Though you shouldn’t discount the tissue in your pants, the pages in
this book, or even the lint in your belly button, your primary source of tin
der in the wilderness will be fluffy, dead, and dry plant material. The great
est lesson you can learn here is this: Remembering the names of plants
means nothing in a survival situation. What’s important when it comes to
firestarting are plant characteristics.
When I first learned survival, I was taught that you can ignite milk
weed fluff with a single spark. And it’s true—it goes up like gasoline! But
what I discovered later is that almost any plant with a light, fluffy part (usu
ally the seed pods, and especially those that will blow easily in the wind)
will do the same thing. Fireweed, various grasses, cattails, and numerous
other plant species throughout the world work too. So rather than looking
for milkweed, look for any plant with the characteristics of milkweed. Shoot
a spark into it and you should have fire.
Don’t get caught up searching for specific plants such as birch bark in
Canada, white cedar bark in Kansas, or coconut husks in the tropics. Rather,
keep your eyes open for plants that have the characteristics of good tinder.
Think “Hey, that coconut husk is hairy and light and fluffy. I wonder if that
works?” Not surprisingly, coconut husk is great tinder.
So, what characteristics should you be looking for in your tinder? Most
important, it should be dry. Damp tinder leads to great frustration . . . and ulti
mately, no fire. Tinder also needs to be thin, light, and fluffy. If something has
these characteristics, it will ignite into flame when a spark is introduced.
Note that dry leaves make surprisingly poor tinder. Most dead leaves
need a fair bit of heat to ignite, making them a poor choice for firestarting
without matches or lighter.
I like to divide tinder into three stages. Stage 1 tinder is the lightest,
stroud’s Tip
If you are traveling through an area that has loads of
dry tinder, gather it now, and gather lots. You don’t want
to end up later in a survival location without tinder sources
nearby, regretting that you didn’t fill those big pockets in your
hiking pants when you had the chance.(^106) | Survive!