Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Any kind of material that takes very little heat to start it on fire can be used for tinder. Paper
makes great tinder, if you have matches. If you don't have matches and are attempting to build
a fire with a spark (see “Starting a Fire with Flint and Steel” below), you will need extra-fine
dry tinder. Dry pine needles, fine dry grasses, shredded paper, birch bark, dried moss, bird
down, mouse nests, cotton balls, wood shavings, pulverized dry pinecones, and fibrous inner
cedar bark make good tinder.
Kindling
Kindling must catch on fire within a few seconds from burning tinder, yet burns for only a few
minutes to ignite the larger pieces of wood. Dry pine needles, still stuck to branches, are per-
fect. Small twigs, ⅛ to ¼ inch thick, are also excellent. Test the sticks to see whether they are
dry or wet. If the sticks can be bent and twisted without snapping, they are wet and will not do
for kindling. If all available kindling is wet, you can still burn green pine needles or else you
must find standing wood, which can be split with an axe or shaved down to find a dry core.
You can make “feather sticks” for kindling from larger sticks of wood by carving many shallow
cuts with a knife to create fine, curved shavings protruding from the side of the sticks.
Positioning the Fire
Build your fire in a protected spot, especially if the area is windy. If it is exceptionally windy,
you may have to dig a trench for your fire or build it on the leeward side of a fallen tree or large
rock. If the ground is swampy or the snow is deep, you may have to build your fire on a plat-
form of green logs covered by dirt.
Caution:
Do not use stones from a riverbed or porous stones around or under a fire. These
stones can explode when heated due to internal steam pockets.
Building the Fire
If you have paper, crumple a couple of sheets, build a small pile of fine kindling on top of the
paper, then light the paper in several places. If you don't have paper, use two handfuls of ex-
tremely fine, dry tinder instead. Make sure you don't smother the tiny flames of the beginning
fire with a pile that's too big or too tightly packed, or by stacking larger wood too quickly onto
the fire. As the kindling catches on fire, pile on more kindling and gradually add thicker chunks
of wood. Make sure the fire gets enough air circulating through it. Either build your fire in a
crisscross fashion or lean the wood against itself in a tepee-like cone shape (see
fig. 7-2
), to en-
