Good tinder makes bright fires

Puff, puff, puff

Good tinder makes bright fires

BY CRAIG MACARTNEY

Getting those first flames going after you’ve stacked a campfire can be tough after rain or heavy dew, even for a seasoned camper. Good tinder can be hard to find, especially in winter, but the solution could be in your pockets!

Any readily flammable material can be used as tinder. Here are eight versions that are easy to find, easy to light.

Bark from old, dead trees, is a good place to start. Cedar bark is a prize, filled with oils that ignite easily and sustain the flame longer than most tinder. You peel if off vertically and once you have a handful, split the ends of the strips to create hairlike fibres, the smaller the better for easy lighting.

Birchbark is another great tinder, sometimes hanging in loose, thin sheets on the tree, or around the base. Pull it apart and crumple it up like paper, or split the ends into fibres as with cedar before lighting.

Leaves on the forest floor are abundant but often damp and difficult to light. Use leaves that break apart in your hand, and crush them into fragments under your kindling.

Pine needles – dead and brown, not fresh-off-the-branch green – light easily but burn quickly, so you

have to use lots, packed together. But not too much, since the ash can actually smother your flame.

Dead, dry cattails are perfect. The stems break up like straw, and you can open the cattail head and add the cotton-like seed fluff to the mix. This works best if the head is loose and already starting to release its seeds.

If you can’t find natural tinder on a really wet day, check your pack for hand sanitizer. A small blob of it on a leaf or stick will catch and sustain a flame surprisingly well.

If you plan ahead, you can easily make a cheap, portable tinder that lights readily even when the wood is wet. Rub a few cotton balls in petroleum jelly and pack them in a small zip-lock bag. They light easily and stay lit long enough to set your fire roaring.

When all else fails, check your pockets for lint, notebook pages, unused Kleenex, anything related to paper will do.

Once you have a flame, build your fire slowly with twigs, pine cones and other small fuel that you’ve collected ahead of time. You don’t want to be running around hunting for small sticks as your tinder burns out. Then work your way up to logs that will burn through the night.

PHOTOS BY ALLEN MACARTNEY

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