In the context of camping and survival, you’ve probably heard the term tinder before. And no, I’m not referring to the trashy dating app that shares the name.
Tinder is usually referred to in the context of building and starting a fire, and often said to be a critical component of a fire-starting kit. But what exactly is tinder?
Tinder is any material that ignites quickly to help start a fire, specifically one that can be ignited using sparks alone. Tinder can be natural or man-made, and is used to ignite the kindling that will then ignite the primary fuel for your fire.
You might think of tinder as the starting point of a campfire or cookfire.
You’ll use highly flammable tinder to get smaller pieces of fuel known as kindling go, then use that kindling to ignite and sustain the burning of larger pieces of fuel, usually wood but it could be anything.
In theory, it’s simple, but choosing and using it are surprisingly complicated.
Keep reading and I’ll tell you a lot more about it.
Tinder Should be in Every Fire-Starting Kit
Tinder is crucially important for building a good fire because igniting larger fuel, especially substandard fuel, directly can be challenging or impossible, even if you have a very reliable source of ignition like matches or a lighter.
If you think of a fire in three stages, starting small and then getting progressively bigger as you add larger fuel, tinder is the important first stage.
It is tiny, hot, and capable of catching fire using even the most minimal spark or flame.
Once it turns into a blazing little bundle, you can then use it to easily ignite larger fuel in the form of kindling, often taking the form of twigs and branches.
From there, the small pyre you’ve created from the tinder and kindling will allow you to easily start larger pieces of wood whether or not you have processed them.
Trying to light those larger pieces from the get-go is going to be less successful and result in uneven burning which will make your fire harder to control and less efficient, wasting fuel.
That’s why you need tinder!
The importance of tinder cannot be overstated, and that’s why you always want to include it in any purchased or user-assembled fire-starting kit that you carry.
What Qualities Will Good Tinder Have?
Tinder has very specific qualities that make it effective.
It’s no exaggeration to say you might be surrounded by fuel at your campsite and you’ll still struggle to get it going because you lack good tinder!
The prime qualities of good tinder are that it’s:
- ✅ lightweight,
- ✅ finely divided,
- ✅ and easily ignitable.
Tinder, more often than not, takes the form of fluffy material that’s almost fabric-like in its consistency, or else thinly shaved material that presents an ideal ratio of thinness to surface and edge area.
As long as it meets these criteria, and it is inherently flammable, you can expect it to ignite easily.
Secondary characteristics associated with tinder is that it should be easy to prepare and work with, very lightweight and compact so that it can be easily compressed or spread as necessary and so it will be straightforward to carry.
Make sure you look in the following sections for the examples I give you and you’ll be able to better understand what good tinder looks like.
Tinder Can Be Natural or Man-Made
Another important distinction is that tinder can be both natural and man-made depending on what it is.
Although bulk fuel is typically more abundant and easier to find in nature, you’ll find no shortage of natural materials they can make for good tinder, including finely shaved twigs (usually referred to as feather sticks), fatwood, fungus, and more.
Man-made tinder that can easily ignite and burn hot includes such a variety of things as corn chips, thin strips of bicycle inner tube, purpose-designed fire starters, magnesium bars, and more.
What are Some Good Natural Tinders?
There are many natural ones to choose from, including things you can find yourself while you’re in the field or items you can collect and process or season to turn them into good fire-starting materials.
Some of the better all-natural tinders include:
- Birch bark
- Dry pine needles
- Dry grass and leaves
- Small-diameter, dried twigs that have not fallen to the ground
- Various kinds of fungus
- Pine knots
- Bird feathers and bird down
- Dry cattails
What are Some Good Man-Made Tinders?
Man-made tinders run the gamut from sophisticated and highly processed fire starters made from composite materials, to items that can be improvised for natural materials or processed out of household garbage and other items.
These are among the most consistent and at best fire starters because they are easy to obtain ahead of time and then store until you need them. Consider the following:
- Rope fire starters (consisting of resin or accelerant-soaked threads that can be frayed)
- All kinds of paper
- Frayed cloth
- Dryer lint
- Shoe polish
- Sawdust mixed with wax
- Corn chips (Fritos, tortilla chips)
- Rubber inner tube strips
- Vaseline-soaked cotton balls or swabs
- 000 or 0000 Steel wool
- Magnesium
Will Tinder Work Even if It’s Wet?
Some will, others won’t. Specially-designed tinder is made to burn in all conditions and it can be ignited even when wet as long as you have a powerful enough source of ignition.
Others, like shavings from a magnesium bar I mentioned up above, will it quite literally burn furiously even when smothered or wet and cannot be extinguished easily!
Most of your natural tinder like leaves, grasses, twigs, bark, and so forth depend on being dry in order to work.
As such, you’ve got to make it a point to protect this stuff and keep it absolutely dry until you need it! In any case, you’ll always have an easier time getting your fire going including your tinder in dry conditions.
What Should You Use to Light Tinder?
You can use any method you can think of to start a fire, including a flint and steel, ferro rod, lighter, matches, etc.
It’s entirely possible to get tinder going using a hot coal from a fire bow or other primitive method.
However, the rule of thumb that I always depend on when choosing or assessing tinder is whether or not it can be started using sparks alone.
If it can, I am interested, but if it can’t, I won’t choose to carry it above other options, although I will certainly make use of it in a pinch.
What’s the Best Way to Carry Tinder?
You’ll always want to carry tinder in a durable, waterproof container in your pack such as a zipper bag. If your tinder gets wet before you need it, it will likely be useless.
Tom Marlowe practically grew up with a gun in his hand, and has held all kinds of jobs in the gun industry: range safety, sales, instruction and consulting, Tom has the experience to help civilian shooters figure out what will work best for them.