Kentucky Armory Club

Son of Liberty is away on business and asked me to conduct the next Bushcraft Challenge -- The Tinder Bundle.

Here we go...

The only trick here is to think, "loosely packed bird's nest..."
... made of crushed dry leaves found under sheltered trees, or in sheltered stump holes. Don't forget the bird's nest dimple! That's actually important. It's where you should place yer hot coal or spark...
... loose burlap and jute twine (if available) make very nice tinder bundles, and once burning, a knife-feathered stick will keep it going! Let get it on fire!
- Keith

(For the record, SoL is much better at this than I am, I'm just spelling him for a bit. Popular thread for a reason, and that reason is Son of Liberty.)

I was wonder if this was going to continue. This sounds like a fun challenge, going to try this one for sure.

Folks im working 80+ hours a week, nights, weekends, with any luck ill be done with that soon and back to normal. Im a bit sad to see not a single person has completed this challenge. Kadnine stepped right up to help lets let him know we appreciate it , not only that we there will be a test on this! We are working our way to primitive fire, but if you dont complete the other tasks it wont matter how much you rub 2 sticks, the heat will be useless.

Tinder bundle

Tinder bundle is our medium to convert ember (Some times Spark) in to open flame. You should be gathering dry matirials for your tinder bundle all the time, when you see it grab it!

I have found a few matirials right outside my door.
Cedar rub, I rubbed the blunt side on my knife edge against the tree to make this fluff matirial.

Dry Cat tail stalks

Some dried grass tuffs

Some dead cedar boughs

You will notice that I have much more matirial then is needed for one fire, you should gather enough for 3 fires, some times it takes that much.

Completed bundle, looks like a birds nest I use a bit of all the stuff I gathered.

I am using flint and steel, Its my favorite

Got my spark


and got my fire

Sense I have so much of it and I dont want to be cought without tinder, ill use the extra space in my fire tin to store some extra. I could also use the fire I just made to char it up to use as a simple tinder and not part of the tinder bundle.

Outside your door is much cooler than outside my door lol.

I'm working on a video that should be of help to somebody, even if that somebody's just me! Should be up sometime tomorrow, folks.

Draw a straight learning line thru tinder and spark, charcloth, and tinder bundle.... we're working our way up to the really satisfying stuff!

- K

Okay, my video software crapped the bed. But it's nothing I can't describe in words. Think bird's nest, the drier it is, the smaller it needs to be, the wetter, the larger and fluffier it needs to be. Blow gently on a ember or spark in the cradle of yer hands, just like I'm sure you've all seen on Discovery Channel. Cupping yer hands around the tinder bundle will shield it from the wind.

Give it a shot?

- K

Saturday I made a bird's nest from the loose cedar strips that hang off the side of cedar trees. I wrapped them up into a ball, smashed it down to about half the size of my fist and rolled it around between my hands for a few minutes to break up some of the strips into thinner fibers. I continued working it in a pattern of pulling apart, smashing together, rolling around and pulling apart again until I had a nice, fluffy bundle of mostly thin fibers and a few hard chunks, about 7" across. Then I just used the ferrocerium rod on my magnesium starter to throw sparks into the center until the fibers caught. As soon as they did, I flipped it over and blew until the smoke cleared and flames took over, stacking kindling on top.

- K