Best Tinder?

[Mountain Goat]

What would be the best tinder for a beginner bushcrafter?
I found some dryed out old cleavers in a hedgerow and these seemed pretty good.

[AdrianRose]

It really depends on wether you want natural or man-made tinder really.

There are a host of man-made tinders from speciality waxed cotton packs, tampons, the fluff out of the tumble drier filter, cotton with Vaseline on, etc etc

With regards to natural, Birch bark is great, Maya sticks (not the dust), a well made feather stick will catch a spark, dry grasses and leaves, King Alfred's Cakes (Daldinia Concentrica).

Another good and cheap tinder is to save the little pencil wirls from when you sharpen pencils. I use to keep a pencil sharpener in my tinder kit, sharpen a dead dry stick and ignite the "shavings" !!

Ade.

[Basha72]

Depends where you are and what is to hand, birch bark rubbed up will take a spark/flame easy, reach up in spruce or pine trees and grab the dead small twigs still hanging very dry and brittle, old man's beard will take a spark, Or make your own fat wood find some old pine spruce stumps and dig out the resinous wood.

Then again you could always buy the "light my fire Maya dust" or an old hexi block or the BCB fire kit.

I always used to have a candle on a stick, build a tepee fire and place the lighted candle into it, when the tinder got going I'd remove the candle for another day, cheap and cheerful

Basha

[Opal]

I'm a Vaseline on balls of lint and fluff out the dryer man.

[Shewie]

I tend to go with the birch bark too, there always seems to be a dead birch handy when there's a fire to be lit

If you get the maya dust, chuck the dust in the bin and make use of the pot. It seems to lose it's lighting ability if it's been sat on a shelf for 6 months

[chris_leech]

I love using birch bark, both big strips and thin peelings. Luckily there's quite the abundance of silver birch everywhere locally.

Fat wood is also very good, no problems lighting from a lighter and quite easy to get going from a spark via feathersticking.

I seem to be the only one having trouble getting dryer lint going, it catches, burns, then gives up.

[Wrighty28]

i ted to use natural and then fall back onto man made tinder. i normally take my girlfriends make up whipes out, but say during summer opt for dry grass / silver birch.

[Woodwose]

For natural tinder. Dry cramp balls, birch bark peelings and the dry 4-6inches ends of pine needles-twigs snapped off dead branches, preferably from a branch still attatched to the tree.

[Mountain Goat]

Thanks Everyone