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Fire - Tinder Bundles |
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Tinder Bundles are needed to move from the step where a coal is produced
with a bow drill (and many other primitive fire-making methods) and an
actual fire. Using a bowdrill, for example, a coal is produced from wood
dust. Although this coal is glowing and hot, you can't simply place it
against a twig and get the twig to burn. An intermediate step is
required. That's where tinder bundles come in. A tinder bundle is made
of very dry and fine fibres. It is formed into a birds-nest shape and
the coal is placed into the middle. One then gently blows onto the coal
in the tinder bundle until it becomes hot enough to ignite the material
of the bundle. The flaming bundle is then quickly placed into an
awaiting fire-to-be. |
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Cedar bark makes very good tinder bundles. Peel off the dry bark and work
it with your fingers to shred it up into fine pieces. Don't go too far
with this, though - you don't want to turn it into powder! |
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A finished tinder bundles made from Cedar, waiting for a coal to make a
fire. |
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Photo by
Allan "bow"
Beauchamp |
Here is another tinder bundle made from dried grass and some bulrush seeds.
The material has been made into a donut of
sorts with the grass and a bulrush stalk was used to bind it all together.
The top section of the bulrush has been used to tuck the seeds into the
center area.
- by Allan "bow"
Beauchamp |
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Here's three photos showing the process. Here the coal has just been
placed into the tinder bundle. Gotta really nurture it at this stage. |
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More smoke starting. This means the tinder bundle is starting to catch on
fire. |
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Really smoking! |
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And the flame. At this stage you would transfer this tinder bundle to your
ready-to-light fire. |
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Here is another sequence of pictures showing the process of
blowing the coal and tinder into flame
(demonstrated by Peter Moc). |
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