Some time ago Survival Cache asked their readers "Do You Have 5 Ways to Make Fire?" This particular article concentrated on fire starters; steel and flight, lighters, and a few less common systems. However, according to Survival Cache most of those will be useless for building a fire if you don’t have some tinder to put the flame to. Here are 5 great ideas for fire tinder, both natural and homemade.
1. Dryer Lint
Everybody can collect it for free, and even get it from the bottom of your pockets in a pinch. It’s light, compressible, and burns like crazy. Drawbacks are that it really must be dry and lint from some clothes (synthetics) does not burn well.
Again this why I do what I do! I would never have thought that dryer lint could be apart of bugout bag and it dryer lint costs us nothing additional. What an awesome find.
2. Cedar ShavingsBeing in the desert I'm not so sure if we have any cedar trees but this is still a very inexpensive way for some of you that are on the east coast.
Collect the stringy shavings from the bark of a cedar tree for the best (in my opinion) natural fire tinder. Rub it between your hands quickly to create a small fluff ball of shavings that will light quickly.
Survival Cache mentions that this is the oldest survivalist trick in the book, but for those of us that are new to this world it amazes how something so basic that you use in your day to day life could definitely help you in your survival-ism.3. Cotton Ball and Vaseline
This might be the oldest survivalist trick in the book. Coat some cotton balls in Vaseline and store them in a container in your Bug Out Bag. Vaseline (petroleum jelly) is flammable and this set up will burn great for longer than you would expect.
4. CattailsAgain being in the desert I'm not so sure if they have these but I hope that it can maybe help someone else that have these in their area.
Obviously these won’t be available in all areas, but when you can find them the light feathery material inside cattails is like burning paper or cotton. Quick and easy.
5. Birch Bark Shaving
Like cedar, just shave some bark off of a birch tree. The cedar shavings are like stringy wood, whereas birch shavings are basically nature’s paper. Thin, light, and easy to burn. Also very easy to peel off the tree.
I remember when I lived in California we had trees that had these shavings, little did I know that these were flammable as well.
