Natural fire tinder in the Southwest (Texas)? Suggestions

dialton

dialton

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I see lots of info on fatwood being the bomb for fires but I live in North Texas and am looking for ideas on good tinder available in this region. I am having a heck of a time trying to get wood shavings, scrapings, leaves and such to light with a firesteel. Well, so far I have been unsuccessful. I can spark a nice fire with dryer lint or PJ cotton balls but would like to do it with a natural tinder that I could actually scrounge while I am in these local woods. Suggestions please......
Thanks
 
Pine is your friend. Get some pine pitch - put in on some shavings and giver her a spark. Head into the desert areas and get some Sotol - it won't be too far from you - that works with anything. Dry Cattail fluff is also good. Anything light and fluffy may be your friend as opposed to wood.

TF
 
old dry yucca stems make some neat little tinder and you can use the large part of the stem for your fire drill. any Cedar trees around that area? cedar bark is not to bad either. some say milk weed fluff is good too, but I don't know for sure.

I know in that area when it is dry it's dry, but when it rain there, every thing gets soaked.
 
Plenty of Cedar thats for sure! Birch bark eh?
Just kinda thinking that if fatwood is the prefered tinder farther north, there might be some magic tinder for this region.
Taking tinder with you is fine but it would be nice to have some renewable natural sources.
After a few failed attempts, I certainly have a new level of respect for those who can start a fire with primitive means.
 
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Cottonwoods- Look for dead trees or limbs and pull of the bark. The inner cambium, the stringy stuff on the underside of the bark, is great. I like to grind it up in my hands like I'm spinning a hand drill to make it real fine. It dries real fast in the sun if its wet at all.

Juniper- The the shrubby, wider species have loose, dry bark that I like better than Cottonwood.

Horse apples/cowpies- old, dried out herbivore dung is decent. Take an old cow pie and break it in half to make sure its totally dry. Grind out a little divot for the spark and to make some pie fines. A bit more work but it works.
 
Yeah, I hear you. No birch bark that I can find, either, and definitely no tinder fungus. If you get dry grass, you can grind/shred it between two rocks, then fluff it up, it dries pretty quickly. Shredded cedar bark is a good one, but I usually have to get the inner layer for shredding, as the outer layer usually just crumbles. Once you get a small flame going, dry spanish moss is a great form of kindling :D
 
Thanks guys, I think by the responses that I am not alone in this quest for a really good base tinder in this region. There are a few pine trees but not native around my neck of the woods.

I appreciate the responses and will try some of those out.
 
I find the skepticism about birch trees interesting.
I live in Northeast Texas and we have plenty of birch trees in creek bottoms and other areas with sufficient moisture.
I based my suggestion on the original poster's location as "DFW" which is roughly 100 miles west of my location.
Now, birch would not be that common in his location but should be around the creek bottoms as I suggested.
I doubt there are any birch close to San Antonio or much further north or west from DFW but I stand by my recommendation that it is available in Texas, taking into consideration that Texas is a big state...
 
fatcat55 said:
I find the skepticism about birch trees interesting.
I live in Northeast Texas and we have plenty of birch trees in creek bottoms and other areas with sufficient moisture.
I based my suggestion on the original poster's location as "DFW" which is roughly 100 miles west of my location.
Now, birch would not be that common in his location but should be around the creek bottoms as I suggested.
I doubt there are any birch close to San Antonio or much further north or west from DFW but I stand by my recommendation that it is available in Texas, taking into consideration that Texas is a big state...
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I live in the North East, and in my areas there is little to no fatwood over here. Birch bark is and will always be my favorite tinder to get a good fire going in my area:thumbup:
 
Hey i'm in DFW too. I mostly just scrape cedars at a 90 degree angle with my knife, it fluffs up and removes the outer bark. Never been able to find any fatwood, think you have to go further east for that. Cedar is pretty much my go to wood for fire, although cattails and thistle, once they've gone to seed work pretty well too.
 
Creosote and jojoba contain natural oils that are readily flammable(creosote moreso), juniper/cedar/cottonwood bark are all fairly fiberous and work fair. Yucca whipplei and Yucca schidigera have low ignition temperatures of around 700-800 degrees(which also makes them great for hand drills), have long fibers and fluff up pretty easily by scrapping with the back of your knife at a 90 degree angle.

Just my experiences in the past here in the Mojave desert, granted we're a little drier, but have many of the same plant species.


Gautier
 
fatcat55 said:
I find the skepticism about birch trees interesting.
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No no my W&S friend. I am not disputing it a bit. I'm not skeptical. My response was intended as more of a "hmmmm, birch eh" comment. I asked for ideas and you came thru. Thanks, I have not looked for birch but I will look into it.
 
No problem at all.

I have a good friend who is very knowledgable about many things and he raised an eyebrow a couple of years ago when I was discussing birch trees. He was not aware they are native to East Texas and he actually has some on his property.

I do know that north and west of DFW the cedar is much more common as is the cottonwood but if you watch when you cross the Trinity and even the Brazos rivers I'll bet you will find some birch trees.

The bark has natural oils and is fairly easy to light even when damp. Find some and see how it works for you.
 
sage.jpg


Do you have Sagebrush? Sagebrush bark is excellent tinder. This is started with a Fire Steel.
 
It's already been suggested but my "old reliable" in North and East Texas is cedar. I screw around with cattail sometimes, cause I can I guess, but have never needed anything more than the very plentiful cedar.

Best thing about cedar, for a dumbass like me, is that they are somewhat easy to recognize. :D No mad outdoors skills required for that tree ID.
 
fatcat55 said:
No problem at all.

I have a good friend who is very knowledgable about many things and he raised an eyebrow a couple of years ago when I was discussing birch trees. He was not aware they are native to East Texas and he actually has some on his property.

I do know that north and west of DFW the cedar is much more common as is the cottonwood but if you watch when you cross the Trinity and even the Brazos rivers I'll bet you will find some birch trees.

The bark has natural oils and is fairly easy to light even when damp. Find some and see how it works for you.
Click to expand...

I spent the first 30 + years of my life running the Brazos river bottoms north of I-20 and dont remember ever seeing any kind of birch. I'm very familiar with all the birch species now,living in CT.--KV
 
Thanks for the information. I don' have any experience on the Trinity or Brazos but was basing my statement on other terrain and vegetation similarities with northeast Texas.

I guess the birch doesn't get as far west as the Brazos. Not sure if it is gets as far southwest as the Brazos around Waco or south and east of that area.

I know it is fairly common in Smith/Wood/Upshur Counties of northeast Texas and the Sabine and Neches river watersheds but it may not get as far west as even the Trinity.
 
We've river birch (betula nigra) as far south on the Brazos as College Station (where I live). It if very uncommon. Is that the species you are talking about? It has quite shaggy bark.
 
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