Camping Fire

Tinder

Tinder is any kind of material that will take very little effort to light. Good tinder will only need a spark to ignite it. Some examples are;

• Birch bark, dried grasses, fine wood shavings, cotton fluff, bird down and waxed paper
• Pine needles, pulverized fir cones and the inner bark from cedar trees
• Dried fungi (apparently!), scorched or charred linen/cotton
• Dry nests of mice and birds are rather good (CARE must be taken. They must be abandoned and free of life!)

There is just one major thing to remember – Your tinder must be dry

Kindling

I would class kindling as the next step up from tinder. It is the wood that you use to raise the fire from the (short burning) tinder so that eventually you can use larger pieces of fuel. The best kindling is small, dry twigs (soft woods are preferable as they flare up quickly).

Those woods that contain resins burn readily and make firelighting easier. The only problem with soft woods is that they burn fast! Make sure you have a plentiful supply to hand, arranged in different ‘grades’ according to size.

I would suggest that the smallest kindling grade be thinner than a matchstick for certain, working up to the thickness of two or so matches. The thinner and smaller the better. I’ll say it again, as it is important, go and get some more kindling now before you even think about starting the fire. There is nothing worse than starting a small flame and lacking the fuel to keep it going.