antler tines

copper plate 1-2mm

copper sleeve 9mm or 18mm

leather spacers (various colours)

Steel diameter (standard sizes)

6.5mm 

8.0mm

(other sizes can be ordered on request)

Extras

round leather lanyard (short) - +50p

round leather lanyard (long) - +75p

paracord lanyard (any colour) +50p

cotton neck pouch (custom made to fit your steel) +£1.50

Finish

Matt (no treatment, fine sanding)

oiled (light shine)

waxed (mild shine)

high polish (high shine)

If you would like to incorporate any other material, size of steel or shape....just ask, I will be more than happy to oblige.

Next blog.  Getting the most out of your firesteel

Lesson 1: basic fire lighting

LESSON 1: BASIC FIRE LIGHTING

Fire lighting in Bushcraft comes in many forms, from ancient methods such as the Bow Drill and Fire Plough to the modern techniques like fire-steels and lighters. To be able to successfully light a fire you first need to be able to understand how a fire works. The simplest way to explain how a fire works is by using the fire triangle. The fire triangle demonstrates the 3 core needs of a fire.Take one away and you will not be able to create fire.

Without fuel there will be nothing for the ignition source to light, without ignition there will be nothing to light the fuel and without oxygen the ignition will be smothered and extinguish. If greater quantities of either oxygen or fuel are added after the fire is lit, then the greater the fire will become, although too much fuel can smother a fire by taking away the oxygen and too much oxygen can blow out a flame so care is needed. 

The best way to use the fire triangle to your advantage by structuring your fire correctly. There are a variety of structures you can use but the simplest, in my own opinion, is the platform fire.

The platform fire is designed to raise the fire off the ground away from any moisture and allow a lit tinder to be passed underneath to ease ignition.

First of all you need to gather all your fire lighting materials and fuel for once it's lit. I will usually gather enough to fill a shoebox of each size. Starting with tiny pieces like pine needles and dried weeds and working  up to logs of about 3 to four inch in diameter. 

Start by placing two logs about 2 to 3 inches apart with an open end facing the wind. Next take sticks and twigs, about 6 inches long and similar thickness to a matchstick and lay them across the two logs with a spacing of about a 1/2 inch. Now turn the twigs parallel to the logs and lay down another layer again, spaced about a 1/2 inch apart. Repeat this a couple of times, increasing the thickness of your twigs each layer until they are about A 1/2 inch thick. The best material I have found for this is dead nettles and brackens. Provided you have plenty of fuel to hand, you are now ready to light your tinder. Once the tinder is lit, slide it under the platform and allow it to light. once a suitable flame is established, add more of the larger fuel. Do not add the largest pieces or you will make the platform collapse. Start small and build your way up once each new size has lit. 

Using this technique you should need no more than 1 match or 1 successful spark to light your fire